With National Signing Day in the books, college football fans excitedly look over over the list of four and five-star recruits coming soon to the field on Saturdays.
While hard to believe now, Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, who finished the 2014 season as the runner up in the NFL MVP voting, once was listed as just a two-star recruit out of Pewaukee High School in Wisconsin. He quietly chose to play at Central Michigan, transferring after one year to Wisconsin to be a walk-on for the Badgers' football team. You know the rest â Watt went on to become arguably the best football player of his generation with the Texans taking him with the 11th pick in the first round of the 2011 draft.
Knowing a thing or two about beating the odds, Watt passed on some knowledge via Twitter to some of the lower-ranked soon-to-be college players.
Ranking high school football players has proved to be an imperfect art over the years. Many with four and five stars have faltered while lower-starred players have gone on to be great in college and in the pros. Watt shows anything can be done with a strong ethic and a desire to be the best.
Follow Shawn Ramsey on Twitter: @ShawnPRamsey
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