Aaron Rodgers, Cooper Kupp Were Both 0 Star High School Recruits

Published on August 28th, 2023 3:33 pm EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


Each year, roughly a dozen or so players are drafted into the NFL that were "0 star" recruits out of high school.

Everybody knows about the 4 star and 5 star recruits that come out of high school - it is always big news when they decide on a college to play at.

The "0 star" recruits, however, go unnoticed.

In many cases, these 0 star recruits give up on football after high school and move on to different pursuits.

In some cases, these 0 star recruits attend a small college or university, in the hopes of continuing to pursue their dream of becoming a professional football player.

In very rare cases, these "0 star recruits" will make the NFL.

In fact, some very big names have been "0 star recruits".

Aaron Rodgers, for instance, didn't receive a single Division I scholarship offer out of high school.

Rodgers had to attend Butte Community College to continue playing football.

Eventually Rodgers landed on the radar of NFL scouts, and the rest is history.

Cooper Kupp is another great player that had to take the road less travelled to make it to the NFL.

Kupp was a 0 star recruit out of high school, and ended up attending Eastern Washington, where he put together video game numbers during his time there.

Kupp would end up being drafted in the 3rd round, and the rest is history.

-

Some of the other notable "0 star" high school recruits that have gone on to have strong careers in the NFL include:

Antonio Brown
Carson Wentz
Jeremy Chinn

-

These players all played with a chip on their shoulders as a result of being assigned 0 stars out of high school, and all of these players used it as motivation to excel.