Wayne Martin was from Arkansas, and he played his college ball locally with the Arkansas Razorbacks, where he was one of the best Defensive Ends in the Southwest Conference.  The New Orleans Saints agreed, and they used their First Round Pick (19^thoverall) to select him.

Was Marques Colston a superstar?

Michael Thomas was a star Wide Receiver at Ohio State, where he helped the Buckeyes win the College Football Playoff in 2015.  The following season, he was taken in the Second Round by the New Orleans Saints, where he eventually became the primary weapon of Quarterback, Drew Brees.

A soccer player as a teen in his native Denmark, Morten Andersen, came to the United States as part of an exchange program.  Just for kicks (pardon the pun), he tried kicking a football, and he was excellent at it and would play as a senior in High School.  It got him noticed by Michigan State, who gave him a scholarship. That led to him being drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the Fourth Round in 1986.