In today's world, it would not be difficult to identify all players by position and rank them in (rough) order by their ability, just as they were ranked out of high school but with more insight into their actual capabilities. A kid should know where they fit into the big picture of college athletics and what realistic opportunities are out there, especially if they have a legitimate agent who knows what he is being paid to do.
Unfortunately, the chaos of the portal often makes for bad decisions for both the player and the school. It feels like a feeding frenzy with a lot of hit and miss decisions all around.