The best college football players tend to go on to play in the NFL. Some of those players are not the ones projected to be great by the recruiting industry prior to their college careers.
2016 NFC Championship rosters have plenty of former blue-chip recruits
Very few players earn five-star ratings as college prospects, but the Panthers have ended up with a bunch of them.
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The Arizona Cardinals and Carolina Panthers have plenty of those blue-chippers, though.
It's not much of a surprise, given that Sunday's NFC Championship pits Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks against each other in an NFL playoff game for the first time, that both rosters are star-studded. But Cam Newton and Carson Palmer are just two of the top-tier recruits projected to start.
Nineteen of the 44 starters for the Cardinals and Panthers were “blue-chip” players (four- or five-star recruits) in high school, based on the 247Sports Composite (or Rivals for older players), and the age of some of the contributors means that number is low. USC’s Palmer was a well-regarded California athlete who won state titles in football and basketball in the pre-Rivals era, Thomas Davis was a Georgia prep standout who might have blown up in an era with more recruiting camps, and Roman Harper starred for one of Alabama’s largest high schools.
Considering less than 10 percent of Division I players are blue chips, that’s a pretty high ratio. This isn’t always the case. Last year’s Super Bowl was loaded with three-stars.
The Panthers’ offense stands out as stocked with stars. Four five-star players will start, and neither leading NFL MVP candidate Newton nor five-time Pro Bowl center Ryan Kalil is one of them.
But the teams also have a combined seven starters who played in the era of recruiting rankings and did not merit ratings, more than twice as many as the AFC Championship Game's three. Arizona has five of those, including college basketball player Daniel Fells, who only came to the NFL after a pro basketball career.
Cardinals starters
| Pos. | Player | Stars | College | College note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QB | Carson Palmer | N/A (too old) | USC | Won 2002 Heisman Trophy |
| RB | David Johnson | 0 | Northern Iowa | Holds school records in career rushing yards, rushing TDs and all-purpose yards |
| WR | Larry Fitzgerald | 4 | Pitt | Consensus All-American, Biletnikoff Award winner and Heisman Trophy runner-up |
| WR | Michael Floyd | 5 | Notre Dame | Started in 29 of 30 college games |
| TE | Jermaine Gresham | 4 | Oklahoma | First team All-American in 2008 |
| TE | Darren Fells | N/A (two-star basketball recruit) | UC-Irvine | Played basketball, not football, and went pro as hooper first |
| LT | Jared Veldheer | 0 | Hillsdale | Division II All-American |
| LG | Mike Iupati | 2 | Idaho | Idaho's first consensus All-American since 1976 |
| C | Lyle Sendlein | 3 | Texas | Won 2005 national title as a starter |
| RG | Ted Larsen | 2 | NC State | Played both defensive tackle and center |
| RT | Bobby Massie | 4 | Ole Miss | Started 29 straight games to end his career |
| DT | Calais Campbell | 4 | Miami | Voted team MVP in 2006 |
| NT | Rodney Gunter | 0 | Delaware State | Only Delaware State alum in the NFL |
| DT | Frostee Rucker | N/A (too old) | USC | Started at Colorado State |
| LB | Markus Golden | 3 | Missouri | Part of dominant D-line with Michael Sam, Kony Ealy |
| LB | Deone Bucannon | 3 | Washington State | First team All-American as a senior |
| LB | Kevin Minter | 4 | LSU | Butkus Award finalist in 2012 |
| LB | Kareem Martin | 4 | North Carolina | First team All-ACC as a senior |
| CB | Patrick Peterson | 5 | LSU | 2009 consensus All-American CB, dynamic return man |
| CB | Jerraud Powers | 3 | Auburn | Bitten by Auburn police dog in the 2007 Iron Bowl |
| S | Rashad Johnson | 0 | Alabama | Former walk-on running back played against Powers in three Iron Bowls |
| S | Tony Jefferson | 4 | Oklahoma | Big 12 co-Defensive Freshman of the Year |
Panthers starters
| Pos. | Player | Stars | College | College note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QB | Cam Newton | 4 | Auburn | Won 2010 Heisman Trophy |
| RB | Jonathan Stewart | 5 | Oregon | Maxwell Award semifinalist |
| FB | Mike Tolbert | 1 | Coastal Carolina | First Coastal Carolina player in an NFL game |
| WR | Philly Brown | 4 | Ohio State | Finished with fifth-most receptions in school history |
| WR | Ted Ginn, Jr. | 5 | Ohio State | Recruited as a defensive back |
| TE | Greg Olsen | 5 | Miami | Part of famed Miami teams of the early 2000s |
| LT | Michael Oher | 5 | Ole Miss | Profiled in the movie The Blind Side |
| LG | Andrew Norwell | 4 | Ohio State | Two-time first-team All-Big Ten performer |
| C | Ryan Kalil | 3 | USC | Blocked two field goals (!) at USC |
| RG | Trai Turner | 3 | LSU | Started for two years, left with two years of eligibility |
| RT | Mike Remmers | 0 | Oregon State | Walked on |
| DE | Charles Johnson | 5 | Georgia | Left for NFL after being second team All-SEC |
| DT | Star Lotulelei | 3 | Utah | Began at BYU |
| DT | Kawann Short | 3 | Purdue | Purdue was only Power 5 offer; named to various All-Freshman teams |
| DE | Jared Allen | N/A (too old) | Idaho State | One of three current NFL players from Idaho State |
| LB | Shaq Thompson | 5 | Washington | Won 2014 Hornung Award as country's most versatile player |
| LB | Luke Kuechly | 3 | Boston College | Boston College calls him "one of the most decorated defensive players in college football history," and it's true |
| LB | Thomas Davis | N/A (too old) | Georiga | 2004 consensus All-American |
| CB | Robert McClain | 2 | UConn | Returned kicks, nabbed 10 picks in college |
| CB | Josh Norman | 0 | Coastal Carolina | Named FCS All-American in 2011 |
| S | Roman Harper | N/A (too old) | Alabama | Finished college career with over 300 tackles |
| S | Kurt Coleman | 4 | Ohio State | Played for two national championships for Ohio State |
