It's almost time for Super Bowl LV from Tampa, Florida. The Kansas City Chiefs will take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a classic showdown of top quarterbacks. But how did those quarterbacks -- Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady -- rank as high school recruits? We're going to take a deep dive on the starters for each team on offense and defense and see how they rated as prospects coming out of high school ahead of the Feb. 7 showdown.
For example: four players from the Chiefs were blue-chip prospects (meaning four- or five-star) coming out of high school. The two five-stars were wide receivers Sammy Watkins and defensive tackle Chris Jones. But, mostly, the Chiefs' starting lineup is comprised of former two-star or three-star players. In fact, one of the team's best players, receiver Tyreek Hill, was a track star coming out of high school and thus unranked. Hill didn't earn blue-chip status until he was a four-star junior college recruit that signed with Oklahoma State.
The Buccaneers have more of a blue-chip feel to them with half of the team's starting 22 ranking as four- or five-star prospects. This is especially notable in the skill spots -- running back Ronald Jones, wide receiver Chris Godwin and TE Rob Gronkowski were four-stars -- and on defense.
Of course, this list is incomplete. "Backups" like Chiefs wide receiver Mecole Hardman or Bucs running back Leonard Fournette, both of whom played massive roles in their team's success, were five-star recruits with Fournette being the No. 1 prospect in the country. Conversely, Tom Brady's time as a recruit came well before the star system was implemented.
With that in mind, here's a look at the Chiefs' offense based on the team's depth chart (all are high school rankings courtesy of 247Sports Composite):
| Player | Stars | Overall rank | Position rank |
|---|---|---|---|
QB Patrick Mahomes | 3 | No. 398 | No. 22 Pro-style QB |
RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire | 3 | No. 378 | No. 5 APB |
FB Anthony Sherman | 3 | No. 1,028 | No. 48 ILB |
WR Tyreek Hill | N/A | Unranked | Unranked |
WR Sammy Watkins | 5 | No. 20 | No. 4 WR |
TE Travis Kelce | 2 | No. 1,583 | No. 85 TE |
LT Eric Fisher* | 2 | No. 1,944 | No. 159 OT |
LG Nick Allegretti | 3 | No. 843 | No. 11 C |
C Austin Reiter | 2 | No. 2,182 | No. 167 OT |
RG Andrew Wylie | 2 | No. 2,011 | No. 193 OT |
RT Mike Remmers | N/A | Unranked | Unranked |
Fisher is not expected to play in the game due to an Achilles injury.*
Now let's take a look at the Chiefs' defense:
| Player | Stars | Overall rank | Position rank |
|---|---|---|---|
DE Tanoh Kpassagnon | N/A | Unranked | Unranked |
DT Chris Jones | 5 | No. 18 | No. 2 SDE |
DT Derrick Nnadi | 4 | No. 97 | No. 7 DT |
DE Frank Clark | 3 | No. 692 | No. 42 ATH |
LB Anthony Hitchens | 3 | No. 1,559 | No. 116 OLB |
LB Damien Wilson | 3 | No. 154 | No. 7 ILB |
CB Charvarius Ward | N/A | Unranked | Unranked |
CB Bashaud Breeland | 3 | No. 452 | No. 35 S |
CB Rashad Fenton | 3 | No. 948 | No. 86 CB |
S Daniel Sorensen | 3 | No. 549 | No. 50 S |
S Tyrann Mathieu | 4 | No. 218 | No. 55 CB |
Let's switch over the the Buccaneers and check out their offense based on the team's official depth chart:
| Player | Stars | Overall rank | Position rank |
|---|---|---|---|
QB Tom Brady | N/A | Unranked | Unranked |
RB Ronald Jones II | 4 | No. 40 | No. 4 RB |
WR Chris Godwin | 4 | No. 168 | No. 26 RB |
WR Mike Evans | 3 | No. 733 | No. 83 WR |
TE Rob Gronkowski | 4 | No. 101 | No. 4 TE |
| TE Cameron Brate | N/A | Unranked | Unranked |
LT Donovan Smith | 4 | No. 164 | No. 16 OT |
LG Ali Marpet | N/A | Unranked | Unranked |
C Ryan Jensen | N/A | Unranked | Unranked |
RG Aaron Stinnie | N/A | Unranked | Unranked |
RT Tristan Wirfs | 4 | No. 331 | No. 33 OT |
And here's the defense, which has some big former blue-chip players anchoring both the defensive front and back end.
Player | Stars | Overall rank | Position rank |
DE Ndamukong Suh | 4 | No. 48 | No. 6 DT |
NT Rakeem Nunez-Roches | 3 | No. 1,276 | No. 90 DT |
DE William Gholston | 5 | No. 18 | No. 4 DE |
OLB Jason Pierre-Paul | 2 | No. 2,159 | No. 124 DE |
ILB Devin White | 4 | No. 135 | No. 5 RB |
ILB Lavonte David | N/A | Unranked | Unranked |
OLB Shaquil Barrett | N/A | Unranked | Unranked |
CB Carlton Davis | 4 | No. 340 | No. 32 CB |
CB Jamel Dean | 4 | No. 325 | No. 29 CB |
S Antoine Winfield Jr. | 3 | No. 1,415 | No. 128 CB |
S Jordan Whitehead | 4 | No. 105 | No. 13 CB |
What's the takeaway? At this stage, there isn't much of one. A look at the Chiefs roster says that stars don't matter. A look at the Bucs roster says it matters to a degree. The truth is somewhere in the middle.
Recruits of the two- or three-star variety vastly outnumber the four- and five-star recruits, annually. For reference, 247Sports typically awards somewhere between 30 and 35 players five-star status every cycle. Another 300 or so prospects earn four-star recognition. Meanwhile, there are literally thousands of high school and junior college football players. The odds of a two-star or three-star (or unranked) player starting in the Super Bowl are better simply because there are significantly more of them on record. Development through the years plays a major factor at the highest level and most careers aren't linear.
But there is a lesson on the page for young football players everywhere: no matter how many stars are next to your name, if you have talent and work ethic, coaches will find you. And you can start on a Super Bowl-bound team.