On Sunday, the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles will meet in Super Bowl 52. For some -- particularly on the Patriots -- playing in a Super Bowl won't be a new experience, but for others, it will be the first time they've reached the pinnacle of their profession.
All of these players have come a long way from their days as high school football players, and that's why it's an interesting idea to look back at where this journey began. No, I'm not talking about in September with the first week of the season, I mean when these players were just kids being recruited by colleges.
I've taken a look at the projected Super Bowl starting lineups for both teams, and gone back in time to look at their recruiting profiles. Not surprisingly, many of the players were blue-chip recruits in high school, with four and five-star ratings. There are also plenty of three-star or lower players, and even a few guys that weren't ranked in high school.
Here's how the New England Patriots offense breaks down.
| Player | Stars | Overall rank | Position rank |
|---|---|---|---|
WR Brandon Cooks | 3 | No. 371 | No. 47 WR |
LT Nate Solder | 3 | No. 884 | No. 51 TE |
LG Joe Thuney | 2 | Unranked | No. 142 OT |
C David Andrews | 3 | No. 523 | No. 9 C |
RG Shaquille Mason | 3 | No. 1,151 | No. 74 G |
RT Cameron Fleming | 3 | No. 516 | No. 37 OT |
TE Rob Gronkowski | 4 | No. 101 | No. 4 TE |
WR Chris Hogan | 0 | Unranked | Unranked |
QB Tom Brady | NR | Unranked | Unranked |
RB Dion Lewis | 3 | No. 528 | No. 7 All-Purpose Back |
RB James White | 3 | No. 551 | No. 46 RB |
The elephant in the room here is that Tom Brady wasn't ranked. It's important to remember that Brady is currently 40 years old, and he graduated from high school in 1996. This was before recruiting became what it is today, but while Brady doesn't have a ranking, it's not like he was hurting for offers. He wound up at Michigan but had offers from plenty of other major schools as well. Had he been a recruit in today's times he'd have been at least a four-star, and possibly a five-star.
The only other player on the Patriots offense without any stars is Chris Hogan, and that's because Hogan played lacrosse in high school. Football came afterward.
The average star rating of the Patriots offense (not including Brady) is 2.7 stars. If we give Brady four stars, that average bumps up to 2.8. How does the Pats defense stack up?
| Player | Stars | Overall rank | Position rank |
|---|---|---|---|
DE Eric Lee | 3 | No. 719 | No. 41 Strong-side DE |
DT Lawrence Guy | 4 | No. 171 | No. 11 DT |
DT Malcom Brown | 5 | No. 9 | No. 2 DT |
DE Trey Flowers | 3 | No. 1,335 | No. 62 Weak-side DE |
LB Kyle Van Noy | 4 | No. 266 | No. 13 Athlete |
LB Elandon Roberts | 0 | Unranked | Unranked |
CB Malcolm Butler | 0 | Unranked | Unranked |
S Patrick Chung | 2 | No. 1,300 | No. 95 S |
S Devin McCourty | 3 | No. 906 | No. 55 S |
S Duron Harmon | 3 | No. 625 | No. 41 Athlete |
CB Stephen Gilmore | 4 | No. 34 | No. 6 CB |
While the Patriots defense also has two zero-star players, it's overall average ranking is 2.8 stars. The lone five-star of the bunch is here in defensive tackle Malcom Brown. He's joined by four-stars Lawrence Guy, Kyle Van Noy and Stephon Gilmore. The only four-star on the Patriots offense is Rob Gronkowski.
Now to the Patriots opponents, the Eagles. Here's how the Philly offense looks.
| Player | Stars | Overall rank | Position rank |
|---|---|---|---|
WR Alshon Jeffery | 4 | No. 110 | No. 13 WR |
LT Halapoulivaati Vaitai | 4 | No. 270 | No. 29 OT |
LG Stefen Wisniewski | 4 | No. 98 | No. 4 G |
C Jason Kelce | 0 | Unranked | Unranked |
RG Brandon Brooks | 3 | No. 559 | No. 49 OT |
RT Lane Johnson | 0 | Unranked | Unranked |
TE Zach Ertz | 4 | No. 224 | No. 7 TE |
WR Torrey Smith | 3 | No. 615 | No. 18 Dual-threat QB |
WR Nelson Agholor | 5 | No. 30 | No. 3 Athlete |
QB Nick Foles | 3 | No. 613 | No. 27 Pro-style QB |
RB LeGarrette Blount | 4 | No. 12 | No. 1 RB |
The Eagles offense also has two zero-stars, but it is loaded outside of Lane Johnson and Jason Kelce. Nelson Agholor is the lone five-star, but Alshon Jeffery, Halapoulivaati Vaitai, Stefen Wisniewski, Zach Ertz and LeGarrette Blount were all four-stars. Its average star rating is 3.1.
As for Johnson and Kelce, both may have been unranked out of high school, but they've both been to Pro Bowls as well. Johnson's story is interesting, as he was a QB in high school, and then I guess he found a weight room and a buffet table in college because he blew up -- literally and figuratively -- from there.
The Eagles defense is just as talented.
| Player | Stars | Overall rank | Position rank |
|---|---|---|---|
DE Vinny Curry | 2 | No. 2,060 | No. 91 Weak-side DE |
DT Timmy Jernigan | 5 | No. 11 | No. 2 DT |
DT Fletcher Cox | 4 | No. 157 | No. 11 DT |
DE Brandon Graham | 5 | No. 16 | No. 3 ILB |
OLB Mychal Kendricks | 3 | No. 654 | No. 54 OLB |
MLB Dannell Ellerbe | 4 | No. 127 | No. 6 OLB |
OLB Nigel Bradham | 5 | No. 19 | No. 1 OLB |
CB Jalen Mills | 3 | No. 638 | No. 45 CB |
S Rodney McLeod | 3 | No. 497 | No. 39 S |
S Malcolm Jenkins | 3 | No. 667 | No. 58 CB |
CB Ronald Darby | 5 | No. 25 | No. 2 CB |
There are no unranked players on this unit, which bumps its average ranking up to 3.8 stars. It also helps that four of the players -- Timmy Jernigan, Brandon Graham, Nigel Bradham, Ronald Darby -- were all five-star recruits. Vinny Curry is the only player with fewer than three stars attached to his name.
All in all, the Eagles win the recruiting ranking battle, finishing with an average rating of 3.5 stars to New England's 2.8.
As far as what we can take away from all this, I think it's fairly simple. You don't have to be a highly-touted recruit to make it to the NFL and have a successful career, but it certainly helps. It's important to remember that while there may be more three-stars and unranked players on these rosters than five stars, there are far fewer five-star players out there. Five-star recruits make up less than one percent of the high school recruits in any given class, yet they account for 13.64 percent of the players in these starting lineups.
That's not a coincidence.
All rankings based on 247 Sports Composite rankings