The recruiting profiles of both teams are similar. Both starting lineups had an average star rating of 2.4 as high school prospects. (Full ratings below, via the 247Sports Composite.)

Neither team boasts a former five-star recruit in its two-deep, and both have four former four-stars. Seattle has 11 former three-stars, while New England has nine. This isn't that surprising, as five-stars make up less than 1 percent of all FBS/FCS recruits, four-stars less than 10 percent, and three-stars roughly 37 percent. About 55 percent are rated two-stars or unrated.

And while neither Super Bowl team will start a five-star, the four teams in the College Football Playoff had lots of them.

Tom Brady was an unrated recruit at a time when few recruits were rated on a national level, but he was thought of well enough to earn a scholarship offer from Michigan, which was contending for Big Ten titles on an annual basis. If the star system was around in 1995 when Brady graduated from high school, he would have likely been rated as a four- or five-star recruit.

Patriots star Rob Gronkowski was highly rated. Out of Pittsburgh, Gronkowski was the No. 4 tight end nationally according to Rivals.com, two spots behind former New England teammate Aaron Hernandez. Gronkowski chose Arizona over Ohio State, Penn State, Clemson, Maryland, and other major offers.

When Marshawn Lynch signed with Cal in 2004 out of Oakland Tech, Bears fans were quite happy, as he was rated the No. 2 running back in the nation, behind only Adrian Peterson. Lynch chose Cal over Oregon, UCLA, USC, Arizona State, and Washington State, among others.

Russell Wilson was only a three-star recruit. Wilson was productive in football and baseball out of Richmond, Virginia, but he was 5'11, 180, a stature that hurt his rating. Size should impact a quarterback's rating, particularly because ratings have a major projection element, but Wilson overcame it to be a college and NFL star.

Seahawks

Name Position College Rating Russell Wilson QB NC State/Wisconsin 3 star Russell Okung LT Oklahoma State 3 star James Carpenter LG Alabama 4 star Max Unger C Oregon 3 star J.R. Sweezy RG NC State 2 star Justin Britt RT Missouri 3 star Luke Willson TE Rice 2 star Doug Baldwin WR Stanford 2 star Jermaine Kearse WR Washington 3 star Ricardo Lockette WR Fort Valley State NR Marshawn Lynch RB California 4 star Michael Bennett DE Texas A&M NR Tony McDaniel DT Tennessee 3 star Kevin Williams DT Oklahoma State N/A (too old) Cliff Avril DE Purdue 3 star Bruce Irvin LB West Virginia 4 star Bobby Wagner LB Utah State 2 star K.J. Wright LB Mississippi State 3 star Richard Sherman CB Stanford 3 star Earl Thomas FS Texas 3 star Kam Chancellor SS Virginia Tech 3 star Byron Maxwell CB Clemson 4 star Steven Hauschka K NC State NR Jon Ryan P Regina (Canada) N/A (from Canada)

Patriots