So before we begin, I am not ranking TE as a skill position due to there being different types of them from all-around where they have no real weakness as a player at the position due to it being a scarcity and unicorn (George Kittle, Travis Kelce, Mark Andrews, Brock Bowers,TJ Hockenson, Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzalez, Jason Witten, Shannon Sharpe, you get the gist), blocking (Spencer Shannon), receiving but trouble with blocking (Ja'Tavion Sanders; Gunnar Helm), or unknown due to age and how they grow into the position (Jordan Washington - can catch, blocking is to be expected...a weak point).
Great, so Oregon has Da'Juan Riggs, a three-star RB, #56 RB, and #747 overall, Jeremiah McClellan, top-100 recruit, #18 WR, and #86 overall, Ryan Pellum, not with the team, but we'll add him was top-250, #36 WR, and #219 overall, Dillon Gresham who was the #58 WR, and #407 overall, along with Jack Ressler, a three-star and the #139 WR with N/A for overall ranking. I was wrong that if you're above a top-100 recruit, you should play, amirite? Surely you don't mean that four-star = no RS, right? I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and say you aren't daft and know what I meant when I said no RS; meaning top-50-75 level recruits should see some playing time due to them coming out as one of the most highly touted players in their class. Does that mean ALL players? Of course not. But being that highly rated usually means they should be seeing the field year one at some capacity, even if for 2-3 snaps a game.
Arian Smith was between top-50 to top-100 recruit, he was #44 247, #80 On3, #64 for ESPN, but regardless, you went back to 2019 to get his information. A single player. Good on you, man.- irrelevant for something 7 years ago for a single player, not putting me in my place by listing 5+ names of highly rated guys taking a RS.
Bowens was a three-star according to 247, and I can't find a composite. We aren't going to just randomly pick whatever site fits your narrative, and since 247 does the composites for all sites, we're using their ranking. But if you want to just say 'well, ESPN and On3 have him as a four-star,' that would make the composite useless, wouldn't it? Obviously as a three-star he needed the RS, and no, he's not the team's leading rusher, that would be Nate Frazier, who didn't RS. He was a top-75 recruit and he split carries with Trevor Etienne, making him a co-starter as a freshman.
Henderson was a top-150 prospect per 247 composite, and the #15 RB, which again, does not disprove anything. He's clearly not at a stage where he can even be trusted to spell their literal only RB, Jeremiah Cobb. After Cobb, it's two QBs, Arnold and Ashton Daniels before we get to another RB, Damari Alston, who has 3 more carries and 6 more yards rushing as a senior than James Simon, a freshman.
So let's see how those stack up -
For Texas and Oregon, pretty similarly, actually. Both have mostly all three-star skill guys with Texas having the edge with five-star Wingo ranked #32, but didn't RS, and Jerrick Gibson #79 had to play out of necessity due to injury, while Butler ranked #122 and did RS. McClellan was ranked #86, while everyone else was a very low four-star (Gresham), or a three-star, so those guys tend to RS since they aren't top-50-ish guys who usually play.
For example - all guys in the top-75 in last two classes
UF:
DJ Lagway #1 QB #3 overall - played and got hurt
Dallas Wilson #8 WR #50 overall - played until he broke his right foot
Vernell Brown III #5 WR #35 overall - playing currently
UGA:
Nate Frazier #2 RB #71 overall - co-starter with Travis Etienne until this year (only skill pos player in top-100)
Talyn Taylor #6 WR #40 overall - has been part of 3 games this season (this is how you prove me wrong). RS candidate due to WR room being senior heavy
AGS:
Jerome Myles #3 WR #19 overall - injured for season
Terry Bussey #1 ATH #16 overall - played all year
fOSU:
Jeremiah Smith #1 WR #1 overall - we all know
Mylan Graham - talked about above
Quincy Porter - still playing, albeit sparingly. Might RS
Clem:
Gideon Davidson #3 RB #69 overall - has played in all games
TJ Moore #4 WR #21 overall - played all games
Bryant Wesco Jr #11 WR #57 overall - played all games
You get the point. You aren't a dullard, you just want to argue for the sake of arguing. I don't need to keep going school by school to prove higher rated skill prospects (top-75) outside of an outlier or two get playing time at high-level CFB programs, whether they're immediate contributors or only get a few snaps a game. Sark is stubborn and has some fascination with a "trust tree" that apparently only we seem to use considering no other program seems to have any issues getting their higher rated skill guys game opportunities, regardless of quarter. They seem to grasp that if they want this kid to learn they need real time, against real competition during conference play. Peer to peer, not 1s vs 3s in practice shit. It doesn't matter if it's 2 snaps or 60 snaps a game.