The Green Bay Packers quarterback was the only player in his class to not receive an offer from a Division I program. He went on to become one of the most successful players in NFL history.
Aaron Rodgers was a high school football player who had no scholarship offers out of high school. After getting rejected from every college in the country, he nearly quit football and went on to play for a small college.
Aaron Rodgers, the Packers’ starting quarterback, had to wait three years after arriving in Green Bay in 2005 to play. The teenage football star from Southern California had to wait his turn since Brett Favre was still on the field. The 37-year-old MVP was used to having to wait for his big break. Rodgers did not earn a single Division 1 college scholarship as a football player at Pleasant Valley High School. Aaron Rodgers nearly gave up football entirely, but he persevered and went on to become one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history.
Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers nearly didn’t make it to the NFL.
College recruiters were not pounding on Rodgers’ door when he graduated from high school, which was surprising. The young student chose to attend a nearby community college since he was not getting any scholarship offers. Rodgers attended Butte College for a year before being recruited by the University of California, Berkeley in 2003. Rodgers was named the starting quarterback for the Golden Bears, according to Britannica. Rodgers was selected first-team All-Pacific-10 Conference in 2004 after leading the club to a 10-2 record.
Rodgers was selected in the first round of the 2005 NFL draft by the Green Bay Packers, and he was on his way.
Rodgers explained why he didn’t get any scholarship offers coming out of high school in a 2010 interview with Graham Bensinger on In Depth With Graham Bensinger that “it was a mix of a lot of factors.”
Rodgers stated that the area where he grew up isn’t very well-recruited. He said that few people knew who he was and that his family was unaware of the procedure. Rodgers acknowledges that despite the fact that there are “many avenues today for youngsters to gain exposure,” he does not take use of them.
The MVP quarterback said that the whole ordeal “made me work that much harder.”
Rodgers spent his off-seasons in high school playing baseball. When he didn’t get any college scholarship offers, he was on the verge of quitting football. The famous quarterback was thinking about trying his hand at professional baseball.
Rodgers responded that he had given it “some serious thought” when asked by Bensinger how close he came to giving up football. His spring baseball season went “pretty well,” he said. He says he was “throwing fairly hard” as a pitcher but had trouble hitting.
“There were allegedly a couple of scouts who came and looked at me at some point,” Rodgers said. “I was really contemplating playing summer baseball with a chance to play with the legion team in town,” he said.
Rodgers, undecided about his career choice, considered stepping up his training and enrolling at Butte College. He was also thinking of “doing something totally new.”
After carefully considering his choices, the experienced quarterback concluded that “football was his first passion” and decided to pursue a collegiate football career. Packers fans are ecstatic with his choice.
Rodgers has a long list of accomplishments in the NFL.
Green Bay Packers #12 Aaron Rodgers | Quinn Harris/Getty Images
Rodgers has achieved a lot in his professional football career throughout the course of his 17-year tenure.
Rodgers is third in the NFL in career passing, second in TD/INT ratio, and first in interception percentages, according to the Green Bay Packers’ website. He has been in nine of the past 12 Pro Bowls and owns over 30 NFL records. The squad won Super Bowl XLV in 2011, with the top quarterback leading the team to victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Only four NFL players have been awarded the league’s Most Valuable Player three times or more. The award is shared by Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Brett Favre.
RELATED: Aaron Rodgers Almost Quit Football Years Before Making It to the NFL
Aaron Rodgers, a quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, nearly quit football after receiving zero division I scholarship offers out of high school. Reference: aaron rodgers college football.
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