How former top college recruits on National Signing Day helped lead their respective NFL teams to Super Bowl 50
For the college football world, National Signing Day is one of the most important dates of the year with the top recruits deciding which colors they’ll be wearing as they become the next stars of the sport. In the days after National Signing Day 2016, though, the NFL will take the stage for Super Bowl 50. In reality, though, the two worlds are not too far apart at all.
While there are underdog journeys that will see plenty of headlines leading up to Super Bowl 50, there are also those players who entered the spotlight of the football world with a golden spoon in their mouth and have stayed atop the sport up to reaching the pro football pinnacle in the Super Bowl. For both the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos, their rosters are littered with former top recruits in the college football world.
It’s not surprising that the two quarterbacks that will do battle in Super Bowl 50 were both touted recruits when they were entering the college ranks. Peyton Manning—albeit almost two decades ago—was a five-star stud quarterback who ultimately chose to play his college ball for the Tennessee Volunteers. Cam Newton was a four-star recruit and the No. 3 dual-threat quarterback in the 2007 recruiting class. His road in college was ultimately a bit more tumultuous, though, as he finished his career with Auburn instead of Florida, the latter of which he originally signed with.
In terms of the rosters as a whole, though, the Panthers lead the way in former five-star recruits with six: Ted Ginn Jr., Charles Johnson, Michael Oher, Greg Olsen, Jonathan Stewart, and Shaq Thompson. For the Broncos, only Manning and wide receiver Andre Caldwell were five-star recruits on the active roster.
Looking just below at the four-star recruits, it’s a bit more of an even race as the Broncos boast 11 former four-star recruits on their roster in comparison the Panthers who have 14 former four-star recruits.
While there are certainly a number of players that will take the field for Super Bowl 50 who proved that recruiting rankings don’t mean everything in terms of future success, the DeMarcus Wares of the world, there’s no doubt that there are a bevy of players who were dominating headlines coming into National Signing Day in years past that are now going to be on the NFL’s biggest stage for the big game in Super Bowl 50.