The Patriots may be favored to beat the Giants in the Super Bowl, but they have the most underdog stories on their team. In light of National Signing Day which took place last Wednesday, Steve Megargee of Rivals.com went back to look at how each player from the Super Bowl was rated by Rivals coming out of high school. 39 of the 106 players on the active Super Bowl rosters were pre-Rivals (Rivals began rating players in 2002). Of the 67 remaining players, 26 (39%) were rated with two stars or no stars by Rivals. So what does this tell us? Even if you were hardly considered a prospect coming out of high school, it really doesn’t have an impact on your professional prospects. However, it is important to note that some of the biggest impact players in the game were four or five star players.
Let’s start with the four-star guys.
Pats (6): TE Rob Gronkowski (Arizona), TE Aaron Hernandez (Florida), LB Jerod Mayo (Tennessee), RB Stevan Ridley (LSU), RB Shane Vereen (Califiornia), DB Malcolm Williams (TCU)
Giants (13): TE Jake Ballard (Ohio State), TE Travis Beckum (Wisconsin), CB Will Blackmon (Boston College), C Jim Cordle (Ohio State), WR Mario Manningham (Michigan), WR Hakeem Nicks (North Carolina), DE Jason Pierre-Paul (USF), CB Aaron Ross (Texas), RB Da’Rel Scott (Maryland), WR Devin Thomas (Michigan State), DE Justin Trattou (Florida), OT Tony Ugoh (Arkansas), LB Jacquian Williams (USF).
Giants safety Kenny Phillips, and Pats backup QB Ryan Mallett and LB Brandon Spikes were the only five-star guys.
The number of no or two-star players is astounding.
Pats no stars (7): CB Kyle Arrington (Hofstra), LB Dane Fletcher (Montana State), S James Ihedigbo (Massachusetts), OG/C Nick McDonald (Grand Valley State), CB Antwaun Molden (Toledo/Eastern Kentucky), OG Donald Thomas (Connecticut), RB Danny Woodhead (Chadron State).
Giants no stars (4): WR Ramses Barden (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo), WR Victor Cruz (Massachusetts), LB Zak DeOssie (Brown), OG Mitch Petrus (Arkansas).
Pats two stars (11): LS Danny Aiken (Virginia), S Patrick Chung (Oregon), WR/CB Julian Edelman (Kent State), K Stephen Gostkowski (Memphis), RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis (Indiana/Ole Miss), LB Gary Guyton (Georgia Tech), DT Kyle Love (Mississippi State), CB Devin McCourty (Rutgers), DB Sterling Moore (SMU), OT Sebastian Vollmer (Houston), C/OG Ryan Wendell (Fresno State).
Giants two stars (4): OT James Brewer (Indiana), S Derrick Martin (Wyoming), TE Bear Pascoe (Fresno State), LB Spencer Paysinger (Oregon).
The better players tend to be higher rated in high school, but the point is evident: it doesn’t matter how you were rated coming out of high school.
For the entire list of players in the Super Bowl and how they were rated coming out of high school, check out the Rivals.com article.
