Historical TE recruiting trends

Submitted by Big Boutros on
We all know that Michigan is gunning for TE Isaac Nauta. He's the #1 TE on the board and a consensus 5-star. I thought it was rare that a recruit at that position would be awarded five stars, so I did a little research.
 
While 5-star tight ends aren't a guaranteed annual feature, they're not as rare as I thought; Nauta is the 7th such prospect since 2002, the beginning of the Rivals database.
 
What is more surprising is the incredible success rate of 5-star tight ends. Here are the six 5-stars before Nauta since 2002:
 
Marcedes Lewis
Tony Hills
Greg Olsen
Martellus Bennett
Kyle Rudolph
OJ Howard
 
That's four NFL Pro Bowlers. OJ Howard is still in school, starting for Alabama. The least successful five-star TE recruit of the past 15 years is Tony Hills, who moved to tackle at Texas and started 31 games, winning a national championship in 2005.
 
Even in the years where the #1 TE recruit didn't receive five stars, there's still a lot of success. 
 
2004, Zach Miller
2006, Jermaine Gresham
2007, Rob Gronkowski
2009, Logan Thomas
 
Three more Pro Bowlers and a successful college quarterback.
 
The numbers strongly suggest that Isaac Nauta is a future Pro Bowler. His overall rank at #9 is the highest since #8 Martellus Bennett in 2005.
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TrueMaize

November 10th, 2015 at 9:21 PM ^

Has Nauta at #18...? Edit: I done sees watcha did boy... You used 247 for his overall... But you originally were taking about rivals database. Don't do that you POS. Jk. It's ok. It happens.

Joined: 09/06/2015

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Mgodiscgolfer

November 11th, 2015 at 9:05 AM ^

Does that mean he has the hot hands, he can only catch flap jacks, hands of steal, he can slap the shit out of somebody? Pardon my ignorance I honestly have never heard of this "Skillet Hands"  phrase. I have seen Bunting play he seemed to aquit himself very well. Although I have seen A.J. Williams catch and block, he will be hard to beat out. It seems like his improvement from last year to this year has him looking more like a real TE that should be getting on the field.

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