It seems so obvious in hindsight, now that Patrick Mahomes II is off breaking NFL records. He has the size at 6'3". He has the intangibles. He has the pedigree. And, of course, he has that right arm, the sort that comes along only once in a rare while.
If there was ever a sure bet to place on a high school player someday maturing into a franchise quarterback, Mahomes would appear to have been it. Yet hardly anyone believed it when he was a recruit in the class of 2014.
High school recruiting, once a curiosity acknowledged only in the first week of February, has ballooned into a year-round media spectacle on the strength of suspense, intrigue and plenty of subterfuge.