High school football has evolved over the years, so much so that high school athletes are no longer limited to receiving a handful of offers from college football programs. For instance, St. Frances Academy EDGE already has offers from 13 colleges. The fact that recruiting has now turned into a rat race, Rivals came up with an idea to guide the athletes. However, for Robert Griffin III, the idea did not sit well. 

“This is a MASSIVE MONEY GRAB taking advantage of parents and kids. They should be ashamed of themselves,” wrote the former Baylor Bears quarterback on X, resharing Front Office Sports’ post. 

“Rivals is charging high school athletes and parents $499 for an ‘evaluation’ by a Rivals scout,” reported FOS. “The fee includes a scouting report, grade, film evaluation, coach interview, and consideration to be ranked on their site.”

This offer came after On3 acquired Rivals last year. By availing this service, the athletes will receive a position breakdown and coach interview. It will help them to pitch themselves in a better way, as they will have something more formal than simply having a highlight reel online.

For Griffin III, who joined college in 2008, the new system comes off as a way for On3 to fill their pockets. After all, he believes that talent itself is enough for the high school athletes to finally shine in college.

In one of the episodes of The Joel Klatt Show, Griffin described himself as a “world-class” track athlete coming out of Copperas Cove, Texas. Coming out of high school, programs like the Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies started having second thoughts because of his slight frame, unsure whether it could “translate over to playing quarterback at that level.”

But none of that mattered for Baylor, who took a chance with recruiting Griffin, and they did not regret it. 

He was the first Baylor player to ever win the Heisman. As the team’s quarterback, Griffin has played a major role in turning around a program that had been dismissed for much of the past decade before he stepped in. He has helped lead the team to its best record since 1986. Griffin rewrote record books with 26 single-season, 20 career, and eight single-game marks.

Back then, Griffin did not have a platform like Rivals that would have helped him to get noticed by top FBS programs. But even though he could not win the trust of top programs like Texas and Texas A&M, he made the most use of his opportunity at Baylor.

Wrapping up his college chapter, Griffin was selected as the second overall pick by the Washington Redskins in the 2012 NFL Draft.

Griffin’s career has taken off ever since he left high school, but that’s not the case for all. According to Rivals, the new service is intended to expand its scouting reach by evaluating more high school athletes, including prospects who could go on to compete at levels below the FBS.

“1.04M kids played HS football last season. About 6,600 held a Rivals star rating… roughly 0.6%,” wrote Shannon Terry, the founder and CEO of On3 | Rivals. “That’s not a talent gap. It’s a capacity gap. Our scouts have always focused on FBS prospects, and FCS, D-II, NAIA and D-III kids rarely get their film watched. Rivals Recruits puts the same scouts, held to the same standards, on more of that film. You can pay for an evaluation. You can’t pay for the result.”

The Rivals have made one thing very clear about the expectations from them. 

“No. Ratings, rankings and stars are earned, never bought. An athlete can purchase access to the Rivals Recruits evaluation process, but payment does not guarantee a rating, ranking, star designation or any specific evaluation outcome,” they wrote. 

College football signing day is February 3, 2027. With approximately four and a half months away, it’s time to see how successful Rivals’ new project becomes.