This is Your Biggest Asset as a College Football Prospect

Chad Wilson

We’ve all played Madden on Play station and or Xbox right?  You know what the most annoying thing is on the game?  I know you are going to feel me on this.  It’s when you have a player on the field that is doing some really good things,  doesn’t make a simple play and finds himself out of place.  It will drive you nuts.

On the Madden game,  a player has a ton of different attributes like speed, quickness, route running, tackling and the all important one called….. AWARENESS.  Lack of awareness will cause a player to make some funny moves,  terrible decisions and end up totally out of place.  It’s funny,  these same things will happen to you as a recruit if you lack self awareness.  For most human beings,  self awareness is a tough thing to acquire.  It is extra hard to acquire this skill when you are a teenager.  You are at the age where you feel like you can do all things and while you should be encouraged to do so,  it is crucial that you know your limitations.

One of the biggest reasons that the transfer portal is choc-full of athletes right now is because high school football prospects lacked the self awareness necessary to make a proper decision.  Now they are athletes at a college that is not suited for them and they are realizing it.  Aside from lacking the experience that gives you better self awareness,  having this skill is often not something that teens find to be very important.  On top of that,  it is important for your psyche for you to keep up with your peers. You also have people blowing your heads up with how great you are.   Yes,  welcome to the new era of college football recruiting where you can go viral and become an overnight sensation off of one play in a 7on7 event vs. a kid that will never see a college football offer in his life.

What’s important for you as a prospect is to keep a level head despite the fact that there are so many ready to pump it full of air until it explodes.  You are never as good as people may be saying and you aren’t as bad as your worst play.  Having an accurate picture of who you are will put you in the best situation when it comes time for you to make a commitment to a program for the next three to four or even five years.  Don’t get fooled by that safety net known as the transfer portal.  This new era of college football prospect thinks that it’s the big eraser for them to use when they bubble in the wrong letter on the college choice scantron.  The problem with this is that so many athletes are using the portal now . This makes your prospects of going to your next school of choice or even to another school on scholarship less likely.

The best thing that you can have happen to you is choosing a school,  making a commitment,  going to that school and staying there until completion.  Of course,  I understand that some circumstances can be out of your control like coaching changes but for the most part,  the portal entries are as a result of a poor initial decision.

Here are some keys to having the proper self awareness necessary to make the best college choice as a prospect.  First,  stop worrying about what the next prospect is getting.  Whether it is a friend,  teammate or cross town rival,  what another prospect is getting in terms of offers has nothing to do with you.  Nothing can make a person lose their place like focusing on that of another.  For all you know,  the offers that the next guy has are not legitimate or the school he chooses is not right for him.  Do you want to follow that?

Second,  do some research.  Check out what type of players, at your position,  the schools you are considering are recruiting.  Check out what type of players have been successful for them in the past.  If the school has been successful with 6’2″ wide receivers in their offense and you are 5’10”,  it is something to think about.  Coaches will stick with what has worked for them.  They will crave the type of player that has gotten it done for them.  Sure,  you may break the mold and it’s great to be bold but be smart about it.  It can be frustrating to be doing well and get put on the back burner because you aren’t their ideal candidate.

Finally,  constantly evaluate what you are as a prospect.  This is the hardest part because it is routine to overestimate our skill level.  However,  where you can,  use hard metrics to make comparisons.  How tall are you?  How fast are you?  How much do you bench? How much do you squat?  Watch film of a team’s commitments then watch your film.  Do you really stack up?  Ask that question constantly and answer it honestly.

In closing,  ego is a big thing when you are a teen but I am telling you from experience,  a lot of times the most popular guy in school,  the one voted most likely to succeed  has hit their peak in high school.  A lot of times,  it’s guys that had to grind,  take a round about path and absorb some lumps that are the ones on top when adulthood hits.  Don’t let your ego make you run out of bounds when you are in the open field with a clear path to the touchdown of life because your awareness rating is not up to snuff.

When it Comes to Recruiting, Exposure is the Name of the Game

Chad Wilson

“I don’t really do camps” Those are famous words of an underrated prospect who is sitting in the crowd in the auditorium on national signing day.  It’s good to want things in life but it’s even better to do things to make them happen.  Success is not an accident I always say.  It’s a combination of decisions made and actions taken to achieve the results that you and others consider success.

In this day and age of hyper media coverage and social media platforms,  saying you want to a football scholarship but you don’t do camps is like saying you want to score touchdowns but you don’t want to play football.  The same goes for the guy who doesn’t want to do social media either.  Perhaps the thinking is that if I am good,  they will find me.  They might with an emphasis on the word “might”.  Over 1 million young men suit up and play high school football every year.  Many of them would like to play college football.  A large majority of them are on social media displaying their talents and a good many of them are attending camps doing the same.  Sure you may be good but if you aren’t into exposure,  you aren’t just a face in the crowd,  you aren’t even in the crowd.

College football scholarship opportunities are shrinking for high school football players.  More and more schools are taking to the transfer portal to fulfill certain needs.  This is happening while more and more resources are being devoted to cover athletes that want to be seen.  Having a Hudl account is cool but 100’s of 1,000’s of others have one too.

I know it can be daunting keeping up with all of the social media stuff.  Posting on Twitter,  getting pictures up on Instagram and keeping information updated on recruiting sites.  Hitting all these camps can be tough too.  Your spring break gets chewed up along with a big portion of your summer break.  Besides,  you might not like all that competing in shirts and shorts.  After all,  football is a game played in pads.  I get it but you know what else is a game, recruiting and part of that game is played on a keyboard and in shorts.  I may not like it,  your coach may not like it and you may not like it but that won’t change the facts.  We could hate the sky being blue couldn’t we?

The recruiting game is one that has to be played if you want to score the touchdown which is a scholarship offer.  There are the rare moments where you could get offers without doing any of the stuff I mentioned but do you really want to give yourself the long odds?  Your college football recruiting window is 4 years out of your life.  The sacrifice you make now pays dividends for 20, 30, 40 years.  It’s always tough for teens to think past the moment they are standing in right now but success awaits those who do.

If a college football scholarship is what you want then aside from doing all the weightlifting,  running,  studying and playmaking on the field in the Fall,  you have to engage in the exposure side of it.  You have to put yourself out there to be seen by those who can make the decision.  The best analogy I can give you is that you can work hard to make a pie and sure it could taste good but if you don’t bring the pie to the pie contest at the festival,  no one will know how good it is.  You certainly won’t get an award.

In my two decades in the recruiting business,  I have learned this one very important thing.  The most successful recruits are the ones who make use of all of their resources.  When you are young,  take advantage of everything.  As a freshman,  pretend that no one will recruit you.  Consider joining recruiting sites that make sense.  Create your Twitter account dedicated to recruiting if you can.  Change your Instagram account to incorporate some of your football recruiting info.  Attend the smaller camps and start building a list of coaches.  Definitely download and create an account on the GridironStuds App.

As time wears on you can devote more of your time to the resources that are more necessary.  You can change the type of camps you attend based on the amount of success you are having and you can tailor that coach list to the types of schools that seem to be interested.  Make an exposure plan for yourself now and follow it.  Bake the beautiful pie.  Use the best ingredients but do bring it to the festival so that it can receive the awards it so justly deserves.

You Want a College Football Scholarship but YOu Missed Your Junior Year

Chad Wilson

There are over 1 million high school football players every year.  I am sure you have heard that stat before.  A good majority of those 1 million would love to play the sport at the college level.  When you think of it that way you realize it is very difficult to stand out in the crowd when you are trying to capture a college’s attention.  This task becomes even harder when you missed your entire junior season due to injury.  We are going to take a look at some ways you can get on the colleges’ radar when you fall into this category.

There’s no disputing that the junior year for a high school football player is the most important season of all.  If you are at a solid program that is known to get colleges’ attention,  it typically won’t be until your junior season that you either start or make a real significant impact on the team.  It is also around this year that your puberty kicks in and you benefit from your athleticism.  So to lose this important year to an injury can be catastrophic but not terminal.  The road to your college football scholarship has taken a curve but you can get back on the straight path by doing these five important things.

(1) Rehab

First of all,  you have to make sure that you are 100%.  Rehab after an injury is hard.  That is the reason why some athletes don’t come back like they were before.  Rehabbing an ACL or achilles tear will likely involve you working out in a way that you never have before.  It is easy for your mind to start saying “I quit.”  Of course you can’t quit,  that memory will stay with you for a good portion of your life and you will be a guy that always has an excuse.  So attack the rehab with the utmost determination.  If nothing else,  it will build character and mental strength that can be used later on in life.  Practically speaking,  a good rehab can strengthen an athlete in areas he was weak in before and bring him back as a better version of himself.

(2) Weight Room

There is rehab and there is the weight room.  They may seem similar but they are indeed different.  There is the stuff you will do specifically with the trainer in charge of your rehab and then there are the things your weight training coach or you yourself will strive to do.  As you progress in your rehab and can be more active,  you should be building yourself up in the weight room. You can’t run most likely due to your injury.  Fill that “can’t run” time up with getting bigger and stronger.  This will give you the strength to be a faster athlete when you can run again and it will have you looking the part when college coaches start coming around.  I have seen guys who couldn’t participate in practice and are in street clothes get love from college coaches at a spring game.  This happened simply because their traps were climbing out of the hole in their T-shirt.  True story.

(3) Attend Camps in the Summer

You have no junior film so you have to show them something.  You are going to do that when you appear in person in camp and dominate.  During the course of watching the junior season from the sidelines and having to go through the pain of rehab,  you should be plenty motivated.  Time to take out your frustrations on the unsuspecting camp goer.   Hey it’s a dog eat dog world and it’s time to show your chops.  Hit as many camps as you can and work to impress.  It’s ok to pick a few schools that may be deemed over your head too.  See where you are and how you measure up.   Learn as much as possible at camp and take all feedback in a positive manner.  Use it to mold yourself into the player you want to be in the final season on the prep gridiron.

(4) Sophomore Film

Get your sophomore film together if you have not already done so.  If you played as a sophomore,  make the most of that film.  Make that film great and by great I don’t mean adding special effects and music that the coaches will mute.  I mean use it show what you can do.  There is plenty on this blog about how to effectively put together a highlight video but to make a long story short,  put your best plays first and try to show all of your talents within the first minute.  Have something to show a coach if you have it.

(5) Make A Small School List

Yes,  everyone wants to go to a Top 2o football program,  receive a NIL deal and pick hat off of the table on signing day.  Get yourself out of that thinking.  You are playing to win the game.  Get on your small school grind.  Depending on your talent level,  start getting a list together of smaller FBS programs along with FCS + some Division II schools.  Put your ego aside and don’t worry about what the next man is doing.  Just because you aren’t going to a major football power doesn’t mean you aren’t going to be a major football player.  You are building for your future.  Secure the attention of these schools.  Let them know your situation and what you have been doing to reach your potential.  They will admire your work ethic,  tenacity and determination.  Perhaps you go out on the field your senior year and go crazy.  Maybe the big boys come looking for you but I would not bank on it.  Have the lower level schools as an insurance policy.   Teenagers tend not to think about the future.  When it comes to this right here,  don’t think like a teenager.  Think like…(gulp) your parents.

This setback you suffered can be a big blessing for you depending on how you treat it.  In your young life it may be your first experience into what all adults know and that is life will deal you a couple of bad hands.  Wouldn’t it be great for you to come out of the blocks in the race of life with a win?  Follow these steps and that’s just what you’ll do even if you don’t end up with a college football scholarship in the end.  You would have experienced high value training for this thing we call life.

5 Reasons You Should Run Track As a Football Prospect

Chad Wilson

One of the most often asked question by high school football players and potential college football prospects is how the can improve their speed.  Obviously everyone knows the importance of speed for a football player but what baffles me is how so many people in this category do not know the best way to make this happen.

I suppose the advent of personal trainers has clouded the obvious for many high school football players and athletes in general.  The common theme it seems now is to either find a “speed trainer” or look up some techniques on the Internet to improve speed on their own.  Using those two ways to improve speed comes with mixed results and more often than not results in failure.

What many prospects fail to realize is that running track remains one of if not the best way to improve your speed and potentially your performance on the football field.  However,  improving your speed is not the only benefit you will gain from running track. In this article I will outline the five reasons you should run track in high school if you are a football prospect.

(1) Improves Your Speed (Duh!)

Sure,  I know having a personal speed trainer sounds sexy.  Don’t get me wrong there are some really solid coaches out there that could potentially work with you and make improvements to your speed.  However,  there are far more that will waste your time and your money.  The truth of the matter is that the kind of workouts that you will endure in track practice combined with the competition you will face in meets will have no choice but to improve your speed.  The whole business of track is about beating the time this week that you ran last week.  Everything is geared towards that and your speed is measured almost on a weekly basis.  You are also pitted against other competitors from other schools.  Your determination to beat them stresses your speed muscles to the utmost.  You literally have no choice but to improve your speed.

(2)  Makes You A Better Conditioned Athlete

All of that running will make your faster but you know what else it will do?  It will make you a fast athlete that can run fast more often and for longer periods of time.  The very workouts in track that are probably scaring you from going out for the team are the ones that will make you better than everyone else on the field during the Fall.  An entire offseason of challenging track workouts will not only give you the speed to hit the sidelines and outrun everyone but give you the stamina to go hard in the 4th quarter when everyone else (including some of your teammates) want to fold.  This turns you into a relentless athlete that wins more of his battles in competition.  A well conditioned body comes with a strong mind.  Strong minds win.

(3) Builds Character

This is closely related to my last point.  Digging deeper,  overcome your fear of running track because the workouts are hard and you might get embarrassed in a meet puts you on your way to having the mental strength to conquer almost anything you face on the field.  The reason track athletes excel is because they are willing to do things that most other athletes are not willing to do.  How many athletes are willing to run 8 x 200 meters at 75% speed with 2 minutes rest.  Workouts like that will test you mentally.  When you complete those type of workouts and live to tell about them,  your ability to fear anything diminishes.  If nothing else,  you are able to crush football workouts in the Summer after going through track workouts in the Spring.  One last thing,  after you have overcome the struggle of trying to get your sweats off for a race because you are so nervous,  you will have less fear of playing in front of a crowd on Friday Night when you are facing an arch rival or top player.  You’ve already conquered your fears.

(4) Develops Your Competitive Spirit

Track is an individual sport.  Unlike football,  you don’t get to hide in the pack and get away with giving less than your best here or there.  There are no teammates to pick up your slack,  unless you are in a relay.  When you are on that track it’s you against the other seven competitors.  Sometimes,  you are the only one dressed in your school’s colors.  In other words,  the spotlight is on you.  You will have to reconcile your performance and the place that you came in.  People will see it and will ask you about it.  If you have never run track before,  that will scare you.  If you have the guts to go out and stick with it,  it won’t be long before you realize you don’t like the feeling of losing.  You will be determined to do something about it.  That something will be workout harder,  perfect the art of running and give it your all in the meets in an effort to win.  When you return to the football field with that competitive attitude,  watch how you start dominating the man in front of you.  Most of the battles on a football field are mental anyways.  When track has made you a mentally tough athlete,  you now have the advantage over your opponent on the gridiron.

(5) College Coaches Respect Track Times

Some high school 40 times are more bogus than those I will make you rich in Bitcoin comments that you see on Instagram.  You want to be a certified speedster,  produce track times.  A coach may not believe you when you say you ran a 4.39 forty but when you can back that up with a 21.42 time in the 200m dash,  he’s going to take your word for it.  College coaches know that track times are official because track is all about the times.  Coaches and meet directors can’t run around making up times or the entire sport is up in smoke.  So when your track profile says 10.71 100 meter dash or 48.33 in the 400 meters,  college coaches know its the truth and that you have legitimate speed.  Point blank,  legitimate speed gets you offers.  You can be an average player (not that you should want to be) and get offers because you have serious track times.   Coaches always figure that they can teach a guy with speed how to be a better player.  They are less confident that they can make you faster.

You won’t find five better reasons than this to head out to your school’s track and join the team if you want to craft yourself into a college football prospect.  If a college program has one spot remaining and it comes down to you and another guy here’s what will happen.  Assuming that all other things are equal,  the spot is going to the guy that ran track or the one who has the better times in 90% of the cases.  Speed is like Bitcoin in 2020 when it comes to recruiting,   everybody wants some.

Wanna Play College Football as a RB? Show These 5 Things on Film

Chad Wilson

Getting a college football scholarship as a high schooler has become increasingly difficult.  With the changes in transfer rules and the advent of the transfer portal,  the scholarship p00l for prep players has shrunk significantly.  Combine that with the fact that running back has become a less important position in today’s game than ever before and we have a need to get it right as a ball carrier more than ever before if you want to play at the next level.

You may be a very talented running back at the high school level but if you don’t effectively showcase your skills or at least package them right,  there’s a chance that you may be talented and unsigned when signing day comes your senior year.   We can do a lot to avoid such an occurrence if we pay attention to the tips I give you in this article.  Here are five important things you need to show on your highlight video as a high school running back if you want a college football scholarship.

(1) Vision

The essence of being a running back is vision.  You have to be able to see the holes and seams in the defense as you are carrying the football.  There is nothing worse that a running back that runs into the back of his blockers or misses wide open opportunities in the defense on a routine basis (Trent Richardson comes to mind).  If you had runs where you spotted the hole,  hit the gas and got the yards then show it.  Coaches will tell you that this is one of the hardest skills to teach a back.  You are either born with that or not.  Showing that ability on film will excite a coach because he knows he won’t have to rack his brain trying to get you to see the holes in the defense.

(2) Cutting Ability

Seeing the holes are great but if you can’t get there then it’s just the same as you being blind.  All the best backs that have played the game have showed an ability to cut on a dime,  find the hole from anywhere on the field and devastate multiple defenders in the process.  A back with vision is exciting.  A back with vision and cutting ability is legendary.  Show the runs where you had to go lateral or cut back against the grain.  While not as hard as vision to teach,  it is a difficult skill to acquire.

(3) Speed

We all know that speed kills.  Running backs that can go 0 to 100 real quick tend to keep defensive coaches up late at night.  A running back that can take a ball and go 60, 70 or 80 yards for a touchdown is a Godsend and they are also very likely to be courted by many schools in the recruiting process.  In the offseason,  it is not a bad idea if you find yourself on the track team.  Having 40 yard dash speed is good but having track speed over distances like 100 and 200 meters can set you apart from all of the others. 

Every year college coaches set out on the trail beating the bushes looking for the sub 11 second 100 meter ball carriers that can change the course of a program’s history

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.  If you have that ability you should lead your highlight video off with that.  If you don’t have that ability,  find some track spikes and the track coach in the offseason.

(4) Break Tackles

Vision, cutting and speed is good but you can’t always avoid the defenders.  Even the best runners get greeted by the guys on the other side of the ball.  One thing that makes defenses feel helpless and hopeless is when they can’t tackle the running back.  If you are the type of guy that can shake off defenders then definitely showcase that on film.  Being hard to bring down is exciting to coaches that are looking to recruit running backs.  They know that tough yards are the type of yards that wear down defenses and secure victory.  Being hard to bring down starts with determination but is honed in the weight room.  Being consistent with the weights,  adding size and strength is your way to being the back that is a headache.  Show this skill or acquire it ASAP.

(5) Hands

The game of football is changing.  Where it once used to be smashmouth in between the tackles,  things have gotten much more spread out.  As such,  running backs have become more active in the passing game.  No longer are you just there for the play fakes and blocking.  Now running backs are that fifth receiver that can be an X factor.  It’s hard enough covering all the receivers in today’s game.  If you can come out of the backfield to wreak havoc on a linebacker that can’t cover then you are valuable.  If you have receiving skills out of the backfield then put it on display.  Whether you have that skill or not,  continue to work on it.  Being versatile as a runner and receiver makes you unique.  Being unique is a great way to win in the game of recruiting.

Being elite in one or more of these areas will land you on a college’s radar.  Being good in three or more of these categories will put some offers on the table.  Having all five of these skills at an above average level will not only land you scholarship offers but will likely get you ranked by the recruiting services.  So,  when you are making your highlight video,  keep these things in mind and while you are training this offseason,  you should be working towards building up these skills amongst other things.  Blocking is still important so don’t turn a blind eye to that either.  Follow these guidelines and you may just be a college football running back one day.

Looking Back on the High School Career of the Top 10 Picks in the 2016 NFL Draft

Chad Wilson

We just finished the 2022 NFL draft and much has been said about the prospects including their skill, history, workouts, production, etc.  In a future article,  I will take a look at where they came from to get to where they are but I thought it would be interesting to take a look back six years and reveal the high school careers of the Top ten 2016 NFL draft picks.

Much is made online and in social media about the handing out of stars and whether or not they matter.  Most people want to argue that they don’t matter.  I think much of that has to do with not wanting to give the power to reporters who most likely did not play the game.  Football has already been ambushed by nerds with the advent of analytics.  The gridiron purist just aren’t ready to drop this kind of power into the hands of the hacks that wield the pens.  I understand the unwillingness but do stars matter to the Top 10 of the NFL draft?  Let’s take a look.

The 2016 NFL draft class comprised itself primarily of prospects from the 2011, 2012 and 2013 college football recruiting classes.  As it relates to the top 10 guys drafted,  half of them came from the 2013 class which means they left school early to enter the draft.

(1) Jared Goff – (California) – Los Angeles Rams

By now we all know Goff’s NFL story.  He was in purgatory with the Rams under Jeff Fisher and his primitive offense.  He was rescued by wonder boy Sean McVay and saw un uptick in his career.  That uptick included a march to the Super Bowl where they came up short vs. the New England Patriots.  Soon he fell out of favor and was shipped off to Detroit for Matt Stafford and the rest is history.

Goff was a better than average recruited prospect coming out of high school.  He was a consensus 4-star by the services as a 6’4″ 185 lb. pro style quarterback.  He was the 213th prospect overall in the country,  25th in California,  his native state and the 15th rated pro style passer.  Who was first in that category?  Max Browne who signed with USC and never materialized into what he was projected to be.  247 Sports lists only three offers for Goff which may or may not be accurate.  Whatever the case may be,  he took the best offer and worked his way into a big time QB for the Cal Bears and a 1st overall pick.

(2) Carson Went – (North Dakota St.) – Philadelphia Eagles

Wentz is the kind of story that prospects love.  Let’s face it,  most high school football players are unranked and unheralded.  With that being the case,  it would stand to reason that he would be popular.  The 6’5″ 220 lb. Wentz was overlooked by schools all across the country.  There were two big reasons for this.  One,  he was in North Dakota which is hardly a hotbed for high school football (few things are hot in North Dakota) and two he was a late bloomer.  Wentz was 5’8″ as a high school freshman.  Wentz had one offer out of high school and that was North Dakota St.

It took Wentz three years to become the starter at North Dakota St. but when he did get the job,  he excelled.  Wentz led the Bison to their fourth and fifth straight FCS championships and put up solid numbers.  Ultimately,  NFL teams became impressed by his stature and skill set leading up to the draft.  This one time virtually un-recruited high schooler was now the 2nd overall pick in the draft.  As opposed to Goff who was from the 2013 college football recruiting class,  Wentz was from the 2011 class,  the only member of the Top 10 from that recruiting class.

Wentz had a solid first year by rookie QB standards and followed that up with an outstanding sophomore campaign.  He led the Eagles to the playoffs before tearing his ACL and missing their Super Bowl title run.  Ultimately,  Wentz was shipped out of Philly after losing his confidence and is now on his 3rd team in three years after signing with the Commanders this past off season.

(3) Joey Bosa – (Ohio St.) – Los Angeles Chargers

Bosa was a 4-star defensive end coming out of famed St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.  He was the 37th ranked overall prospect,  9th in Florida and 4th at his position for the 2013 class.   The top Strongside defensive end for the 2013 class was Robert Nkemdiche who is currently a NFL free agent.

According to 247 Sports,  Bosa had 14 offers coming out of high school though I suspect he had more.  He went on to have a great career at Ohio St. and parlayed that into a 3rd overall selection in the 2016 NFL draft.

Bosa has lived up to the billing at the NFL level.  He was the defensive rookie of the year in 2016 and has made the Pro Bowl four times already.

(4) Ezekiel Elliott – (Ohio St.) – Dallas Cowboys

Elliot was a 4-star prospect in the 2013 college football recruiting class.  He was the 69th overall prospect in the country,  first in Missouri and 5th rated all purpose back.  The number one rated all purpose back that year was a kid out of Georgia named Alvin Kamara who signed with Alabama and ended up at Tennessee.

Perhaps Elliot was maligned because he came out of Missouri.  He was a three sports star at John Burroughs high school and played in the Army All America Game.  Entering into Ohio St. he was backup to Carlos Hyde,  an accomplish runner for the Buckeyes.  After Hyde graduated,  Elliott took over as the starter as sophomore and never looked back.  He cranked out outstanding sophomore and junior campaigns.  As a junior he led the Buckeyes to a College Football Championship win over Alabama.  He turned all of that accomplishment into a 4th round pick overall.

Zeke,  as he is called,  remains a premier back in the NFL but his stature has declined since his awesome rookie year.  Between off the field problems and injuries,  Elliott has turned into a platoon back for the Cowboys with a big contract.  Cowboy fans are hopeful that his rookie form will return.

(5) Jalen Ramsey – (Florida St.) – Jacksonville Jaguars

Ramsey was the first 5-star recruit taken in the 2016 draft.  Coming out of high school he was the 16th ranked prospect nationally. He was first in Tennessee and second at his position.  The number one ranked cornerback in the 2013 class was Vernon Hagreaves out of Tampa, Florida.

Ramsey is the highest ranked college prospect out of the Top 10 draft picks from this class.  He managed his 30 offers into signing with Florida St.  He would have an instant impact in Tallahassee.  He became the first freshman starter at defensive back since Deion Sanders and was a big part of the national championship team.  He did not compile big turnover stats at FSU (only 3 INTs) but he was used more as a jack knife for the Seminoles instead of a mainstay at corner.  After much success in three years,  Ramsey left after his junior year to become the 5th overall pick.

There’s no disputing the success of Ramsey’s pro career.  He is arguably the best cornerback in the game depending on who you are arguing with.  He is amongst the highest paid and he was a key cog on defense this past season as the team won their 2nd Super Bowl in team history.  Ramsey has lived up to the hype.

(6) Ronnie Stanley – (Notre Dame) – Baltimore Ravens

Four star rated Ronnie Stanley was the 125th rated recruit in the 2012 college football recruiting class.  At 6’6″ 285 lbs.  he was hard not to notice.  The Bishop Gorman graduate was ranked number one in Nevada and was the 12 rated offensive tackle that year.  The number one rated tackle in the class was D.J. Humphries out of North Carolina who signed with Florida and is now a member of the Arizona Cardinals.

Stanley had 18 offers as a 6’6″ 285 lb. offensive lineman.  He signed with Notre Dame in 2012.  Since playing sporadically in his freshman year in South Bend,  Stanley has started every game in his career since then for both Notre Dame and Baltimore.  He has started all 79 games for the Ravens and was a pro bowl selection in 2020.

(7) DeForest Buckner – (Oregon) – San Francisco 49ers

Buckner hails from Hawaii and was a ranked a 4-star in the 2012 class.  He was the 224th rated prospect making him first in Hawaii.  He was the 15 rated weakside defensive end in his class.  Number one at weakside defensive end that year was Noah Spence who signed with Ohio St.,  ended up with Eastern Kentucky and is now on his fourth NFL team,  the Cincinnati Bengals.

At 6’7″ 238 lbs.,  there was little chance that Buckner would go unnoticed but being from Hawaii may have dampened his hype a bit.  Either way he had nine offers and chose Oregon.  He would go on to develop into a monster for the Ducks and be voted the Pac-12 defensive player of the year in his final season.

Buckner carried on his high production as a member of the 49ers becoming a Pro Bowler twice.  In 2020,  the 49ers traded Buckner to Indianapolis for a first round pick and became an All Pro that season.

(8) Jack Conklin – (Michigan St.) – Tennessee Titans

If you liked Carson Wentz’s story,  you’ll love Conklin’s.  In terms of rankings, ratings, etc.,  Conklin was a virtual nobody coming out of high school.  No rating,  no ranking and no offers after playing for his father at Plainwell High School in Michigan.  What Conklin did have was a 6’5″ 285 lb. frame and that was enough for Michigan St. to allow him to be a walk on.  Two years later,  Conklin was a full time starter on the offensive line for the Spartans.  He would start 38 of the next 39 games in his career and be good enough to forgo his final season in East Lansing.

In 2016,  the Browns would make him the 8th overall selection and the starting hasn’t stopped.  Conklin has started everyone of the 79 games he has played in his career for both the Titans and now the Browns.  He made the all rookie team in 2016 and has twice been voted an All Pro.  Not bad for an offer-less no star in the class of 2012.

(9) Leonard Floyd – (Georgia) – Chicago Bears

Leonard Floyd was a specimen in high school but not the most recruited kid in the country.  Yes he was a 4-star and yes he went to Georgia but he was the 140th ranked recruit in the 2012 class and the 14th rated outside linebacker.  The consensus that season had him ranked as the 12th overall prospect in Georgia out of Dodge County high school.   The number one rated outside linebacker in the 2012 class was Floyd’s Georgia teammate Josh Harvey-Clemons.  Clemons was eventually dismissed from Georgia,  went to Louisville and was drafted in the 7th round in 2017 by the Washington Commanders.  He is currently a NFL free agent.

247 Sports list only five offers for Floyd when he came out.  He enjoyed a gradually solid career at Georgia and developed a reputation as an athletic and versatile linebacker prospect.  After dazzling scouts at the NFL combine,  Floyd climbed into the top 10 and was taken by Chicago.  He played four solid years in Chicago but was released in a cost cutting move by the Bears in 2020.  He signed with the Los Angeles Rams that year and has enjoyed his two finest seasons on the Super Bowl champions.  This offseason he signed a four year $64 million dollar extension with the club.

(10) Eli Apple – (Ohio St.) – New York Giants

Apple,  though not a five star,  was much heralded coming out of Eastern High School in New Jersey.  He was the 52nd overall ranked prospect,  second in the state and the 7th rated cornerback in the 2013 class (Vernon Hargreaves).

He listed 15 offers by the end of his recruitment and chose the Ohio St. University.  He redshirted as a freshman and then had two solid years for the Buckeyes.  After his junior season,  he turned pro and scouts fell in love with his potential.  The New York Giants made him the third Buckeye chosen in the top 10 in the 2016 draft.

Apple’s career is not what many had hoped.  His time in New York was tumultuous and he was eventually traded to New Orleans.  He would spend a couple of seasons with the Saints before going to Carolina and then Cincinnati.  In 2021,  Apple enjoyed one of his better years as a pro for the Bengals as they went all the way to the Super Bowl.

If you go by the 247 rankings,  only one of the top 10 draft picks in the 2016 class was a 5-star (Jalen Ramsey).  At 16th,  he is also the highest rated of the picks.  It is interesting to see how many of the top rated players at the various positions didn’t really pan out in college.  Ohio St. was impressive with 30% of the Top 10 coming from Columbus.

What these rankings do tell us is that on some level,  rankings matter.  They give you early and more consistent chances in college.  However,  they also reveal that life is not over if you are unranked.  The recruiting stories of Wentz and Conklin show that it’s not where you start but how you finish.