Tales from trail: Wild recruiting stories for Super Bowl LVI stars

We’re just hours away from the kickoff of Super Bowl LVI between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals. It’s a battle that features many familiar names to college football and recruiting fans. On3 reviewed how the Rams starters and Bengals starters ranked in high school. Now we’re looking back at the wildest recruiting stories from some big names expected to impact Super Bowl Sunday.

Joe Burrow passed on multiple times

Much has been written about quarterback Joe Burrow’s winding recruiting path from high school to Ohio State to LSU and then to NFL stardom with the Bengals.

This includes the now unforgettable story about how Nebraska passed on him when he was coming out of high school in Ohio and how Scott Frost bypassed him when he wanted to transfer from the Buckeyes.

“You think he’s (Burrow) better than we got,” Frost infamously said after the 2018 Nebraska spring game.

Don’t forget Nebraska is where his father, Jimmy Burrow, had played from 1974-75, as had brothers Jamie Burrow (1997-2001) and Dan Burrow (2004).

During his high school recruitment, Burrow didn’t receive many offers to major schools.

Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Kentucky, NC State, Vanderbilt, Maryland, Minnesota, Iowa State, Fresno State, Cincinnati, Western Michigan, Toledo and East Carolina offered along with Ohio State. But former Buckeye offensive coordinator Tom Herman believed in him and was one of the only coaches at Ohio State who did.

When he transferred from Ohio State, Ed Orgeron lured Burrow away from Cincinnati over the course of a weekend. During the weekend, Coach O impressed the entire Burrow family. That, and a couple of Cajun meals that featured boiled crawfish, helped Burrow make his decision in favor of LSU.

Former girlfriend part of reason why Matthew Stafford picked UGA

Before becoming the No. 1 pick in the 2009 NFL draft, Matthew Stafford was the nation’s top-ranked quarterback prospect in the 2006 recruiting cycle.

Stafford had more than 40 scholarship offers before ending his recruiting by picking Georgia. Texas, Michigan, Oklahoma and Florida State were his other finalists.

Interestingly, at the time of his commitment, Stafford cited his then-girlfriend as one of the reasons why he picked UGA. She was a student at Georgia.

Stafford went on to meet his longtime wife, Kelly, while in Athens. The pair have been together since their first date in 2009.

Ja’Marr Chase almost ended up at TCU

There’s been a lot written during the NFL playoffs about former LSU coach Les Miles telling Bengals star Ja’Marr Chase he couldn’t play receiver in college.

But he certainly was recruited like a player that was coveted at the position coming out of Metairie (La.) Archbishop Rummel with offers from more than 20 schools.

In fact, Chase visited LSU, Auburn, TCU and Michigan before eventually signing with the Tigers on National Signing Day.

There was also some intrigue with Chase’s recruiting. He was set to commit to TCU before his senior year. But the televised announcement with the NFL Network had technical issues. Some say it was pushed back and later canceled because of lengthy coverage of the 7-on-championship at The Opening.

Either way, it never happened. Chase would then later commit to Florida before backing away from that pledge and eventually landing in-state with LSU.

Hakeem Adeniji got break because of allergy

Rams offensive lineman Hakeem Adeniji was lightly recruited in high school. He originally signed a letter of intent with Air Force – his older brother Moshood also played football there – before the school sent him an email to say his medical waiver had been denied because of a cashew allergy.

After reaching out to his high school coach Jeff Jordan, who would become the director of personnel at KU, Adeniji was offered a spot with KU and joined the Jayhawks before the 2016 season. He went on to start all 48 games with KU during his college career.

Jalen Ramsey was committed to USC for 6 months

Rams star defensive back Jalen Ramsey was one of the most heralded recruits coming out of Brentwood (Tenn.) Academy. The former five-star recruit was ranked by everybody in the top five at the cornerback position that year. But he made an early commitment to USC in July before the start of his senior year.

It was a commitment that stuck for six months.

However, things changed with his recruiting when then Trojans coach Lane Kiffin shook up his staff after a 7-6 season. One of the changes was the departure of defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin.

That opened the door for Jimbo Fisher and newly arrived defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt.

“I started considering Florida State as soon as coach Pruitt got the job,” Ramsey told Warchant.com at the time. “I was the first person he called, so from that point on I started considering Florida State.”

He then went on to flip to FSU on the eve of Signing Day 2013.