Another 5-star quarterback has joined the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry, but does that rating matter?

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Five-star quarterbacks have become embedded in the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry over the past two decades since the first became part of the rivalry, but it’s meant very different things to the two sides.

Since the Buckeyes landed Justin Zwick in 2002, there have been eight quarterbacks classified as five-star recruits to choose Columbus or Ann Arbor, with Jadyn Davis becoming the ninth on Friday afternoon by choosing the Wolverines.

Then there are two others who’ve come by way of the transfer portal with Justin Fields and Shea Patterson to push that number up to 11.

Both teams have had plenty of success bringing in five-star quarterbacks, but only Ohio State has had much success turning that talent into on-field production and wins.

Five-star QBs to come through Ohio State or Michigan:

Note: Justin Fields and Shea Patterson came as transfers, starting their careers at Georgia and Ole Miss, respectively.

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There have been 13 rivalry games during that span that have featured one five-star quarterback, then another in 2019 when both sides had one.

That could rise to two games should five-star Kyle McCord beat out Devin Brown for the starting job at OSU this season.

Michigan has had a five-star QB in eight of those games but they haven’t been very fruitful:

• J.J. McCarthy is responsible for its only wins over the past two seasons — with the help of veteran Cade McNamara — by OSU teams led by four-star C.J. Stroud;

• Chad Henne went 0-4, featuring three losses to Troy Smith — a four-star — and one loss to Todd Boeckman who was unrated coming out of high school;

• Patterson came after starting his career at Ole Miss just to lose to Fields and four-star Dwayne Haskins.

Meanwhile, the Buckeyes are 6-1:

• Terrelle Pryor — aided by Boeckman in one — beat former walk-on Nick Sheridan his first year, four-star Tate Forcier the next and four-star Denard Robinson the year after that;

• Braxton Miller lost to Robinson in Year 1 then beat four-star Devin Gardner twice;

• Fields beat Patterson and would probably be 2-0 with a win over McNamara had the 2020 game not been canceled because of COVID.

The only five-stars to come through either program so far not to contribute to the rivalry in a significant way are Zwick and Quinn Ewers for Ohio State and Ryan Mallett for Michigan.

Ewers and Zwick never played in The Game, with Ewers only being in Columbus for six months before transferring to Texas.

Mallett threw three passes as Henne’s backup in 2007 before transferring to Arkansas, where he did get a chance to play against OSU as the Razorbacks’ starter in the 2010 Sugar Bowl, but that doesn’t matter in this conversation. (He lost to Pryor in that game.)

Overall, five-star quarterbacks are 7-6 in The Game, a record that got off to an 0-4 start.

A five-star starting quarterback in Columbus practically guarantees a win in The Game.

The only time that didn’t happen was in 2011. But that was more of a result of having to start Miller as true freshman in a year lost to sanctions and suspensions that led to the departures of important players following the events of ‘Tattoo Gate.’ Things probably go differently in that game had guys like Pryor, DeVier Posey, Dan Herron, Mike Adams and Solomon Thomas been part of the roster in that game.

Having that in Ann Arbor hasn’t led to much of anything until McCarthy showed up, but maybe his success in the last two seasons may be the thing that can change those misfortunes going forward.

McCarthy finally got the Wolverine five-star field generals in the win column, twice, and will look to add another to this fall. Then Davis likely will take over the program.

For one side, having a five-star quarterback has often meant bountiful success in the most important game on either team’s regular season schedule. For the other, that asset has been a reminder that accumulating talent means nothing if you can’t maximize it.

It’s a status that has had its importance in this rival over the past 20 years. But to what degree depends on which side of the rivalry you’re sitting on.