MORE ASK LEVEL: Why wasn't Jared Goff ranked higher as a recruit?
Rob Gronkowski finished the 2007 rankings as the fourth-best tight end in the class, a four-star prospect who finished with only eight catches for 152 yards and four touchdowns in his senior season because he played in an offense that almost exclusively ran the ball.
Starting his high school career at Williamsville (N.Y.) Williamsville North and finishing at Pittsburgh (Pa.) Woodland Hills, Gronkowski was a 6-foot-6, 232-pound recruit who also played basketball and picked Arizona over Ohio State, Clemson and Syracuse.
The three tight ends ranked ahead of him were Georgia’s Aron White, the late Aaron Hernandez and Mike Ragone, who signed with Notre Dame.
After high school, Gronkowski only played two seasons at Arizona but posted huge numbers - 75 catches for 1,197 yards and 16 touchdowns - but he missed his junior campaign because of back surgery. That caused his draft stock to fall and he ended up going to the New England Patriots in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft.
The rest is history. Gronk has emerged as one of the game’s best tight ends, he’s a two-time Super Bowl champion, a five-time Pro Bowler who led the entire league (not just tight ends) in receiving touchdowns during the 2011 season.
In the history of Rivals.com dating back to 2002, there have only been nine five-star tight ends. We ask Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell whether Gronkowski should have been one or if he actually liked him at another position during the rankings cycle?
FARRELL'S TAKE:
“Gronkowski was a talent out of high school for sure but wasn’t able to show us the downfield ability we see today in a run-oriented offense. In fact, he was such a good blocker and had such a big frame I wondered if he would be turned into an offensive tackle at the next level. That sounds dumb now and obviously it didn’t happen but had he picked the wrong school it could have. Had Gronkowski been used as Aaron Hernandez had in high school we could be talking about a five star prospect but he was never given that chance to shine until college and beyond.”
