There was a moment when most of us thought we were witnessing a clunker of a Super Bowl, but a little second-half power outage changed things around.

    As has been the case recently for the San Francisco 49ers, they dug themselves a large hole only to storm right back and turn a snoozer into a thriller. This time, however, the Baltimore Ravens did just enough to hold them off and become Super Bowl 47 champions.

    What a game it turned into, despite the 34 minutes of Beyonce-less downtime.

    The Monday after the big game turns into national dissection day when media pundits, talking heads, your Uncle Bob and everyone else who cares about sports offers up an opinion on the game itself and the performances therein.

    I am no different.

    But instead of debating whether or not the fourth down play in the redzone should have been a holding call against Baltimore (it should have been, but it didn’t decide the game), I want to assess Super Bowl 47 based on history. What I mean by that involves a trip back in time, to the days when some of those who played Sunday were still in high school.

    I am, of course, referring to the cutthroat business of college recruiting. It’s always intriguing to look at who won a Super Bowl MVP or who made a big impact on the game, and then take a gander at their recruiting profiles, when available.

    For example, Super Bowl 47 MVP Joe Flacco, who originally committed to Pittsburgh before transferring to Delaware, was a 2003 three-star recruit, according to Rivals. He was rated the 39th best quarterback that year behind the likes of JaMarcus Russell, Andre Woodson, Brady Quinn, Matt Flynn and Matt Ryan.

    Now, 39th in the nation is no slouch, but I doubt anyone had him pegged as a starter in the NFL, much less an eventual Super Bowl MVP and champion.

    Here’s what’s crazy, the top-rated quarterback was five-star athlete Kyle Wright. I’ve never even heard of him.

    I understand that ranking 18-year-olds and predicting their futures in college and the NFL is a trivial practice. My point here is that hard work, dedication and not taking things for granted can pay off.

    It’s why schools such as BYU, Nevada, Boise State, San Diego State and any other mid major programs that have had success can thrive on two-star, three-star and no-star recruits. These players arrive on campus with chips on their shoulders, looking to prove the recruiting rankings and their dislikers (I don’t like the term haters) wrong. Sometimes, as is the case with Flacco, it leads to a coronation on the planet’s biggest stage.

    Let’s look at 49ers’ quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Rivals gave him three stars as well, and he was 34th out of 36 in the 2006 quarterback rankings. His only football offer came from Nevada and was perceived as a better baseball recruit.

    There’s no need to go into the details of the pistol offense under Chris Ault in Reno, nor Kaepernick’s emergence as San Francisco’s starter. We all now the story.

    Here are some of the other quarterbacks in the 2006 class: No. 1, five-star Matthew Stafford. No. 2, five-star Mitch Mustain. No. 4, four-star Josh Freeman. No. 12, three-star Sam Bradford. No. 23, three-star Andy Dalton. No. 25, three-star James Lark.

    Taysom Hill was a three-star recruit in 2009, by the way.

    With National Signing Day approaching (it’s tomorrow, actually), keep in mind that recruiting rankings don’t mean too much. What matters is the players’ attitudes and work ethics. Don’t think for a minute that Flacco wasn’t motivated when Pitt coaches chose Tyler Palko to start instead of him.

    Who will be the next all star to emerge from the ranks of the undervalued?