[Goose]

It is absolutely fair to have little respect for the game of someone who voluntarily steps into the public arena to display their competitive abilities for all to see, while still having respect for them as humans.

I agree with the statement. As a human, it took a lot of guts to accept the challenge to become a Pac-12 QB after throwing 25 passes your senior year, and also to accept the challenge to get into Stanford.
However, I also apparently have more respect for Burns on the field than you do. I think he turned himself into an "OK" quarterback that would have prospered behind the 2015 offensive line. He wouldn't have been Hogan, but he would probably have been OK. He hadn't been in a real game for three years, basically. It was going to take some time to develop, but he showed against K-State that he had it in him. Unfortunately, he had the 2016 offensive line in front of him, not the 2015 line. He had a tough game against UCLA, as did the entire team, but he did what he had to do to win it. Could have been a legend in the making. Then he got the **** beat out of him against UW, pretty much the same against WSU, and against Colorado he had to wear his center a couple of times. I submit that no QB after all that happening is going to have any confidence left, especially if you haven't played for three years. Then he loses his job.   
I think he was "OK", and given where he started, that is pretty darn good. So, I do give his game more credit than you do. He completed some passes, especially early on, that Chryst couldn't seem to hit against Arizona, a much worse defense than K-state or U$C. However, Chryst had the time to improve because he didn't run into the opponents Burns did. Reverse the order and who knows? Opinions do vary.

<snip>
This 2013 class example sure suggests the bar was lowered quite a bit on whoever the best QB prospects were, just so they could have 5 and 4 star recruits.  Maybe the reality is - as it seems - that there simply weren't any 5 star QBs in 2013, and the 4 stars should have been 3 stars.

I think you are correct that there is no absolute standard. Worse still, I don't think their can be. It is hard enough to compare quarterbacks in the NFL. How can you do it with thousands of high schools that don't play each other or even any similar schools. It comes down to opinion, and that is never absolute or objective. So 5 stars never means the same thing to two different services in the same year, let alone across years.

[Goose]

It is absolutely fair to have little respect for the game of someone who voluntarily steps into the public arena to display their competitive abilities for all to see, while still having respect for them as humans.

I agree with the statement. As a human, it took a lot of guts to accept the challenge to become a Pac-12 QB after throwing 25 passes your senior year, and also to accept the challenge to get into Stanford.
However, I also apparently have more respect for Burns on the field than you do. I think he turned himself into an "OK" quarterback that would have prospered behind the 2015 offensive line. He wouldn't have been Hogan, but he would probably have been OK. He hadn't been in a real game for three years, basically. It was going to take some time to develop, but he showed against K-State that he had it in him. Unfortunately, he had the 2016 offensive line in front of him, not the 2015 line. He had a tough game against UCLA, as did the entire team, but he did what he had to do to win it. Could have been a legend in the making. Then he got the **** beat out of him against UW, pretty much the same against WSU, and against Colorado he had to wear his center a couple of times. I submit that no QB after all that happening is going to have any confidence left, especially if you haven't played for three years. Then he loses his job.   
I think he was "OK", and given where he started, that is pretty darn good. So, I do give his game more credit than you do. He completed some passes, especially early on, that Chryst couldn't seem to hit against Arizona, a much worse defense than K-state or U$C. However, Chryst had the time to improve because he didn't run into the opponents Burns did. Reverse the order and who knows? Opinions do vary.

<snip>
This 2013 class example sure suggests the bar was lowered quite a bit on whoever the best QB prospects were, just so they could have 5 and 4 star recruits.  Maybe the reality is - as it seems - that there simply weren't any 5 star QBs in 2013, and the 4 stars should have been 3 stars.

I think you are correct that there is no absolute standard. Worse still, I don't think their can be. It is hard enough to compare quarterbacks in the NFL. How can you do it with thousands of high schools that don't play each other or even any similar schools. It comes down to opinion, and that is never absolute or objective. So 5 stars never means the same thing to two different services in the same year, let alone across years.