Signing day: How the Redskins rated

By Ryan O’Halloran

Wednesday is the dog and pony shows of all dog and pony shows – National Signing Day for high school football players.

Of course, not every signing will pan out at the college level and only a small percentage will make the NFL.

With that in mind, I looked up several Redskins players and how they were recruited (rankings are from Web searches of Rivals and USA Today databases):

• CB Kevin Barnes: No. 36-ranked safety. Went to Maryland.
• DE Adam Carriker: A 235-pound quarterback from Kennewick, Wash., was ranked No. 46 among rush defensive ends and went to Nebraska. Also offered by Oregon State.
• NT Barry Cofield: Ranked No. 50 among strong-side defensive ends in 2003 and was offered by Indiana, Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt before going to Northwestern.
• QB Rex Grossman: Mr. Football in Indiana (1998), top 15 nationally, Parade All-America. Went to Florida.
• RB Roy Helu: Ranked No. 55 nationally at his position in 2007 but not among the top 100 in California. Went to Nebraska.
• LB Ryan Kerrigan: Offered by Ball State, Cincinnati, Indiana and Northern Illinois and signed with Purdue. Was rated fourth in the state of Indiana.
• S LaRon Landry: Stayed home at LSU after also getting offers from Florida and Miami (Fla.). Ranked fifth in Louisiana and 87^th in nation.
• LB Brian Orakpo: Offered by Colorado, Houston, Missouri, Stanford and Texas A&M and waited out Texas for an offer that eventually materialized. Ranked No. 23 in Texas.
• WR Niles Paul: Tops in Nebraska, 10^th nationally among receivers and 73^rd overall in nation. Stayed at home to play for Cornhuskers.
• LB Perry Riley: Settled on LSU after visiting Tennessee. Ranked 26^th at outside linebacker and 21^st overall in state of Georgia.
• LT Trent Williams: Signed with Oklahoma, also visited LSU and Oklahoma State. Ranked 28^th nationally but as a guard in 2006.
• DL Doug Worthington: Ranked 80^th in USA, fifth at defensive end and second in New York state. Before signing with Ohio State, visited Alabama, Boston College, Wisconsin and Florida.