“If I went into a meeting and said, ‘Hey, this guy is five stars,’ I’d be fired.”

If even Tom Lemming says something like this,

“Take everything with a grain of salt and just enjoy it,’’ Lemming said. “It’s not an exact science.”

… maybe we should all take a deep breath as we head to signing day.

I would hope that coaches aren’t slavish devotees to the recruiting services, even as some fans are.  But let’s not act as if the recruiting rankings are totally without meaning.  Note that even in this Jon Solomon piece that tries to diminish the accuracy of ranking systems, he still winds up noting that,

Nine of the last 13 teams to finish No. 1 in Rivals.com’s rankings played for the national title within three years; seven went on to win the championship. The only exceptions, teams that did not go on to play for the title within three years of a No. 1 ranking, were USC in 2006 and 2010.

Alabama remains within a three-year window from its No. 1 recruiting rankings of 2013 and 2014. The Crimson Tide did reach the four-team College Football Playoff this past season and in the old BCS world would have played for the national title.

From 2011-14, Alabama, Ohio State and Florida State had the three best recruiting classes, according to Rivals. These are the teams that made the CFP last year: Alabama, Ohio State, Florida State and Oregon (No. 17 Rivals class). OSU just won the national title thanks to significant help from its second-ranked class of 2013.

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He never said he was good at math.

Arian Foster previously admitted publicly that he received money from boosters while at Tennessee.  Asked to put a dollar amount on what he pocketed during his stint in Knoxville, Foster estimated it ran somewhere in the neighborhood of ’40, 50 grand’.  Needless to say, much hilarity resulted from the admission as players who knew Foster then jumped all over that figure.

So eventually came the backtrack.  Such as it was.

Vol fans, it was a joke. I didn't get no where near 50k.

— Feeno (@ArianFoster) January 30, 2015

LMAO.  He’s just a little bit pregnant, Vols.

A million dollars doesn’t go as far as it used to.

Todd Grantham, fresh off a dominating defensive performance in the Belk Bowl an offer to coach defense with the Oakland Raiders, makes more bank.

The Cardinals are reworking Grantham’s four-year deal to pay him as much as $1.4 million annually, Grantham’s agent, Michael Harrison, told ESPN.com. Grantham’s new contract will make him one of the highest paid coordinators in college football.

That’s juuussst a touch more than Georgia’s paying Jeremy Pruitt.  A mere coincidence, no doubt.

One thing’s for sure – Todd’s going to work to earn his keep next season.

Louisville had 5 different DB's start last year and all 5 depart including 1st team AA Holliman (14 ints). 99 career DB starts lost.

— Phil Steele (@philsteele042) February 1, 2015

Good thing he’s got Harvey-Clemons and Wiggins stepping in.