High 10 wildest HS recruitments amongst Tremendous Bowl stars

The Tremendous Bowl kicks off Sunday and Rivals coated the overwhelming majority of Eagles and Chiefs gamers again after they have been highschool prospects. Rivals recruiting director Adam Gorney remembers the craziest recruitments from gamers going after soccer’s greatest prize this weekend.

RELATED: How Eagles starters ranked in highschool | How Chiefs starters ranked in highschool | Evaluating 2025 five-stars to NFL standouts

Rutgers was the dream college rising up and after visiting with the Scarlet Knights and getting the supply, Barkley dedicated there early in his recruitment. Born in The Bronx, Barkley and his father grew up followers of Rutgers and the New York Jets, as they moved to the Allentown, Pa., space, the place he performed his highschool ball.

However as Barkley’s recruitment picked up by way of his junior season and Penn State got here far more into the image, a flip occurred and the most effective backs in current reminiscence would now play for the Nittany Lions and never the Scarlet Knights.

The four-star would turn out to be a famous person at Penn State and the No. 2 total decide within the 2018 NFL Draft. One wonders what would have turn out to be of him – and the Rutgers program – if he caught together with his first resolution.

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The excessive four-star receiver who was on the perimeter of a five-star rating was very severe about enjoying at Mississippi State. This was peak time for the Bulldogs within the Dan Mullen period when he took them to No. 1 within the nation and Brown was a Starkville child.

However Brown selected Ole Miss over Mississippi State, Alabama and Cal on the finish of the Hugh Freeze period and into the Matt Luke years. It nonetheless labored out for him as a result of he’s so proficient and had DK Metcalf alongside him as properly.

Brown, who was additionally signed by the San Diego Padres out of highschool, targeted on soccer in Oxford, had almost 3,000 receiving yards in three years and was a second-round decide in 2019.

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DeJean camped at Iowa in the summertime earlier than his junior 12 months at Ida Grove (Iowa) Oabcig and didn’t actually stand out all that a lot. Iowa basic supervisor/chief of employees Tyler Barnes mentioned throughout a signing day interview that he was on their board as a walk-on heading into his junior 12 months.

However Barnes made the almost four-hour trek to western Iowa to see DeJean play basketball that 12 months and Barnes mentioned it took him about six performs to know he might play soccer for the Hawkeyes.

The teaching employees didn’t know if he’d be a nook, a security and even an outdoor linebacker however they wished him on the crew. So Iowa provided him and he turned the most effective gamers in current reminiscence there earlier than turning into an early second-round choice.

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Gardner-Johnson was in every single place in his recruitment. The four-star cornerback from Cocoa, Fla., dedicated to Miami early solely to again off that pledge and decide Florida. However after some teaching turmoil in Gainesville, Gardner-Johnson reopened his recruitment as Miami got here again within the image together with Ohio State whereas the Gators caught round.

Then within the spring previous to his senior season, the Cocoa standout re-committed to Florida however by the autumn had 5 official visits deliberate to Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Georgia and again with the Gators. He determined to stay with Florida and he turned a fourth-round decide.

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Ricks was a five-star prospect and the top-rated cornerback within the 2020 class. He turned a nationwide identify after having six pick-sixes in a single season at Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei earlier than transferring to Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy for his senior season.

USC pushed onerous together with Alabama however this was a battle between LSU and Ohio State till dedication day when the Tigers received out. Ricks had an outstanding freshman season in Baton Rouge alongside fellow five-star Derek Stingley Jr., however there have been all the time rumors of stress that Stingley was getting too many accolades and Ricks was trying to switch.

Ohio State appeared to be the vacation spot however Ricks selected Alabama the place he performed properly however by no means had that magic like Yr 1 in Baton Rouge. He ended up going undrafted in 2023 however was picked up by the Philadelphia Eagles.

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When Jones dedicated to Mississippi State in the summertime earlier than his junior season, the headline on Rivals was as nondescript because the information: “Bulldogs add one other dedication.”

On the time, the Houston, Miss., defensive lineman was not the five-star standout he would turn out to be as his recruitment completely blew up by way of his senior 12 months and particularly after an amazing efficiency on the Military All-American Bowl.

However as increasingly consideration got here from Ole Miss, Alabama, USC and others, so did some dying threats from all corners as Jones thought-about taking different visits and seeing different faculties. Probably due to that scary scenario, Jones determined towards some late visits and signed with Mississippi State earlier than turning into a second-round decide.

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Mahomes might find yourself being arguably the best participant in NFL historical past however when the excessive three-star quarterback was coming by way of Whitehouse, Texas, within the 2014 class, Mahomes solely had presents from Houston and Rice.

When DJ Gillins de-committed from Texas Tech, solely then did Mahomes turn out to be a high possibility for then-coach Kliff Kingsbury. Mahomes ended up starring in Lubbock earlier than turning into one thing of a controversial top-10 decide within the 2017 NFL Draft. Mitchell Trubisky was the one quarterback taken forward of him throughout that draft.

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Rating Kelce as a two-star popping out of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, appears to be like like a large miss – and it was contemplating his Corridor of Fame profession – however it will have been unattainable to know on the time as a result of Kelce had no want to play tight finish.

The settlement between Kelce and then-coach Brian Kelly was that he would are available because the third quarterback within the Bearcats’ 2008 class and if it wasn’t offering outcomes then he would transfer positions. That’s precisely what occurred as Kelce grew, moved to tight finish and ended up as a third-round decide.

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Within the last days earlier than Smith-Schuster’s Nationwide Signing Day resolution, all the things was trending towards Oregon for the five-star security (who would find yourself enjoying offense for the rest of his profession as the most effective multi-position athletes in Rivals’ historical past).

The Geese seemed sturdy and at a Lengthy Seaside (Calif.) Poly occasion, Smith even mentioned, ‘Go Geese’ so it seemed as if Oregon was properly forward of USC. However on nationwide tv, Smith-Schuster had a last-second change-of-heart and picked the hometown Trojans. He ended up as a second-round decide.

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In one of many wildest finishes to a recruitment, Worthy signed with Michigan and all was properly till there was a difficulty together with his transcripts and by April after signing day, he wanted to search for a brand new house so requested out of his letter of intent.

Greater than 30 packages tried to get entangled with the Fresno (Calif.) Central East excessive four-star however he ended up at Texas the place he had an amazing profession and caught almost 200 passes in three seasons.

Worthy went on to interrupt the NFL Mix report within the 40-yard sprint and he was a late first-round choice within the 2024 NFL Draft.

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