Eleven college football players who started their careers as five-star recruits — viewed by experts as the best high schoolers in the country — were picked in the first round of this year's NFL Draft.
The big picture: 29% of the five-star recruits drafted between 2015-2022 were first-round picks, according to an Axios analysis of the 247Sports composite rankings.
- 58% of the five-star recruits in the analysis were picked in the first three rounds.
State of play: Six of the past eight No. 1 overall picks were five-star recruits: Jameis Winston (2015), Myles Garrett (2017), Kyler Murray (2019), Trevor Lawrence (2021), Travon Walker (2022) and Bryce Young (2023).
Between the lines: Five-star recruits are the high school players that talent evaluators believe are the top football talents.
- The 247Sports composite rankings combine evaluations from major recruiting sites into a single rating, according to the site's explanation.
Zoom in: Here's the full list of former five-stars who were drafted in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft on Thursday:
- Bryce Young, Alabama — selected No. 1 overall by the Carolina Panthers.
- Will Anderson Jr., Alabama — selected No. 3 by the Houston Texans
- Paris Johnson Jr., Ohio State — selected No. 6 by the Arizona Cardinals
- Bijan Robinson, Texas — selected No. 8 by the Atlanta Falcons
- Jalen Carter, Georgia — selected No. 9 by the Philadelphia Eagles
- Darnell Wright, Tennessee — selected No. 10 by the Chicago Bears
- Broderick Jones, Georgia — selected No. 14 by the Pittsburgh Steelers
- Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Ohio State — selected No. 20 by the Seattle Seahawks
- Myles Murphy, Clemson — selected No. 28 by the Cincinnati Bengals
- Bryan Bresee, Clemson — selected No. 29 by the New Orleans Saints
- Nolan Smith, Georgia — selected No. 30 by the Philadelphia Eagles
