Entering college with a five-star rating isn't like being handed a key to a filled safe.

More players who started college without star ratings by Rivals.com were selected in the top five of this year's draft than former five-star recruits. 

Oklahoma offensive tackle Lane Johnson and BYU defensive end Ziggy Asnah were selected by the Eagles and Lions with the fourth and fifth overall pick. Ansah is from Ghana and didn't begin playing football until college, so his lack of a rating is understandable. Johnson played quarterback in high school and started blossoming -- and growing --  at Kilgore (Texas) College before transferring to Oklahoma.

No. 1 overall pick Eric Fisher obtained a star rating. But recruiting services, like the entire Big Ten, overlooked Fisher, who was a two-star offensive line recruit when he arrived at Central Michigan.

Alabama cornerback Dee Milliner was the first five-star recruit off the board. The Jets selected Milliner ninth overall. Four other five-star recruits -- Alabama tackle D.J. Fluker (No. 11, Chargers), Missouri defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson (No. 13, Jets), Florida defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd (No. 23, Vikings) and Florida safety Matt Elam (No. 32, Ravens) -- were selected in the first round.

The five players, coincidentally, played for SEC schools last fall.

Two other players who left high school without star ratings -- North Carolina defensive tackle Sylvester Williams (No. 28, Broncos) and Tennessee wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson (No. 29, Rams) -- were selected in the first round. Off-the-field factors were the biggest reasons for Williams and Patterson not receiving star ratings.

Here's an excellent pre-draft piece by Andy Staples of Sports Illustrated about prospects and their star ratings in high school.

-- Guy Cipriano | @newsheraldguy

And the conference with the most 2013 first-round NFL draft picks is...

Let's stop the drama. The SEC won this title with 11. A basketball conference -- the ACC -- finished second with six thanks to Florida State, which tied Alabama with a draft-high three first-round picks.

Here's the Round 1 breakdown by conference:

SEC (12): Luke Joeckel (OT, Texas A&M), Barkevious Mingo (DE, LSU), Dee Milliner (CB, Alabama), D.J. Fluker (OT, Alabama), Chance Warmack (OG, Alabama), Sheldon Richardson (DT, Missouri), Jarvis Jones (LB, Georgia), Eric Reid (S, LSU), Sharrif Floyd (DT, Florida), Cordarrelle Patterson (WR, Tennessee), Alec Ogletree (LB, Georgia),  Matt Elam (S, Florida)

ACC (six): Jonathan Cooper (OG, North Carolina), E.J. Manuel (QB, Florida State), Bjoern Werner (DE, Florida State), Xavier Rhodes (CB, Florida State),  DeAndre Hopkins (WR, Clemson), Sylvester Williams (DE, North Carolina)

Pac-12 (five): Dion Jordan (LB, Oregon), Star Lotulelei (DT, Utah), Kyle Long (OG, Oregon), Desmond Trufant (CB, Washington), Datone Jones (DE, UCLA)

Big 12 (three): Lane Johnson (OT, Oklahoma), Tavon Austin (WR, West Virginia), Kenny Vaccaro (S, Texas)

Independents (two): Ezekiel Ansah (DE, BYU), Tyler Eifert (TE, Notre Dame)

Mid-American (one): Eric Fisher (OT, Central Michigan)

Conference USA (one): D.J. Hayden (CB, Houston)

Big East (one): Justin Pugh (OT, Syracuse)

Big Ten (one): Travis Frederick (OL, Wisconsin)

-- Guy Cipriano | @newsheraldguy

 

A College World Series participant. A Bowl Championship Series bid. The first overall selection in the NFL draft.

If college conferences were publicly-traded companies, this might be a good time to sell Mid-American Conference stock.

The Kansas City Chiefs used the No. 1 overall pick on Central Michigan's Eric Fisher, a 6-foot-7 offensive tackle bypassed by multiple Big Ten schools, including two in his own state.

Perhaps Michigan State cracks 20 points more than four times in 2012 with Fisher protecting Andrew Maxwell. Perhaps Denard Robinson stays healthy while running behind Fisher.

In a few months, Fisher will hold something better than a Big Ten scholarship: No. 1 overall draft pick money.

Fisher's selections follows Northern Illinois' Orange Bowl appearance. Northern Illinois' BCS bid follows Kent State's College World Series run.

Can it get any better for the MAC?

It depends on whether the Big Ten sheds its complacent ways.

Many Big Ten athletic directors lack imagination when it comes to hiring football coaches. And the Big Ten's current baseball programs are located above the Mason-Dixon line, a convenient excuse used by fledgling coaches who occupy offices in gleaming ballparks.

Kent State, coincidentally, also plays in a prototypical college baseball wasteland. Yet awful geography didn't prevent the Golden Flashes from defeating Nike-funded Oregon in a Super Regional last year.

Until the Big Ten proves otherwise, the MAC schools and athletes might appear in high-profile events.

But selling high is always risky.    

West Chester (Pa.) University plays in the competitive Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, which is one of college baseball's hidden gems.

For the Cleveland Indians' purposes, the ultra-competitive conference cultivated a player who could have an extended stay in their system.  

Joe Wendle helped West Chester capture the NCAA Division II World Series title last year. Following the Golden Rams' title run, the Indians selected Wendle, a middle infielder, in the sixth round of the 2012 draft. The Indians sent Wendle to Mahoning Valley, where he quickly established himself as one of the short-season New York-Penn League's top players.

Wendle was promoted to Lake County for last year's Midwest League playoffs. Unless he needs Classic Park for rehabilitation duties, Wendle might never don a Captains uniform again.

He skipped Lake County and opened this season at High-A Carolina, where he's leading the High-A Carolina League with a .426 batting average through 14 games. Wendle, 22, has nine strikeouts and nine walks in 47 at-bats. He's playing second base alongside 19-year-old shortstop prospect Francisco Lindor.

The Indians feature a glut of young middle infielder prospects. The group includes Lindor, Dorssys Paulino, Ronny Rodriguez and Jose Ramirez. But before dismissing Wendle's odds of reaching Cleveland, consider the career path of Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams.

Adams, who played at Slippery Rock, another PSAC school, was selected by the Cardinals in the 23rd round of the 2009 draft. Once stuck behind Albert Pujols and multiple major-college first baseman drafted ahead of him, Adams appears ready to stick in baseball-crazy St. Louis.

Adams is hitting .524 with three homers and eight RBI. To get Adams more at-bats, the Cardinals might need to shift Allen Craig, who they recently signed to a $31 million contract extension, from first base to another position. Don't be surprised if Adams becomes a factor in the National League Rookie of the Year race if this happens.

Wendle doesn't possess the same raw power as the 6-foot-3, 260-pound Adams. But Wendle is better defensively, making a position switch or utility role more realistic. Wendle, like Adams, bats left-handed, another major positive working in his favor.
 
-- Guy Cipriano | @newsheraldguy

Another sign of the Big Ten's eroding football depth should be displayed before a large television audience Thursday night.

If the first round of the NFL draft goes as analysts think -- always a massive if -- no Big Ten player will hear his name called during the first round. The projected shutout will follow a year when the conference didn't have a player selected until the Lions snagged Iowa offensive tackle Riley Reiff with the 23rd overall pick.

Extended draft waits are becoming the norm for the conference's top prospect. The Big Ten's last top-10 overall selection was Michigan offensive tackle Jake Long, the No. 1 overall pick by the Dolphins in 2008.

Drab Big Ten offenses, known as afternoon snooze buttons before the 3:30 p.m. and prime-time SEC games on Saturdays, aren't enthralling NFL general managers and scouts. The conference hasn't produced a top-10 overall offensive skill player since 2007, when the Dolphins used the ninth pick on Ohio State wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. 

Quarterback and wide receiver play among the Big Ten's upperclassmen ranked somewhere between poor and awful in 2012. In fact, a Big Ten hasn't produced a first-round quarterback since the Carolina Panthers selected Penn State's Kerry Collins fifth overall in 1995, the same year heralded Ohio State freshman J.T. Barrett was born.

And, yes, we know Tom Brady (sixth round, Michigan) and Drew Brees (second round, Purdue) are ticketed for Canton. But the lack of highly-draft quarterbacks being groomed raises questions about the talent entering the conference and how that mediocre talent is being developed.

So, who will be the first Big Ten player to come off draft boards this week?

Ohio State defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins was a projected first-round pick, but his stock seemingly falls by the day. Purdue's Kawann Short is an athletic defensive tackle whose production dropped in 2012 because of shoddy play around him. Michigan State's Le'Veon Bell is near the top of a lousy group of running backs, although Wisconsin's Montee Ball, the NCAA's all-time touchdown leader, won't sniff the first round.

Drama and suspense should fill this year's first 32 picks. But if you're a Big Ten dreamer looking for a boost after going 1-4 in Jan. 1 bowls, then you might want to spend Thursday night watching "The Office."

- Guy Cipriano | @newsheraldguy

Well, I finally have my own blog.

For those who don't know me, which is almost everybody in Ohio, I'm The News-Herald's new assistant sports editor.

Here's the condensed version of my background. I spent the past 11 years in central Pennsylvania covering a variety of sports for the Centre Daily Times and Williamsport Sun-Gazette. My recent assignments included tracking the zany world of Penn State football and the New York-Penn League's State College Spikes, a former Pittsburgh Pirates' affiliate that has fielded some awful teams. The Spikes are now affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals, so better baseball should be played inside plush Medlar Field at Lubrano Park this summer.

To steal some words from the Indians' Nick Swisher, I'm "excited" to be in Northeast Ohio. My salary doesn't match Swisher's, but I bring similar zest to my job.

This blog will explore area college athletics, the Indians' farm system and other minor-league baseball happenings.

If you have any suggestions, send them to GCipriano@News-Herald.com.

Enjoy.

- Guy Cipriano | @newsheraldguy