Le'Veon Bell won a Big Ten rushing title at Michigan State in 2012 and became a second-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Bell won his first AFC rushing crown in 2014 with 1,361 yards.

Darqueze Dennard won the Jim Thorpe Award as the best defensive back in college football at Michigan State in 2013 and became a first-round pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in 2014. Trae Waynes was another All-America cornerback at Michigan State in 2014 who became a first-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings in 2015.

All arrived on the Michigan State campus as two-star recruits.

"The stars don't mean much once you get to college," Bell said. "All those stars go away. That's all high school hype. I wasn't a highly recruited guy. I wasn't a guy with five stars. But when I got to college, I was just as confident in my abilities as any four- or five-star recruit.

"Once you get on that college stage, it's all about coaching and being in the right system that fits you. Then your talent can take over. Coach [Mark] Dantonio gets good players and coaches them up."

That's become a way of life at Michigan State in the Dantonio era -- get good players and coach them up.

And that's why Michigan State is one of the four survivors in the College Football Playoff. The Spartans play Alabama in a semifinal game Thursday at AT&T Stadium.

If football teams are judged in February, as college recruiting classes are, the Spartans have no business preparing for a playoff game this week. But they had no business beating Michigan or Ohio State to win the Big Ten East, for that matter.

On the October day Michigan State played at Michigan, the Wolverines fielded a team with two five-star recruits and 11 four-stars. The Spartans lined up with one five-star recruit and seven four-stars. But Michigan State prevailed 27-23 on a bizarre botched punt on the final play of the game that reserve safety Jalen Watts-Jackson scooped up and returned 38 yards for the game-winning touchdown. Watts-Jackson, by the way, was a three-star recruit.

On the November day Michigan State played at Ohio State, the undefeated and No. 2-ranked Buckeyes fielded a lineup with four five-star recruits and 13 four-stars. But the Spartans again prevailed 17-14 despite playing that day with their backup quarterback. Missing from the lineup was Connor Cook, who won the Unitas Award as the nation's top senior quarterback this season. He arrived at Michigan State as a three-star recruit.

Two Michigan State offensive linemen were named to All-America teams, center Jack Allen and left tackle Jack Conklin. Allen was another three-star and Conklin a no-star. He walked on.

The Spartans are the underdog against Alabama -- a heavy underdog -- and well they should be. Nick Saban has one of the most talented teams in the nation at Alabama. The Crimson Tide have six five-star recruits and 11 four-stars. There isn't a player in the lineup who was less than a three-star recruit. In fact, the average for Alabama's 22 starters is 4.05 stars.

But Ohio State fielded another of the most talented teams in the nation, with a lineup that averages 3.95 stars. Yet the Buckeyes couldn't beat Michigan State in Columbus. Auburn, LSU and Texas A&M aren't in the playoff either, but those schools had the talent to be. The Auburn lineup also averages 3.95 stars and both the LSU and Texas A&M lineups average 3.86.

Unbeaten Clemson, the top seed in the playoff, averages 3.32 stars in its lineup and Oklahoma, the fourth seed, averages 3.23 stars. Michigan and Oregon, both teams defeated by Michigan State this season, averaged 3.41 stars and 3.14 stars, respectively. The Spartans sidle onto college football's recruiting radar right there with a lineup that averages 3.14 stars.

"Coach D finds guys in high school that are first, coachable, and second, are going to work hard," Bell said. "They look for guys with the talent that fits their system, with the talent to fill specific roles. Then they help the guys understand the game of football."

And, boy, do the Spartans understand football.

Michigan State is 43-10 over the last four years and share a nation-best four-game bowl winning streak, having beaten Georgia in the 2012 Outback Bowl, TCU in the 2012 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, Stanford in the 2014 Rose Bowl and Baylor in the 2015 Cotton Bowl. Michigan State has won two Big Ten titles in the last three years and is the only team to finish in the Associated Press' top five each of the last two seasons.

That's quite an achievement by a cast of three-stars.

Quarterback Kirk Cousins was a three-star recruit at Michigan State who became a fourth-round draft pick in the NFL. He starts for the Washington Redskins. Brian Hoyer was a three-star who entered the NFL as an undrafted college free agent. He starts at quarterback for the Houston Texans, though he's out with a concussion. Running back Jeremy Langford was yet another three-star who became a fourth-round pick by Chicago last May. He leads the Bears in touchdowns.

Michigan State has more three-star recruits in the lineup than any other team in the CFP's final eight -- 12 of them. Another, linebacker Ed Davis, was a preseason All-Big Ten pick but didn't play a down this season after suffering a knee injury in August.

Dantonio recruits them and keeps them on campus. He has eight fifth-year seniors in his starting lineup and five others who are seniors academically. Rarely do any Spartans leave early for the NFL. Bell was one of the few, as most of the elite college running backs do. But those who stay are coached up to play Michigan State football -- power offense, power defense. Win the game in the trenches.

The players matter at Michigan State. Not the stars.

"We all have the same mentality," Waynes said. "We all fit his system. And we're guys who buy into the coaching. Some of us maybe come in as two stars, but we don't play like it."

And that gives Michigan State a chance against Alabama's four- and five-stars. Players win games. Not their stars.

Listen to Rick Gosselin at 10:50 a.m. Tuesdays on Sportsradio 1310 AM/96.7 FM The Ticket with Norm Hitzges and Donovan Lewis.

Twitter: @RickGosselinDMN