High school athletes are judged on a myriad of skills by a number of different organizations, scouts and more importantly, college coaches. Each organization, scout, college coach and recruiter all grade these players on more or less the same skills, but each have their own way of doing so.

The most system talked about is the star grading scale. Tampa Bay currently has players represented on the Rivals Top 100 board, 247 Sports top 247 players’ board and ESPNU Top 150 board.

While a number of players do get recognition on these national boards there is an even greater number of talented players that go unrecognized nationally, yet still go on to have successful college careers.

So how important are these boards? While college coaches do not use these as their own grading system in which they evaluate athletes the rankings do undoubtedly play a major role in getting names out to a national audience, especially in the early stages of recruiting.

Coaches use these rankings “to get leads on prospects they may not have known about in the areas they recruit,” said Mike Capshaw, managing editor at GatorCountry.com. “They look at those kinds [of things] early in the process.”

Coaches can’t be everywhere and certainly don’t have time to sift through high school highlight tapes when trying to prepare for a game of their own every week. Instead coaches are able to see the players that show up on these boards early on, read the player’s evaluation, then determine where they will spend their time and money taking recruiting trips.

All of these sites have garnered a great deal of credibility and although no one can 100% predict how 18-year-old young men will mature there are certain intangibles that cannot be ignored.

Size, speed and strength are three of the most important factors that will get you early recognition. After that, it’s about how well you can put it together and show off your football IQ.

Going star-less is not an indication that you will also go offer-less, but what it comes down to is the more stars you have, generally the more interest you will have as well.

Follow Kyle on Twitter @KyleBennettUT