7/25/2019 football Edit

Rivals.com all-time two-star/unranked team

Adam Gorney and Mike Farrell

Rivals.com

This week, Rivals.com is releasing its all-time teams based on star rankings, continuing today with the best two-stars and no-star players. There will be 11 on offense and 11 on defense based by position and whether they’re currently in the NFL. At the end of the week, Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell will further break down each team and determine which star-ranked team is the best of them all.

MORE IN THIS SERIES: Rivals.com's all-time five-star team | All-time four-star team | Three-star team

CLASS OF 2020 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State

CLASS OF 2021 RANKINGS: Rivals100 | Position | Team | State

OFFENSE

Russell Wilson was one of the most overlooked prospects in Rivals' history, not only getting a two-star ranking but the Richmond (Va.) Collegiate School quarterback only landed offers from NC State and Duke. He has become one of the best QBs in the NFL and a Super Bowl champion. Wilson lands the starting job here, but Jimmy Garoppolo, also a two-star out of Rolling Meadows, Ill., who went to Eastern Illinois, was also considered.

The running back position does not have a ton of depth, but elite talent at the top with two-stars Le’veon Bell out of Reynoldsburg (Ohio) Groveport Madison and David Johnson, rated as a two-star out of Clinton, Iowa.

The wide receiver group is almost a Who’s Who of top NFL receivers as Davante Adams and T.Y. Hilton - known as Eugene Hilton in the Rivals database - were two-star prospects. Antonio Brown, arguably the top receiver in the entire league, was unranked coming out of Miami (Fla.) Norland. Rated as a two-star athlete who was recruited by then-coach Brian Kelly to Cincinnati as a quarterback, Travis Kelce is the top two-star tight end in Rivals' history.

Making the first team on the offensive line are David Bakhtiari, Eric Fisher, Jason Kelce, Alejandro Villanueva and Lane Johnson, who was an unranked pro-style quarterback in the 2008 class.

DEFENSE

Again, some of the best players in the league were two-star prospects coming out of high school and that is glaringly obvious on the defensive line with Khalil Mack, J.J. Watt, Chandler Jones and Jerry Hughes making the first team.

At linebacker, the depth is not too rich but there is high-end talent at the top with two-stars Bobby Wagner and Anthony Hitchens leading the way and then Darius Leonard being unranked coming out of high school.

There is tremendous and impressive depth at defensive back as – again – some of the best players at cornerback and safety were two-star recruits in high school. Chris Harris Jr., Eric Weddle, Xavien Howard and A.J. Bouye made the cut but Kevin Byard, Byron Johnson, Micah Hyde and others were seriously considered.

Would they be able to hang with the five-star, four-star or three-star teams we released earlier this week? We’ll make that determination Friday. In the meantime did we miss anyone? Hit me up @rivalsmike with your thoughts.

FARRELL'S TAKE

This is a loaded group and has some serious headliners, but does it lack the depth of the other star classes? But on offense, the skill positions are impressive with Wilson, who was too small coming out of high school at quarterback, and Bell and Johnson at running back. Brown is arguably the best receiver in the NFL while Adams and Hilton are no slouches. There is a lack of star power along the offensive line aside from Johnson, who was a quarterback coming out of high school.

On defense, Watt leads the line when it comes to name recognition but Mack is one of the most disruptive players in the game and a guy no one really wanted out of high school. Leonard is a star in the making at linebacker and Wagner is one of the best in the league. The secondary is loaded with talent.

This shows that not everyone develops in high school or other circumstances keep them down in the rankings. This team is loaded.