Today marks National Signing Day, the time of year where high school football players across the country formally announce which college programs they will commit to for the fall 2017 season. It's a proud day for players who spent four years working to get to the next level to pursue their football dreams.
Not all nationally rated players get the attention they deserve, though, and countless players go on to prove the rating they received as a high school prospect wrong. That was the case for some Seattle Seahawks players.
Here's a look at what each Seahawks starter was rated as a high school prospect heading into college. Their name, position they were rated for, school commitment and overall rating are listed below. These positional listings and star ratings are courtesy of Yahoo! Sports' recruiting website, Rivals.
| PLAYER | **POSITION** | **COMMITMENT** | **STARS** |
| Russell Wilson | QB | North Carolina State | ★★ |
| Marcel Reece | WR | Washington | ★★★★ |
| Thomas Rawls | RB | Michigan | ★★★ |
| Doug Baldwin | WR | Stanford | ★★ |
| Jermaine Kearse | WR | Washington | ★★★ |
| Jimmy Graham | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| George Fant | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Mark Glowinski | OT | West Virginia | ★★★ |
| Justin Britt | C | Missouri | ★★ |
| Germain Ifedi | OG | Texas A&M | ★★★ |
| Garry Gilliam | DE | Penn State | ★★ |
| Michael Bennett | DE | Texas A&M | N/A |
| Ahtyba Rubin | OG | Iowa State | ★★★ |
| Jarran Reed | DT | Alabama | ★★★ |
| Cliff Avril | OLB | Purdue | ★★★ |
| Mike Morgan | OLB | USC | ★★★★ |
| Bobby Wagner | OLB | Utah State | ★★ |
| K.J. Wright | OLB | Mississippi State | ★★★ |
| Richard Sherman | Athlete | Stanford | ★★★ |
| DeShawn Shead | CB | Portland State | N/A |
| Kam Chancellor | QB | Virginia Tech | ★★★ |
| Steven Terrell | CB | Texas A&M | ★★★ |
| Earl Thomas | Athlete | Texas | ★★★★ |
| Steven Hauschka | K | North Carolina State | N/A |
| Jon Ryan | P | Regina (Canada) | N/A |
| Devin Hester | CB | Miami (FL) | ★★★★★ |
Notes:
- Two Seahawks starters did not receive football ratings because they started off playing basketball in college: Jimmy Graham and George Fant.
- Seahawks defensive tackles Ahtyba Rubin and Jarran Reed both transferred to their college programs from community colleges, which is where their ratings came from.
- Defensive end Michael Bennett and cornerback DeShawn Shead were both unrated coming out of high school and undrafted coming out of college.
- Devin Hester is the only five-star recruit among "starters." One of his five offers didn't come from Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll while he was coaching at USC. Hester joked about that upon his arrival in Seattle. "I got a call from here and I told coach Pete he finally gave me a scholarship," Hester said earlier this season. "It was the only college that didn't offer me a scholarship when I was in high school. So said I appreciate you giving me a scholarship, coach."
- Richard Sherman was a two-way player in college, playing wide receiver and corner. I found it interesting that Rivals listed him as an "athlete" instead of a WR/CB hybrid. Earl Thomas, who finished 2016 on injured reserve, was also listed as an "athlete" by Rivals.
- You get a prize if you knew that Kam Chancellor played quarterback at one point in his football career. Chancellor played the position at Maury High School in Norfolk, Virginia, and passed for more than 2,000 yards his senior season.
- Finally, here's a breakdown of how the stars mapped out: ★ (none), ★★ (five), ★★★ (11), ★★★★ (three), ★★★★★ (one).
