The Dude said:
cm just seems like a pathological liar. "I have buddies that coach D1 football" isn't an argument.
Wipe the sand out.
Here are some stories on the same issue since you won't believe anything else.
http://www.syracuse.com/orangefootball/index.ssf/2014/06/college_football_recruiting_stars_rankings.html
He also spoke about another factor that ESPN.com doesn't value highly in its rankings: scholarship offers. Since the NCAA moved the deadline for committable offers to be made from Sept. 1 of an athlete's junior year to Aug. 1 preceding their senior year, the amount of offers has skyrocketed.
Coupled with passionate fan bases and college coaches who may offer a player simply because another in-conference school offered, many players rack up 30-plus invites -- some of which are committable, some of which aren't.
"The whole offer thing always irks me," Luginbill said. "But when I bring it up to people and explain it, I usually get, 'that makes a lot of sense.'"
....
Huffman said Scout.com doesn't put much weight into offers, but tries to understand which offers are committable.
"You have to dwindle the offers to real offers," Huffman said. "You have thirty schools that offer a kid but only five schools would take him. But the (other) schools still want those checkmarks there."
People who buy into offer lists are saps, to borrow a line from Walter.
This stuff is common knowledge; sorry I used some first hand information to express it.
Here's an extreme example, but it also demonstrates how recruits drive the hype during recruiting processes, and you can be assured that many assume a "letter of interest" is an "offer" (and in some ways, you can't blame them, which is why we should do away with signing day) -
http://espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?id=3236039
Here's an example of how recruiting advisors emphasize that players shouldn't exaggerate or misrepresent offer lists (which many do, hence the advice):
10. EXAGGERATE Just dont do it! Do not stretch the truth when it comes to your size, weight, speed, stats or even the number of offers you have. College coaches do their due diligence during the evaluation process. If you stretch the truth about any of your size, weight or speed they will find out when they measure and test you. In some cases, it may only take a simple eye test to know you are not telling them the truth. They will verify you stats with your coaches. And when it comes to offers, the college coaching fraternity is much smaller than you think. Coaches talk all the time. They will know if you are being truthful about your offers. You may think that just stretching the truth will help you get ahead, but telling those little white lies can only hurt your standing with coaches. It will make a coach question your character, honesty and reliability.