Always wanted to weigh in on this aspect of apparel deals, but bit my tongue. There were plenty of legit reasons to not like Russell and be waiting on a new deal. But all of the constant "it hurts us in recruiting" made me throw up a little because of the reality of recruiting. This activity is deep, pervasive, and decisive in the recruitment of all 5 and most 4 star players (per Yahoo investigative report).
Similarly, I never cared about star ratings or being a fan of teams composed of 3 star athletes. To me those star rankings just tell us the market rate for procuring a recruit's commitment. Our teams of three stars, therefore, were pretty legit and clean and actually wanted to be at Tech. Easy to root for and makes every victory that much sweeter.