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Today is National Signing Day, so plenty of top high school prospects will be heading to the colleges of their choices and trying to pave a path to the NFL. Given that, I thought it might be fun to look back at the Atlanta Falcons as high school prospects and see how highly ranked they were.
For this exercise, we're using Rivals.com, one of the most respected scouting services. I went through the entire roster (minus the practice squad) to come up with this list. Their database only went back so far, so anyone listed as N/A is someone I couldn't easily find a star rating for. That includes Steven Jackson, among others.
There are some major surprises on this list. Antone Smith was a five-star prospect, while Matt Ryan was only a three-star recruit back in 2003, which saw Rivals rank him as the 25th best QB prospect in the nation. Just goes to show you how much someone's stock can change over time and how little these rankings have to do with someone's future fortunes, though it's still incredibly entertaining to see. In some cases, like that of Julio Jones, they've got a player pegged from the very beginning.
Please note that most of the dates listed are commitment dates, so their actual start time with the program may be slightly different.
I ordered these by position rather than star, so hopefully it's easily navigable. Discuss in the comments.
| First | Last | Year | Stars | School |
| Matt | Ryan | 2003 | 3 | Boston College |
| Dominique | Davis | 2007 | 2 | Boston College |
| Sean | Renfree | 2008 | 3 | Duke |
| Steven | Jackson | 2001 | N/A | Oregon State |
| Jacquizz | Rodgers | 2007 | 3 | Oregon State |
| Jason | Snelling | 2003 | 3 | Virginia |
| Antone | Smith | 2005 | 5 | Florida State |
| Josh | Vaughan | 2005 | 2 | Richmond |
| Bradie | Ewing | 2008 | 2 | Wisconsin |
| Patrick | DiMarco | 2007 | 2 | South Carolina |
| Julio | Jones | 2008 | 5 | Alabama |
| Roddy | White | 2001 | 5 | UAB |
| Harry | Douglas | 2003 | 3 | Louisville |
| Drew | Davis | 2006 | 4 | Oregon |
| Darius | Johnson | 2008 | 3 | SMU |
| Kevin | Cone | 2007 | N/A | Georgia Tech |
| Levine | Toilolo | 2009 | 4 | Stanford |
| Chase | Coffman | 2005 | 3 | MIssouri |
| Andrew | Szczerba | 2007 | 3 | Penn State |
| Adam | Nissley | 2007 | 2 | UCF |
| Sam | Baker | 2003 | 4 | USC |
| Lamar | Holmes | 2010 | 4 | Southern Mississippi |
| Mike | Johnson | 2007 | 4 | Alabama |
| Terren | Jones | 2009 | 2 | Alabama State |
| Justin | Blalock | 2003 | 5 | Texas |
| Garrett | Reynolds | 2005 | 3 | North Carolina |
| Harland | Gunn | 2007 | 3 | Miami |
| Peter | Konz | 2008 | 4 | Wisconsin |
| Joe | Hawley | 2007 | 3 | UNLV |
| Ryan | Schraeder | 2011 | 0 | Valdosta State |
| Osi | Umenyiora | 1999 | N/A | Troy |
| Jon | Massaquoi | 2009 | 3 | Troy |
| Kroy | Biermann | 2004 | N/A | Montana |
| Malliciah | Goodman | 2009 | 4 | Clemson |
| Stansly | Maponga | 2009 | 3 | TCU |
| Cliff | Matthews | 2007 | 4 | South Carolina |
| Corey | Peters | 2006 | 4 | Kentucky |
| Jon | Babineaux | 2000 | N/A | Iowa |
| Peria | Jerry | 2007 | 3 | MIssissippi |
| Travian | Robertson | 2008 | 4 | South Carolina |
| Sean | Weatherspoon | 2006 | 2 | Missouri |
| Stephen | Nicholas | 2003 | 2 | South Florida |
| Joplo | Bartu | 2008 | 2 | Texas State |
| Paul | Worrilow | 2008 | 0 | No commits, walk-on at Delaware |
| Akeem | Dent | 2007 | 4 | Georgia |
| Omar | Gaither | 2004 | 4 | Tennessee |
| Desmond | Trufant | 2010 | 3 | Washington |
| Asante | Samuel | 1999 | N/A | UCF |
| Robert | Alford | 2009 | 0 | SE Louisiana |
| Robert | McClain | 2007 | 2 | Connecticut |
| Dominique | Franks | 2006 | 4 | Oklahoma |
| William | Moore | 2004 | 3 | MIssouri (as a WR!) |
| Thomas | DeCoud | 2004 | 2 | California |
| Zeke | Motta | 2009 | 4 | Notre Dame |
| Kemal | Ishmael | 2009 | 2 | UCF |
| Matt | Bryant | 1996 | N/A | Oregon State/Baylor |
| Matt | Bosher | 2006 | 3 | Miami |
| Josh | Harris | 2008 | N/A | Auburn |
Enjoy this blast from the past, if you would.
