10 Unknowns in HS Drafted in First 2 Rounds of NFL Draft

[OldSchoolLion]

Read about them below.  10 of the top 63 NFL draft picks this past year had 2 stars or less in high school.  5 of them had "no stars."  Also, 6 of 27 NCAA consensus All-Americans this year had 2 stars or less in high school.  There's an old saying.  The cream always rises to the top.  It raises the question of how necessary it is to jump from high school to high school in search of additional exposure..or how critical it is to go to a Power 5 university to be "found" by NFL scouts.  

#5 overall pick to the Titans WR Corey Davis/Western Michigan - 2-star recruit - Only had offers Western Michigan and Illinois State.  Was a consensus All-American at W Michigan in 2016. 

 #13 overall pick to the Cardinals LB Haason Reddick/Temple - 0 stars - Reddick did not have any offers after finishing high school, so he walked on at Temple. He did not even have a Rivals.com profile.

 #22 overall pick to the Dolphins DE Charles Harris/Missouri - 2-star recruit - Harris was a virtual unknown when he committed to Missouri.

#32 overall pick to the Saints OT Ryan Ramczyk/Wisconsin - 0 stars - Ramczyk was offered a scholarship by Pittsburgh, but he chose not to take it. He signed at Winona State, but did not enroll and instead attended Mid-State Technical College. Ramczyk then went to Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where he played for two seasons before transferring to Wisconsin.  Was a consensus All-American at Wisconsin in 2016.

#37 overall pick to the Bills WR Zay Jones/East Carolina - 2-star recruit - Jones only had offers from East Carolina and Arkansas State.  He was considered too slow for a higher ranking.  His brother is Cayleb Jones. 

 #38 overall pick to the Chargers OG Forest Lamp(of Venice High in FL)/Western Kentucky - 2-star recruit - Lamp took official visits to Western Kentucky, FIU, FAU and Ohio.  Lamp was a lightly recruited, “skinny” tackle out of high school who “looked more like a tight end.”  Despite excellent footwork, there were questions about how he would fill out and handle the strength and power of college players.

 #44 overall pick to the Rams TE Gerald Everett/South Alabama - 0 stars - Everett did not have a profile coming out of high school, but played at UAB until the program suddenly folded. He then made his way to Hutchinson C.C. in Kansas, before eventually making his way to South Alabama.

 #45 overall pick to the Bears TE Adam Shaheen/Ashland - 0 stars - Shaheen was only 6’4”, 195-pounds when he graduated high school and decided to play basketball at Pittsburgh-Johnstown. He eventually made his way to Division 2 Ashland in Ohio to play football, where he transformed his body to its current 6-foot-6, 278-pound frame.

 #59 overall pick to the Chiefs DE Tanoh Kpassagnon/Villanova - 0 stars - Kpassagnon did not have a Rivals profile. Villanova was his only offer.  His focus was more on academics during high school and he never attended any college or all-star camps, aside from Villanova’s.

#63 overall pick to the Bills OG Dion Dawkins/Temple - 2-star recruit - Dawkins spent the 2012 season at Hargrave Military Academy.  Had offers from Temple, Cincinnati and Liberty.

 

[Trelle]

I know he’s not on the list but Khalil Mack of Ft Pierce (Westwood), didn’t play HS ball until his senior year and the coach had to bug him to even come out. He was trying to rely on basketball to get a scholarship before an injury derailed him. Rivals gave him 2 stars at the end of the season for his only campaign and the only scholarship he got was to Buffalo and that’s because his coaches had ties to the university. A few years later and the 5th overall pick we know his story now.

 

Fun fact Mack originally played QB in his younger days!