I believe the big ranking entities acknowledge that what a lot of their rankings are based on is future potential, and specifically future pro potential. That makes your point about incoming skill level being important. If a team gets a top ranked recruit who has loads of athleticism, but quite a ways to go on skill development, then that would still be a great pickup if you expected to keep the player for multiple years. But if everyone knows that player is determined to be OAD (e.g., Kahlil Whitney), then was that really a great recruit for your team? Is that a better recruit than the 145th ranked player (e.g., Ochai Agbaji) who plays 3-4 years in college (maybe very sparingly for the first year or even two) and is a big part of a multitude of wins? For me, who really won in recruiting for a year can't be determined by the ranking systems number. The guy best with player projection, understanding player/family mindset, roster forecasting, etc. is the guy I would crown the best in recruiting.