So, kid… you want to be a 5-star recruit?

Great. Then don’t play these positions:

Safety (7)

Athlete (6)

Dual-threat QB (6)

Inside Linebacker (5)

Guard (4)

All-Purpose Back (3)

Center (2)

Tight End (1)

Spanning from 2015 to the 2020 class, I looked at 4964 recruits generally made up from the top 1000 for each year (some were dropped for being kickers, punters, and fullbacks, and if the data was incomplete/missing on a player). These positions only had the number in parentheses designated as 5-stars.

Do play these positions:

Offensive Tackle (26)

Wide Receiver (23)

Defensive Tackle (21)

Cornerback (20)

Running Back (19)

Strong-side Defensive End (15)

Outside Linebacker (14)

Weak-side Defensive End (14)

Pro-Style QB (10)

Also, if you play:

RB      DT       ILB      OLB    SDE            WR      OT       CB       ATH            WDE   PRO    OG APB

Then be taller and heavier than everyone else. Each of these positions 5-stars averaged higher heights and weights than 4 and 3 stars.

If you are a CB or OC, then you need to be significantly (greater than 1 standard deviation) heavier than your peers. If you’re a tight end, you need to be significantly taller and heavier (though this may not be true since only 1 tight end is the 5-star sample size, but whatever).