Super Bowl 2020 rosters: How the Chiefs and 49ers starters rated as high school recruits

Super Bowl LIV will be loaded with unheralded superstars

Do star rankings matter? When it comes to the players in Super Bowl LIV between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers, it's a bit of a mixed bag. 

There are four players who will start the game who had five stars attached to their names coming out of high school, which doesn't include "backup" Nick Bosa (quotes very much intended). On the other side of the coin, there are nine combined starters who were unranked coming out of high school, including Chiefs star Tyreek Hill -- who was a track star coming out of Coffee High School in Douglas, Georgia.

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo weren't highly regarded high school prospects, and the only wide receiver on either side with more than three stars is Sammy Watkins of the Chiefs. 

Here's a look at the Chiefs' offense based on the team's depth chart (all are high school rankings courtesy of 247Sports):

Player	Stars	Overall rank	Position rank
QB Patrick Mahomes	3	No. 655	No. 29 Pro-style QB
RB Damien Williams	3	No. 697	No. 58 RB
FB Anthony Sherman	3	No. 1,028	No. 48 ILB
WR Tyreek Hill	N/A	Unranked	Unranked
WR Sammy Watkins	5	No. 20	No. 4 WR
TE Travis Kelce	2	No. 1,583	No. 85 TE
LT Eric Fisher	2	No. 1,944	No. 159 OT
LG Andrew Wylie	2	No. 2,011	No. 193 OT
C Austin Reiter	2	No. 2,182	No. 167 OT
RG Laurent Duvernay-Tardif	N/A	Unranked	Unranked
RT Mitchell Schwartz	3	No. 508	No. 46 OT

Now let's take a look at the Chiefs' defense:

Player	Stars	Overall rank	Position rank
DE Tanoh Kpassagnon	N/A	Unranked	Unranked
DT Chris Jones	5	No. 18	No. 2 SDE
DT Derrick Nnadi	4	No. 97	No. 7 DT
DE Frank Clark	3	No. 692	No. 42 ATH
LB Anthony Hitchens	3	No. 1,559	No. 116 OLB
LB Damien Wilson	3	No. 154	No. 7 ILB
CB Charvarius Ward	N/A	Unranked	Unranked
CB Bashaud Breeland	3	No. 452	No. 35 S
CB Kendall Fuller	5	No. 17	No. 3 CB
S Daniel Sorensen	3	No. 549	No. 50 S
S Tyrann Mathieu	4	No. 218	No. 55 CB

Let's switch over the the 49ers and check out their offense based on the team's official depth chart:

Player	Stars	Overall rank	Position rank
QB Jimmy Garoppolo	2	No. 2,034	No. 67 Pro-style QB
RB Matt Breida	2	No. 2,902	No. 186 RB
FB Kyle Juszczyk	N/A	Unranked	Unranked
WR Deebo Samuel	3	No. 838	No. 112 WR
WR Emmanuel Sanders	2	No. 2,096	No. 232 WR
TE George Kittle	3	No. 1,535	No. 199 WR
LT Joe Staley	2	No. 1,141	No. 61 TE
LG Laken Tomlinson	3	No. 625	No. 29 OG
C Ben Garland	N/A	Unranked	Unranked
RG Mike Person	N/A	Unranked	Unranked
RT Mike McGlinchey	4	No. 172	No. 12 OT

The 49ers defense is loaded with talent up front, but not so much on the back end. Not listed in this table is defensive end Nick Bosa, who was a five-star recruit, the No. 8 overall player and top strong-side defensive end in the Class of 2016. He is listed as Dee Ford's backup on the 49ers official depth chart. 

Player	Stars	Overall rank	Position rank
DE Dee Ford	3	No. 436	No. 17 DE
DT Sheldon Day	4	No. 111	No. 11 DT
DT DeForest Buckner	4	No. 244	No. 15 WDE
DE Arik Armstead	5	No. 14	No. 1 ATH
LB Kwon Alexander	4	No. 91	No. 7 OLB
LB Fred Warner	4	No. 318	No. 28 OLB
LB Dre Greenlaw	3	No. 831	No. 60 S
CB Richard Sherman	3	No. 676	No. 57 ATH
CB Ahkello Witherspoon	2	No. 393	No. 55 CB
NB K'Waun Williams	3	No. 1,326	No. 109
S Jimmie Ward	N/A	Unranked	Unranked
S Jaquiski Tartt	N/A	Unranked	Unranked

The Chiefs' starters hold a slight 2.64-2.43 star-ranking advantage over the 49ers' starters heading into Sunday night's showdown. What's the overall takeaway here? Chiefs coach Andy Reid and 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan have done a great job with players who have developed nicely since going to prom as high school seniors.