Rival Views: Is Moses a five-star?

Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney don’t always see eye to eye. In this edition of Rival Views, the two debate whether new Alabama linebacker commit Dylan Moses should be a five-star prospect.

MORE: Moses rolls with the Tide | 2017 Rivals football team rankings

We still have two ranking cycles left, so anything can happen, but I’m not convinced Moses is a five-star after breaking down multiple IMG games so far this season. He dropped to a four-star for a few reasons -- the keys were a lack of natural instincts at the linebacker position, not as much quick-twitch ability as we expected and some issues in coverage and depth of his drops. While he’s been productive at IMG, I still see some areas of concern.

As we rank prospects earlier and earlier, it becomes more and more controversial when an early five-star drops to four-stars, even if he remains solidly in the national top 50. Moses, who was amazing as an eighth grade phenom and very impressive as a running back prospect who could also play defense through his freshman and sophomore years, has never taken that next step in development. As a junior, he played much more at linebacker, and he was very good but not great. Now at IMG, he’s also very good, but I’m looking for the freakish skills we projected and expected by this time in his development, and I don’t see them.

Don’t get me wrong, Moses is a special athlete and will probably do very well at Alabama. Heck, he could be an amazing running back for the Crimson Tide, even moreso than linebacker, but to be a five-star you have to not only be a great athlete but you have to be an instinctive, special player at the position you’re projected to play. There’s little doubt he will play linebacker in college at this point -- we will likely move him there when we re-rank in early December -- and it will be up to a group vote whether or not he earns that fifth star back.

At this point, he’s a very high four-star.

After the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge Presented by Under Armour this summer, I was not convinced Moses was a five-star linebacker.

He had trouble covering in space and did not seem to have tremendous instincts at the position. Moses didn’t do a tremendous job dealing with running backs coming out of the backfield and didn’t really cover all that well sideline-to-sideline.

But once I saw Moses in a game this season – I was at Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy’s game against Corona (Calif.) Centennial – the four-star linebacker was absolutely fantastic in every way.

At 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds, Moses is a hard-hitting linebacker who can come up and fill the hole, deliver a blow and get the ball carrier down on the ground quickly. He diagnoses plays very quickly, aggressively pursues the ball and can get into the backfield almost at will.

Moses really impressed me with his ability to track plays to the sideline. His timing is impeccable, he seems to know where the play is going even before it develops and then he comes up and makes the play all the time.

Moses is already the top-rated athlete in this class, but it’s almost certain he’ll play linebacker at Alabama, and the Crimson Tide pump out NFL-ready linebackers year after year after year. With the right focus, Moses could be one of the next in line. He’s that good and he could have a huge career in Tuscaloosa.