Here's a look at the Patriots roster and how they were regarded coming out of high school by Rivals.com. The more stars a player receives the higher level that player is expected to achieve.
Wednesday is National Signing Day and all across the country there will be high school football players making their college choices known. Various scouts and other experts will parse through each school's list and determine which ones have the strongest recruiting classes and which ones failed to attract the necessary talent to compete at this highest level.
You'll hear a lot about stars – as in, five-star recruit. Rivals.com is a recruiting service that ranks the players, and the more stars a player receives the higher level that player is expected to achieve.
With this in mind we thought it might be fun to take a look back at the Patriots and determine how many stars they received when they were far away from the lights and glamour of the NFL and just getting serious about their football careers as they were set to begin college.
Here's a look at the Patriots roster and how they were regarded coming out of high school. (Note: Tom Brady and Steven Jackson entered college before the rating system existed).
NAME | POSITION | COLLEGE | RIVALS STARS |
---|---|---|---|
Brown, Malcom | DL | Texas | 5 |
Easley, Dominique | DL | Florida | 5 |
Blount, LeGarrette | RB | Oregon | 4 |
Bostic, Jonathan | LB | Florida | 4 |
Branch, Alan | DL | Michigan | 4 |
Brown, Tarell | CB | Texas | 4 |
Coleman, Justin | DB | Tennessee | 4 |
Derby, AJ | TE | Arkansas | 4 |
Fleming, Darius | LB | Notre Dame | 4 |
Gaffney, Tyler | RB | Stanford | 4 |
Grissom, Geneo | DL | Oklahoma | 4 |
Gronkowski, Rob | TE | Arizona | 4 |
Hicks, Akiem | DL | Regina | 4 |
Hightower, Dont'a | LB | Alabama | 4 |
Mayo, Jerod | LB | Tennessee | 4 |
Ryan, Logan | CB | Rutgers | 4 |
Vaughters, James | LB | Stanford | 4 |
Williams, Michael | TE | Alabama | 4 |
Amendola, Danny | WR | Texas Tech | 3 |
Andrews, David | C | Georgia | 3 |
Bolden, Brandon | RB | Mississippi | 3 |
Cannon, Marcus | OL | Texas Christian | 3 |
Collins, Jamie | LB | Southern Mississippi | 3 |
Fleming, Cameron | OL | Stanford | 3 |
Flowers, Trey | DL | Arkansas | 3 |
Gibson, Brandon | WR | Washington State | 3 |
Harmon, Duron | DB | Rutgers | 3 |
Harper, Chris | WR | California | 3 |
Jackson, Tre' | G | Florida State | 3 |
Johnson, Leonard | DB | Iowa State | 3 |
King, Brandon | DB | Auburn | 3 |
LaFell, Brandon | WR | Louisiana State | 3 |
Lewis, Dion | RB | Pittsburgh | 3 |
Martin, Keshawn | WR | Michigan State | 3 |
Mason, Shaq | OL | Georgia Tech | 3 |
Ninkovich, Rob | DE | Purdue | 3 |
Richards, Jordan | DB | Stanford | 3 |
Sheard, Jabaal | DL | Pittsburgh | 3 |
Slater, Matthew | WR | UCLA | 3 |
Snyder, Kevin | LB | Rutgers | 3 |
Solder, Nate | T | Colorado | 3 |
Stork, Bryan | OL | Florida State | 3 |
Vellano, Joe | DL | Maryland | 3 |
Vereen, Brock | DB | Minnesota | 3 |
Waddle, LaAdrian | OL | Texas Tech | 3 |
Watson, Dekoda | LB | Florida State | 3 |
White, James | RB | Wisconsin | 3 |
Wilson, Tavon | DB | Illinois | 3 |
Barker, Chris | OL | Nevada | 2 |
Chandler, Scott | TE | Iowa | 2 |
Chung, Patrick | S | Oregon | 2 |
Dobson, Aaron | WR | Marshall | 2 |
Edelman, Julian | WR | Kent State | 2 |
Freeny, Jonathan | LB | Rutgers | 2 |
Garoppolo, Jimmy | QB | Eastern Illinois | 2 |
Gostkowski, Stephen | K | Memphis | 2 |
Iosefa, Joey | RB | Hawaii | 2 |
Johnson, Rufus | LB | Tarleton State | 2 |
Jones, Chandler | DE | Syracuse | 2 |
Jones, Chris | DT | Bowling Green | 2 |
Kitchen, Ishmaa'ily | DL | Kent State | 2 |
Kline, Josh | OL | Kent State | 2 |
McCourty, Devin | DB | Rutgers | 2 |
Milton, Keavon | OL | Louisiana-Monroe | 2 |
Roberts, Darryl | DB | Marshall | 2 |
Siliga, Sealver | DL | Utah | 2 |
Thompson, Cedric | S | Minnesota | 2 |
Wendell, Ryan | OL | Fresno State | 2 |
Allen, Ryan | P | Louisiana Tech | -- |
Brady, Tom | QB | Michigan | -- |
Butler, Malcolm | CB | West Alabama | -- |
Cardona, Joe | LS | Navy | -- |
Carter, DeAndre | WR | Sacramento State | -- |
Develin, James | FB | Brown | -- |
Ebner, Nate | DB | Ohio State | -- |
Fletcher, Dane | LB | Montana State | -- |
Jackson, Steven | RB | Oregon State | -- |
Melvin, Rashaan | DB | Northern Illinois | -- |
Tyms, Brian | WR | Florida A&M | -- |
Vollmer, Sebastian | T | Houston | -- |