How the 2014 Packers Were Ranked in College Football Recruiting

There's a lot discussion this week around the prep football world considering National Signing Day took place yesterday. The best football prospects around the world will continue to announce their commitments to the best college football programs across our country.

With the decisions continuing to be made, we decided to take a look at players from the Green Bay Packers and how they graded out heading into this process. We looked up the ratings (stars) for each starting player, along with a few other key contributors to the roster.

Here's a look at how the starters for the Packers fared in their respective recruiting years:

Observations:

-- Fun fact: Jarrett Boykin--who's unlisted--also received three stars as a high school football prospect. Cobb and Boykin were the highest rated wide outs.

-- We all know the journey Jordy Nelson had to withstand to make it in the NFL as a wide receiver. Getting two stars further shows how overlooked he was, especially considering he originally was a safety.

-- It's pretty interesting that the offense has been the Packers' fuel the past few years, but their defense had a lot of impressive high school prospects. The offense had five two-star recruits, while the defense had the only five-star prospect (Ha Ha Clinton-Dix), and five fours among the notable players.

-- The defense also had a few players that proved how flawed the ratings can be. Clay Matthews, Tramon Williams and Letroy Guion were all unranked. Guion is still improving, but Matthews has established himself as one of the league's best pass rushers, while Williams has been a steady starter for the Packers. In his career, Williams has started 78 percent of the games he's played in (99-of-127).

-- Green Bay's offensive line was one of the best in 2014--allowing Aaron Rodgers to be sacked just 28 times--and three of their five starters received just two stars. Plus, two of those three played defensive line positions instead.

-- If you had to take a guess, what do you think Julius Peppers' rating would've been? It was difficult to find a grade on him because of his age, but considering he was a freakish dual athlete (basketball and football), I'm guessing at least four stars.