Recruiting rankings. Stars. Player ratings. They are all interesting topics of discussion in college football recruiting.

Just don't expect many college coaches to join in the conversation.

For some high school athletes—and their parents—the ratings given by the multiple recruiting sites of the world mean the difference between getting the attention of a Power 5 school or getting the attention of a Division III one—or getting any attention at all.

For others, stars are for bragging rights, strictly for entertainment purposes only, but nice to have in case they ever wanted to show friends and peers on their smartphones and computers.

When it comes to ratings, however, most college coaches will downplay a recruit's stars—whether he's a 5-star athlete or a 2-star athlete. In the eyes of college coaches, it's not what a player is doing now that’s most important; it's the potential he has to excel at the next level.

This is the time of year when players gain—and lose—stars, as the camp and combine circuit is underway. Players are preparing to show their speed, strength, agility and other skills at the Nike Football Training Camps, the Rivals Camps Series, the Semper Fidelis All-American Camps and other similar events nationwide.

Mick McCabe of the Detroit Free Press wrote a column addressing the issue, calling the combine period the "Underwear Olympics" and stating combines usually take place without college coaches in attendance.

"If you think college coaches pay attention to anything that happens at these combines or where the recruits are rated, you are delusional," McCabe wrote.

McCabe defined these combines as, "the latest rage, made popular by people trying to figure out a way to make more money off these kids in what should be much-needed downtime for them."

Feel free to pick your side on the argument, but when it comes to recruiting camps and player rankings, there are coaches who share the same feelings.

It just depends on what you're specifically talking about. If it's player rankings, consider them more for the fans and less for the college coaches. If it's camps and combines, consider it as another avenue for a college coach to put in evaluation time.

"At Iowa, we pay zero attention to rankings, stars or ratings of recruits," Iowa tight ends coach LeVar Woods said. "However, we do use camps as part of our evaluation process. A prospect's camp performance doesn't make or break his evaluation in our eyes; it's just part of our evaluation. We feel that any time we can work with a young man at our camp and run our drills instructed by our coaches, it is a huge plus for our evaluation of him."

Woods added that if he hears about a solid combine performance from a prospect in his recruiting area, he'll make it a priority to make contact with and congratulate the prospect. Oftentimes, what he hears regarding the athlete at the combine is simply confirming what he already knew from video evaluation.

Iowa's 2015 class featured only one 4-star prospect in offensive lineman James Daniels. What does that mean? Nothing, if you ask Woods.

It doesn't mean much to a guy like Gary Patterson, either. Patterson coached TCU to a No. 3 national ranking, a Peach Bowl rout over Ole Miss and a 12-1 record in 2014.

And how many 5-star players did Patterson have? Zero. In fact, since 2011, TCU has only had 10 4-star players, per 247Sports. The success stems from coaching and developing the talent Patterson's had in front of him.

The reality of recruiting in college sports is this: Stars and rankings are for fun. If they happen to motivate a player to do well—or do better than he previously was—so be it. Stars and rankings may get a player an extra look or two, but they will not get a player a scholarship.

Steve Wiltfong, the director of recruiting for 247Sports, has "Offer zero scholarships a year" as a part of his Twitter bio. While he knows rankings do not guarantee a player a scholarship, he’s also aware that it's the job of a legitimate recruiting analyst to provide the masses with the proper reporting of college football recruiting.

"It's the responsibility of college coaches to do their own research with recruits they are interested in, and most coaches do a solid job with that," Wiltfong said. "We're out bringing information to readers. At the same time, we absolutely can give a young man exposure, we absolutely can put someone on the radar and we absolutely can offer a voice.

"College coaches still will do due diligence. They're out visiting schools and talking to [high school] coaches. Our goal is to provide information to readers."

Greg Powers is a national recruiting analyst for Scout. He said rankings have the purpose of gauging high school players expected to play college ball. The idea isn't to gauge an athlete on whether or not he has professional potential, as some may assume.

And, with everything in life, there are hits and misses in giving players stars. J.J. Watt, the NFL's defensive MVP, wasn't a 5-star athlete, and he reminded recruits of that on national signing day.

And let's not forget about Johnny Manziel. He was considered a 3-star talent. He ended up winning a Heisman.

Powers said that while finding 5-star talents is great, some of the best college players will start as 2-star and 3-star recruits out of high school—and coaches know that, which is why getting a 5-star player isn't an extremely high goal for some programs.

"Some colleges probably care more than others as what stars they're getting into program. There's a big variance as you go from college to college as they look at that," Powers, who compared a coach's evaluation of a player to snowflakes, said; each is different in its own way.

Powers then added, "I can guarantee that all colleges will be happy gathering more stars when they're talking about it in press conferences."

A team like Alabama thrives on elite-level gets. Since 2011, Alabama has had 24 5-star and 72 4-star players sign. The Crimson Tide has had the No. 1 recruiting class since 2011, and they've won national titles in 2012 and 2013. Alabama, additionally, lost to eventual champion Ohio State in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff in January.

For the most part, the average Power 5 school will be more than excited with landing one 5-star prospect. If a college coach can get him, great. If not, look for that coach to attempt to turn the athletes around him into 5-stars.

The spring season is the best time for player rankings to become a major conversation piece. And with the various camps and combines scheduled throughout the spring, look for more and more people to discuss player rankings.

Just don't expect college coaches to cosign on anything. When it comes to rankings, they'd rather focus on the athlete they can produce instead of the athlete fans know today.

Damon Sayles is a National Recruiting Analyst for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained firsthand, unless noted. Player ratings are courtesy of 247Sports' composite ratings. Follow Damon via Twitter: @DamonSayles