Yea, it's way too easy to recruit great DEs in this game. I find the following positions rate either as high or higher than their own position for DE:
Safeties (FS and SS): Try moving some safeties to DE, their points hardly go down! Have you ever seen a 190 pound DE? Well I have, but it was at Baldwin-Wallace.
OLB
MLB, ok I can buy these moves to DE, they at least make sense.
Athletes, as wadc45 said, can make rediculous DEs as freshmen. I recruited a 5* #2 rated Athl and a 4* Athl, they both were rated 92 at DE - 10 points higher than the #1 rated DE I recruited in the same class. WTF?
Recruiting Athletes, while a good idea, is crazy in this game. Most 4* athletes will translate into, at least, a mid 80s position somewhere. Rarely is it any less. They're very unbalanced. BTW, that athlete I recruited at DE has a 95 speed, is 250 lbs and 6'5" - unfreakin believeable!