Photo by Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
2022 NFL Draft recruiting rewind: Pittsburgh's Kenny Pickett to Pittsburgh Steelers
Look away!
Seriously, it's not pretty.
The 2017 recruiting cycle was a down year for quarterbacks.
How bad was it?
Here's a list of the top quarterbacks in the composite rankings of 247Sports, Rivals and ESPN - Davis Mills (Stanford), Hunter Johnson (Clemson), Tua Tagovailoa (Alabama), Jake Fromm (Georgia), Tate Martell (Ohio State), Jack Sears (USC), Kellen Mond (Texas A&M), Sam Ehlinger (Texas), Dylan McCaffrey (Michigan), Myles Brennan (LSU), Chris Robison (Oklahoma), Keytaon Thompson (Mississippi State), Sean Clifford (Penn State), Shawn Robinson (TCU), N'Kosi Perry (Miami), Tristan Gebbia (Nebraska)...
Honestly, you can scroll all the way down to No. 29 before you reach another player who panned out - Mac Jones, Alabama.
At No. 20 overall, the Pittsburgh Steelers are gambling that the hometown Pickett can add his name to the list of prospects who panned out at the pro level.
Evaluators were split on Pickett, who came out of Ocean Township High School (New Jersey) to mixed reviews.
Here's how Pickett was ranked as a high school prospect in the class of 2017:
Ranking: 3-star prospect; Nation's No. 10 pro-style quarterback
Notable: While his status as a three-star prospect made him an unlikely future first-round pick in 247Sports' eyes, the site did list him as one of the nation's top 10 quarterbacks.
Pickett survived the 2017 quarterback wreckage.
Ranking: 3-star prospect; Not rated as a dual-threat quarterback, No. 23 prospect in New Jersey
Notable: Ranking quarterbacks was extremely difficult in the class of 2017, as so few panned out.
Pickett rose above the rankings and blossomed late in his career at Pittsburgh.
Ranking: 3-star quarterback; No. 25 dual-threat quarterback, No. 21 prospect in New Jersey
Notable: A consensus three-star prospect, Pickett was a hidden gem.
But 247Sports was closest in its evaluation.
Senior season highlights
