Three-Point Stance: Big money for former overlooked prospects

Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell’s thought-provoking Three-Point Stance is here with some unranked and two-star prospects who are making bank this offseason, the top 10 commitments so far for 2019 and five teams off to a surprising start.

MORE: Ten graduate transfers to watch

CLASS OF 2019 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position | Team

Think you need stars to make big money? We all know stars correlate to winning national titles, but we also know there are many prospects who fly way under the radar and turn out to be NFL stars (Russell Wilson, Antonio Brown, JJ Watt). Following free agency, here are some guys who were either ranked as two-stars or unranked and are signing big contracts this offseason:

OL Weston Richburg (two-star), 5-year, $47.5M – Colorado State (signed with San Francisco)

WR Albert Wilson (not ranked), 3-year, $24M – Georgia State (signed with Miami)

DB Malcolm Butler (not ranked), 5-year, $61M – West Alabama (signed with Tennessee)

DB Trumaine Johnson (not ranked), 5-year, $72.5M – Montana (signed with NY Jets)

WR Jordy Nelson (two-star), 2-year, $15M – Kansas State (signed with Oakland)

QB Case Keenum (two-star), 2-year, $36M - Houston (signed with Denver)

WR John Brown (not ranked), 1-year, $5M - Pittsburg State (signed with Baltimore)

OL Josh Kline (two-star), 4-year, $26M – Kent State (stayed with Tennessee)

LB Demario Davis (two-star), 3-year, $24M – Arkansas State (signed with New Orleans)

WR Taylor Gabriel (not ranked), 4-year, $26M – Abiline Christian (signed with Chicago)

DB Nevin Lawson (two-star), 2-year, $10M – Utah State (resigned with Detroit)

RB Doug Martin (two-star), 1-year, money not disclosed - Boise State (signed with Oakland)

TE Virgil Green (two-star), 3-year, $8.6M – Nevada (signed with LA Chargers)

OL Garry Gilliam (two-star), 2-year, $8M – Penn State (resigned with San Francisco)

OL Josh Sitton (two-star), 2-year, $18M – UCF (signed with Miami)

OL Brandon Fusco (not ranked), 3-year, $12.75M – Slippery Rock (signed with Atlanta)

OL Spencer Long (not ranked), 4-year, $28M – Nebraska (signed with NY Jets)

OL Patrick Omameh (two-star), 3-year, $15M – Michigan (signed with NY Giants)

OL Kenny Wiggins (two-star), 2-year, $5M – Fresno State (signed with Detroit)

DT Dontari Poe (two-star), 3-year, $27M – Memphis (signed with Carolina)

DT Justin Ellis (two-star), 3-year, $13.5M – Louisiana Tech (signed with Oakland)

LB Anthony Hitchens (two-star), 5-year, $45M – Iowa (signed with Kansas City)

LB Tahir Whitehead (two-star), 3-year, $18M – Temple (signed with Oakland)

DB T.J. Carrie (not ranked), 4-year, $31M – Ohio (signed with Cleveland)

DB Brent Grimes (not ranked), 1-year, $7M – Shippensburg (signed with Tampa Bay)

DB Deshawn Shead (not ranked), 1-year, $3.5M – Portland State (signed with Detroit)

DB Johnson Bademosi (two-star), 2-year, $6.25M – Stanford (signed with Houston)

DB Cody Davis (two-star), 2-year, $5M – Texas Tech (signed with Jacksonville)

DE Vinny Curry, (two-star), 3-year, $27M – Marshall (signed with Tampa Bay)

With the commitment of Jordan Whittington last week to Texas, I was wondering who have been the biggest commits so far for the 2019 class, which is off to a slow start in that department. Here are my 10 in order …

DE Christopher Hinton, Michigan – Why is this No. 1? Michigan landing a five-star in the Southeast is key and what they need to do more of to keep up with Ohio State and others.

ATH Jordan Whittington, Texas – I love this kid’s versatility and this was a huge commitment as Texas was off to a slow start.

WR Jadon Haselwood, Georgia – Georgia is recruiting like crazy so this is no surprise, but it’s still a big deal to have the No. 2 wide receiver locked up.

OL Logan Brown, Wisconsin – Wisconsin has a great reputation for developing linemen and this is one of its biggest commits in a long time.

QB Bo Nix, Auburn – The best quarterback in the 2019 class so far is a big deal and Auburn landed a good one.

QB Spencer Rattler, Oklahoma – It’s not a great year for quarterbacks so for the Sooners to land a key dual-threat is huge, especially with what they want to do on offense.

DE Nolan Smith, Georgia – The next great hybrid at Georgia? He could be. This kid can play defensive end or linebacker.

DB Akeem Dent, Florida State – The tradition at defensive back continues as Dent could be the next great one.

DB Brian Williams, Texas A&M – A rangy cover man who can run with anyone, Williams is a key get early for the Aggies.

OL Kardell Thomas, LSU – A mauler on the interior line, Thomas is a man child at this stage at least when it comes to power and aggression.

It’s early, but there are a few teams off to surprising starts for the 2019 class, led by a Big Ten team that is usually under the radar.

Wisconsin – The Badgers not only landed Brown but also have a couple more four-stars and a top five class early on. A very impressive start.

Michigan State – Only four commitments, but three of them are four-stars, so that’s a great start.

Ole Miss – A top 10 class early with some solid talent despite the NCAA sanctions, this continues to be a great job by Matt Luke.

Northwestern – A top 20 class with only five commitment,s but all of them solid three-stars, which is good for Northwestern with the academic restrictions.

Duke – Even with academic restrictions, Duke continues to surprise on the recruiting trail with an early top 15 class.