Coaches who are the best at developing elite talent are also the ones that can identify pro-level talent, but are there too many "blue chippers" to begin with?
The old maxim is that winning is about "Jimmies and Joes, not Xs and Os." Take a gander at the participants in the past two College Football Playoffs (and the winners,) and that bit of coach speak may as well be codified, if not just accepted conventional wisdom.
Here are the four-year averages for NSD class rankings:
2014: Alabama (1) Ohio State (4) FSU (5) Oregon (17.