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.
| name | position | college | rivals stars |
|---|
| Allen, Dwayne | TE | Clemson | 4 |
| Allen, Ryan | P | Louisiana Tech | x |
| Amendola, Danny | WR | Texas Tech | 3 |
| Andrews, David | C | Georgia | 3 |
| Bademosi, Johnson | CB | Stanford | 2 |
| Bolden, Brandon | RB | Mississippi | 3 |
| Brady, Tom | QB | Michigan | x |
| Branch, Alan | DL | Michigan | 4 |
| Britt, Kenny | WR | Rutgers | 4 |
| Brown, Malcom | DL | Texas | 5 |
| Burkhead, Rex | RB | Nebraska | 4 |
| Butler, Adam | DL | Vanderbilt | 3 |
| Butler, Malcolm | CB | West Alabama | x |
| Cardona, Joe | LS | Navy | x |
| Chung, Patrick | S | Oregon | 2 |
| Cooks, Brandin | WR | Oregon State | 4 |
| Croston, Cole | OL | Iowa | x |
| Develin, James | FB | Brown | x |
| Dorsett, Phillip | WR | Miami (Fla.) | 3 |
| Fleming, Cameron | OL | Stanford | 3 |
| Flowers, Marquis | LB | Arizona | 4 |
| Flowers, Trey | DL | Arkansas | 3 |
| Gillislee, Mike | RB | Florida | 4 |
| Gilmore, Stephon | CB | South Carolina | 4 |
| Gostkowski, Stephen | K | Memphis | 2 |
| Grigsby, Nicholas | LB | Pittsburgh | 4 |
| Grissom, Geneo | DL | Oklahoma | 4 |
| Gronkowski, Rob | TE | Arizona | 4 |
| Guy, Lawrence | DL | Arizona St. | 4 |
| Harmon, Duron | DB | Rutgers | 3 |
| Harris, David | LB | Michigan | 3 |
| Harrison, James | LB | Kent State | x |
| Hogan, Chris | WR | Monmouth (N.J.) | 2 |
| Hollister, Jacob | TE | Wyoming | 2 |
| Hoyer, Brian | QB | Michigan St. | 3 |
| Jean Francois, Ricky | DL | LSU | 4 |
| Karras, Ted | G | Illinois | 3 |
| King, Brandon | DB | Auburn | 3 |
| Lee, Eric | DL | South Florida | 3 |
| Lewis, Dion | RB | Pittsburgh | 3 |
| Mason, Shaq | OL | Georgia Tech | 3 |
| McCourty, Devin | DB | Rutgers | 2 |
| Reedy, Bernard | WR | Toledo | 3 |
| Richards, Jordan | DB | Stanford | 3 |
| Roberts, Elandon | LB | Houston | x |
| Rowe, Eric | DB | Utah | 3 |
| Slater, Matthew | WR | UCLA | 3 |
| Solder, Nate | OT | Colorado | 3 |
| Thuney, Joe | G | North Carolina State | x |
| Van Noy, Kyle | LB | Brigham Young | 4 |
| Waddle, LaAdrian | OL | Texas Tech | 3 |
| White, James | RB | Wisconsin | 3 |
| Wise, Deatrich | DL | Arkansas | 3 |
Practice Squad
| NAME | POSITION | COLLEGE | RIVALS STARS |
|---|
| Ferentz, James | OL | Iowa | 3 |
| Hollister, Cody | WR | Arkansas | 2 |
| Jones, David | DB | Richmond | 2 |
| King, Jason | OL | Purdue | 2 |
| Lewis, Ryan | CB | Pittsburgh | 3 |
| McCarron, Riley | WR | Iowa | x |
| Reilly, Trevor | LB | Utah | 2 |
| Travis, Damarius | DB | Minnesota | 3 |
| Tye, Will | TE | Stony Brook | 3 |
| Wiltz, Jomal | DB | Iowa State | 2 |
Reserve/Injured
| NAME | POSITION | COLLEGE | RIVALS STARS |
|---|
| Bennett, Martellus | TE | Texas A&M | 5 |
| Cannon, Marcus | OL | Texas Christian | 3 |
| Ebner, Nate | DB | Ohio State | x |
| Edelman, Julian | WR | Kent State | 2 |
| Hightower, Dont'a | LB | Alabama | 4 |
| Jones, Cyrus | CB | Alabama | 4 |
| Jones, Jonathan | DB | Auburn | 3 |
| McClellin, Shea | LB | Boise State | 2 |
| Mitchell, Malcolm | WR | Georgia | 4 |
| Rivers, Derek | DE | Youngstown State | x |
| Valentine, Vincent | DT | Nebraska | 3 |
Reserve/Non-Football Injury
| NAME | POSITION | COLLEGE | RIVALS STARS |
|---|
| Davis, Keionta | DL | Tennessee-Chattanooga | x |
| Jelks, Andrew | OL | Vanderbilt | 4 |
| Langi, Harvey | LB | Brigham Young | 4 |
Reserve/Non-Football Illness
| NAME | POSITION | COLLEGE | RIVALS STARS |
|---|
| Garcia, Tony | OL | Troy | 2 |
