ENGLEWOOD, Colo. --With high school athletes around the country faxing in their commitments on National Signing Day today, we thought we'd take a look back at where each of the Broncos' players ranked as they were being recruited out of high school.
The list goes to show that how many stars a player is given coming out of high school, doesn't necessarily equate to his future as an NFL player.
Of the 63 players on either the Broncos' active roster or injured reserve at the end of the season, only one -- wide receiver Andre Caldwell -- received five stars coming out of high school. In fact, there were more unranked players (seven) than there were five-star recruits.
The most common rating was three stars, with 18 Broncos falling in that category. Thirteen were four stars, thirteen were two stars and one received one star.
Ten players were recruited before the current ranking system, of which Champ Bailey, Quentin Jammer and Peyton Manning likely would have received five stars as all were top recruits in their classes.
Broncos players took to Twitter to give their thoughts on signing day:
My national signing day was so wack lol I just faxed the papers and went back to class..nobody cared lol — Duke Ihenacho (@NachoLyfe) February 5, 2014
Wishing good luck to all the high school athletes that just made the biggest decisions of their life to date. Especially the new #Viks — Julius Thomas (@Julius_Thomas) February 5, 2014
Congrats to @ttukingsbury and his 2014 class! I am already hearing great things from the coaching staff! #ttufootball #redraiders #WRU — Wes Welker (@WesWelker) February 5, 2014
See below for the full list of where each player that finished the season on the team's active roster or injured reserve ranked:
BRONCOS COLLEGE RECRUITING EVALUATIONS | |||
Player | Stars | College | |
Adams, Mike | N/A | Delaware | |
Anderson, C.J. | 3 | California | |
Ayers, Robert | 4 | Tennessee | |
Bailey, Champ | N/A | Georgia | |
Ball, Montee | 4 | Wisconsin | |
Beadles, Zane | 2 | Utah | |
Bolden, Omar | 4 | Arizona State | |
Bradley, Stewart | N/A | Nebraska | |
Brewer, Aaron | 2 | San Diego State | |
Bruton, David | 3 | Notre Dame | |
Caldwell, Andre | 5 | Florida | |
Carter, Quinton | 3 | Oklahoma | |
Carter, Tony | 4 | Florida State | |
Clady, Ryan | 2 | Boise State | |
Clark, Chris | 2 | Southern Mississippi | |
Cole, Marquice | 0 | Northwestern | |
Colquitt, Britton | 3 | Tennessee | |
Decker, Eric | 2 | Minnesota | |
Dreessen, Joel | 0 | Colorado State | |
Dysert, Zac | 3 | Miami (OH) | |
Franklin, Orlando | 4 | Miami | |
Fua, Sione | 3 | Stanford | |
Green, Virgil | 2 | Nevada | |
Harris Jr., Chris | 2 | Kansas | |
Hillman, Ronnie | 3 | San Diego State | |
Holliday, Trindon | 3 | LSU | |
Huff, Michael | N/A | 278,765 | |
Ihenacho, Duke | 2 | San Jose State | |
Irving, Nate | 3 | North Carolina State | |
Jackson, Malik | 4 | USC | |
Jammer, Quentin | N/A | Texas | |
Johnson, Steven | 0 | Kansas | |
Justice, Winston | 4 | USC | |
Knighton, Terrance | 3 | Temple | |
Koppen, Dan | N/A | Boston College | |
Kuper, Chris | N/A | North Dakota | |
Lenon, Paris | N/A | Richmond | |
Manning, Peyton | N/A | Tennessee | |
Marshall, Brandon | 2 | Nevada | |
McCray, Lerentee | 4 | Florida | |
Miller, Von | 4 | Texas A&M | |
Mincey, Jeremy | 0 | Florida | |
Moreno, Knowshon | 4 | Georgia | |
Osweiler, Brock | 3 | Arizona State | |
Painter, Vinston | 4 | Virgina Tech | |
Phillips, Shaun | 4 | Purdue | |
Prater, Matt | 2 | UCF | |
Ramirez, Manny | 3 | Texas Tech | |
Rodgers-Cromartie, Dominique | 0 | Tennessee State | |
Smith, Quanterus | 2 | Western Kentucky | |
Tamme, Jacob | 3 | Kentucky | |
Thomas, Demaryius | 3 | Georgia Tech | |
Thomas, Julius | 0 | Portland State | |
Trevathan, Danny | 2 | Kentucky | |
Unrein, Mitch | 0 | Wyoming | |
Vallos, Steve | 1 | Wake Forest | |
Vasquez, Louis | 3 | Texas Tech | |
Vickerson, Kevin | 4 | N/A | |
Webster, Kayvon | 3 | South Florida | |
Welker, Wes | N/A | Texas Tech | |
Williams, Sylvester | 3 | North Carolina | |
Wolfe, Derek | 2 | Cincinnati | |
Woodyard, Wesley | 3 | Kentucky |
Note: N/A means the player entered college before the current ranking system: