Every Seahawks WR as a recruit
From 5 stars to no stars, it hasn't really mattered
It is unlikely that anyone reading Seaside Joe is currently a high school football player hoping to get recruited by Ohio State or Texas…but in the off chance that maybe your son, nephew, or grandson is someone like that then perhaps this advice will help:
The stars don’t mean anything.
Don’t get despondent if you’re not a four or five-star recruit because out of 12 receivers on the Seattle Seahawks right now, 10 of them weren’t that highly-regarded coming out of high school. Half of them didn’t even get three stars at Rivals.
The most accomplished receiver on the entire roster, the one who had one of the best in the history of the league, wasn’t even close to recruited by a major college.
So it does matter in the sense that maybe by going to Michigan or Alabama you will end up just overrated enough to get signed as an undrafted free agent or picked on day three. It’s more exposure. But you either have it or you don’t and it won’t matter if you excel at USC or Eastern Washington…a team should still notice you and give you a chance.
The proof is in basically every single receiver on the Seahawks except for Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
I have always been fascinated by where NFL players get their start, so this is a rundown of how the 12 current receivers on Seattle’s roster were viewed as high school recruits:
Jaxon Smith-Njigba: 5 stars
Class: 2020
Two years ago, I extensively covered JSN’s illustrious Texas high school career at Rockwall, setting numerous records and choosing to sign with Ohio State, where he did some things in college that the Buckeyes had never seen from a receiver before.
JSN ended up better than pretty much any other receiver recruited that year, including top-ranked Julian Fleming, who also went to Ohio State.
You will see that there is a massive gap between JSN’s profile as a recruit and the other 11 receivers on Seattle’s roster. In fact, the best two receivers on the Seahawks will end up bookending this list ordered by how they were viewed as high school recruits.