Who Are The Best High School Football Players You Have Seen Personally?

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

Allen Iverson, Michael Vick 

[Sandman 3,420]

Went to HS with Cale Gundy so I saw many of his games, he was a year older than me. Several years after graduating, I watched my HS play in championship games against current VA Tech HC Justin Fuente (we won) and then vs Rocky Calmus and Kewon Jones (we lost).  Fuck Tulsa schools BTW.

[927 E. 41st 1,124]

Ran track with Bobby Micho at Anderson High in Austin. He played at UT and I think he went on to the pros. 

Up here in Coppell I got to see Conner Williams. It was truly like watching a man amongst boys. 

[CooterBrown 18,038]

33 minutes ago, SHOOTER12 said:

Didn't he gain shit load of weight at Baylor, which really slowed him down?  Also for some reason I want to say they wanted him to play fullback.

He was like 250 coming out of HS and Teaff couldn't wrap his mind around a tailback that size so he moved him to FB. Stupid old school thinking at the time. All he did at Baylor was block and run dives up the middle.  He was 250 when he high jumped 6'6" and long jumped 23' at district.   Dude could move for his size. Completely wasted at Baylor.

 

 

[mr.goodkat 464]

2 hours ago, Dennis Taylor said:

Charles Jefferson was a bad motherfucker.  Especially if he was pissed off

he destroyed lincoln high back in the day 

[Hpara759 1,781]

in no particular order...good ones that I have seen play (sitting in the stands) at the High School level:

Junior Coffey  (Dimmitt)

Danny Lester  (Amarillo Tascosa)

Jerry Sizemore (Plainview)

Brad Beck (Perryton)

Britt Hager (Permian)

Roy Williams (Permian)

Tyrone Thurman (Lee)

Cedric Benson (Lee)

David Thomas and Kendal Briles   (Friendship)

Jimmy Brown (Hart)

Robert Mayberry (Dimmitt)

Kenny King (Clarendon)

 

 

[Longboard Horn 40,609]

 I was in high school I saw Rex Burkhead tear through our defense. 

Later on when one of my younger brothers was playing football, I saw Kyler Murray beat him in the playoffs. 

[Sandman 3,420]

14 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

Completely wasted at Baylor.

I thought the Baptists frowned upon that sort of thing?

[WinningIsHard 4,139]

I played football and baseball in a small town called Bandera. We had Burnet in our district and those fuckers had Jordan Shipley and Stephen McGee lighting up Texas 3A state record books my entire varsity career. We ran an option once and Shipley played the qb which forced the pitch. He was so got damn fast he swatted the ball out of the air and scooped it up for 6. Odd turn of events for them though, in 2002 they beat us pretty handily but wound up losing in the state title game while we won the division II state title that same year. 

[youdunnf'dup 2,147]

4 minutes ago, Longboard Horn said:

 I was in high school I saw Rex Burkhead tear through our defense. 

Later on when one of my younger brothers was playing football, I saw Kyler Murray beat him in the playoffs. 

This is how I watched kyler. Watched him just dice up a defense that I knew for a fact was a good defense all year in a tough district. Had a handful of D1 players on that defense. Didn’t matter. It was laughable. Everyone on our side of the stadium was just like “what are they supposed to do with this guy? Hope he gets an injury?”

[Vic Mackey 47,189]

30 minutes ago, 927 E. 41st said:

Ran track with Bobby Micho at Anderson High in Austin. He played at UT and I think he went on to the pros. 

Up here in Coppell I got to see Conner Williams. It was truly like watching a man amongst boys. 

Too bad he isn't like that anymore with Dallas. He has been bad so far at the pro level. I think the blocking scheme UT ran kind of masked his shortcomings. They have been exposed two fold in the NFL so far. He gets pushed around like a rag doll.

[SHOOTER12 8,840]

34 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

He was like 250 coming out of HS and Teaff couldn't wrap his mind around a tailback that size so he moved him to FB. Stupid old school thinking at the time. All he did at Baylor was block and run dives up the middle.  He was 250 when he high jumped 6'6" and long jumped 23' at district.   Dude could move for his size. Completely wasted at Baylor.

 

 

Sheesh I never realized he was that big in his.

[Dennis Taylor 18,894]

8 minutes ago, SHOOTER12 said:

Sheesh I never realized he was that big in his.

 

250 might be a bit of a stretch but he was a grown-ass man for sure    

[Hank Scorpio 17,731]

Is there any video of Casey Hampton playing MLB in high school? I remember seeing a highlight tape one time that was hilarious but I don’t see it on the intertrons no more. 

[gsoda3 3,284]

GG, ced, kindle, blalock.

[PittsburghTiger 6,226]

23 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Is there any video of Casey Hampton playing MLB in high school? I remember seeing a highlight tape one time that was hilarious but I don’t see it on the intertrons no more. 

That made me need to amend my list to add one more. Sean Gilbert, at 267, played inside backer at Aliquippa H.S. That’s Ditka’s and Ty Law’s high school. He came to the school next to mine his senior year to play Kiski Area H.S.   I made my mom go with me to see him play.  Sean came to Pitt, started 13, or so, games and was the 3rd pick in the draft.  He was awesome.

[BurntOrange&White 40,059]

Jordan Shipley was amazing to watch. 

[Agent 13 314]

John Elways. Bazooka.

[BearSchlong 8,134]

4 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

Robert Strait. Carried the ball 54 of 56 plays against us. The other two were Fumbled snaps. He also kicked off with nearly every kick sailing out of the end zone. He won district in five events...the 100, HJ, LJ, SP, and anchored the 4x100.

Bombed out at Baylor and went to prison for dealing crack.

Cuero, right? I didn't know about the prison stint.  I liked that dude, we sat next to each other in business statistics class one summer.  Split a case of Bud Dry with him one night at Rivercrest.

[CooterBrown 18,038]

Cuero, right? I didn't know about the prison stint.  I liked that dude, we sat next to each other in business statistics class one summer.  Split a case of Bud Dry with him one night at Rivercrest.

Yep. He made the mistake of moving back to cuero and then got into trouble. He’s been out for a while and doing fine.

[RDCanecutter 26,513]

Sam Dejarnette, Selma HS (The real one, in Alabama.) Running back at Southern Miss. I believe he helped beat Alabama at least once.

[Sal 1,089]

Garrett Gilbert, Fozzy Whittaker, Quandre Diggs, DJ Monroe 

Edited October 15, 2020 by Sal

[Underdog 28,824]

3 hours ago, PittsburghTiger said:

Since we are up here in Pennsylvania of course mine will be Pittsburgh-centric.

Danny Marino, my cousin was his high school tight end and they roomed together at Pitt, My cousin played a couple of years at Pitt until an injury ended his college career.

Billy Fralic, as a sophomore Fralic's Penn Hills team played Danny, and my cousin's Central Catholic team in the WPIAL playoffs at Valley High School. Fralic, then a sophomore, told the Central linemen that if they did not try too hard he would not have to hurt them.

Lavar Arrington, I hated that he went to Crappy Valley to play at State Pen but, at North Hills H.S. he was unreal.

Brian Davis, was the closest thing we ever had at Pitt that we could say he was the next Dorsett. Brian was amazing, but he couldn't find the classroom once he got to campus.

Terrelle Pryor, in Class-AA ball I think his senior season Pryor was tackled once in 14 or 15 games.

Aaron Donald, he was unstoppable in high school at Penn Hills, and he's been unstoppable ever since.

Nobody from my high school team, Go Bucs!, made the top-six. I have many more on my list but I kept it to the top-6

Complete whiff on your part not mentioning one Stefen Djordjevic of Ampipe High.  

[SHOOTER12 8,840]

1 hour ago, Dennis Taylor said:

 

250 might be a bit of a stretch but he was a grown-ass man for sure    

I wouldn't swear either way but I had always thought 225-230, which of course is still beastly with his speed and athleticism.

[SHOOTER12 8,840]

1 hour ago, CooterBrown said:

Yep. He made the mistake of moving back to cuero and then got into trouble. He’s been out for a while and doing fine.

That is good to hear.

[dcbc 14,565]

My parents had a weekend place near Sealy.  I was a little kid, but I distinctly remember walking around the track at a school I'd never been to while Eric Dickerson played. 

[TexasBeta 1,267]

I wouldn't swear either way but I had always thought 225-230, which of course is still beastly with his speed and athleticism.

Not gonna lie. This is one RB (and Peterson) I really wanted on the 40 acres.

[cmontexas 3,282]

I saw Quan Cosby and the Mart Panthers destroy Boyd in the state championship game Quan's junior year. I was convinced he was the next Michael Vick. He also knocked a dude out playing safety 

[PittsburghTiger 6,226]

1 hour ago, Underdog said:

Complete whiff on your part not mentioning one Stefen Djordjevic of Ampipe High.  

I was actually going to add Vinnie Salvucci, but his career was cut short.

Funny part about All The Right Moves, and my mention of Sean Gilbert from Aliquippa H.S. The coach of the rich school in All The Right Moves was none other than Don Yanessa, who was at the time the coach of Aliquippa H.S. Aliquippa is by no means anything close to being a rich school. It is very economically depressed, as are most of the river steel towns that used to dominate.

Yanessa left Aliquippa to become coach at Ambridge, named for the American Bridge Company, Aliquippa's most hated rival and kind of where they got the name for Ampipe, located across the river from Aliquippa.

Most of All The Right Moves was filmed in Johnstown, about 56 miles from my front door. It's also where Slapshot was filmed. 

[Dilligas 666]

5 hours ago, 77horn said:

Probably before most of your times:

• Tommy Kramer SA Lee; Minn Vikings
• Richard Osborne SA Lee; Phil Eagles
• Lawrence Williams WFHS; Kan City Chiefs
• Joey Aboussie; WFHS; UT - The 1973 game vs Miami (Fla) didn't turn out well for him

Have a good friend that met Kramer in a beer joint on the Devils Backbone a year or so ago, said he was the nicest guy. Had a dude with him that just drove him around.

I need one on those, a driver.

[Scheiss Meister 8,416]

I watched Roosevelt Leaks run behind Wilson Whitley when I was a kid.  I really wasn't old enough to appreciate them then, but I remember a lot of cheering and scoring. 

[SHOOTER12 8,840]

OK my list

Arthur Whittington-Cuero

Alois Blackwell-Cuero

Calvin Blackwell-Cuero (disclaimer, the mention of his name causes me to relive concussion symptoms.

Ronnie Ridgers-Uvalde (drugged himself out at UT.

Jerrod Douglas-Judson

Tommy Kramer

Terry Monroe-Pleasanton

[perfectchaos007 6,679]

I didn't get to see Fozzy, and I'm glad I didn't. He was injured the day we played them, and we were able to beat Pearland on homecoming. That was my senior year of HS too. We did play Derek Carr in the playoffs that year, he was a freshman QB at Fort Bend Clements I think and we beat them. I could tell Derek was going to be good one day though.

Edited October 16, 2020 by perfectchaos007

[CooterBrown 18,038]

Not gonna lie. This is one RB (and Peterson) I really wanted on the 40 acres.

He told a common friend at the time that he liked Texas (Texas and Miami were his top 2). He didn’t like Jimmy Johnson once he met him. What turned him off to Texas was a booster told him that he’d get Earl’s number unretired if he signed. He was offended since Earl was his hero.

[BurntOrange&White 40,059]

According to ESPN Arch Manning 

[TexasBeta 1,267]

He told a common friend at the time that he liked Texas (Texas and Miami were his top 2). He didn’t like Jimmy Johnson once he met him. What turned him off to Texas was a booster told him that he’d get Earl’s number unretired if he signed. He was offended since Earl was his hero.

Nice. We got Adrian Walker instead. Just another in a long line of missed opportunities. Who knows.

[Duke Silver 191]

Robert Strait - Mack truck

Harvey Williams - smooth as warm butter

Percy Waddle - hands as big as a first baseman’s glove

Had the privilege of trying to tackle Tony Brackens on a tight end seam pass in a playoff game. 

[Jkwellborn 6,783]

I saw Quan Cosby and the Mart Panthers destroy Boyd in the state championship game Quan's junior year. I was convinced he was the next Michael Vick. He also knocked a dude out playing safety 

I watched them play that year in the playoffs too. That team was crazy. Especially for a 2A team.

[Harley Sullivan 3]

Earl Campbell

[ChiTownDoc 21,183]

6 hours ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Adrian Peterson

Cedric Benson

Kyler Murray

Vince Young

 

I think that's the holy grail unless you're able to go back far enough to watch Earl.  Switzer (I know, relax) says he was the only one he ever saw that could go from hs to the pros.  He loves to bullshit and when asked about Adrian...'yeah, probably...but Earl was Earl, nobody was built like that'.  He was basically a more talented Marcus Dupree with a good head on his shoulders - 'greatest that never was' is a great 30 for 30.  Earl was 5'11'' 240 in an era where lineman were not always 240.  Just unreal.  /endofrandomthoughts

[ChiTownDoc 21,183]

6 hours ago, Sandman said:

Went to HS with Cale Gundy so I saw many of his games, he was a year older than me. Several years after graduating, I watched my HS play in championship games against current VA Tech HC Justin Fuente (we won) and then vs Rocky Calmus and Kewon Jones (we lost).  Fuck Tulsa schools BTW.

Ha, Moore '97.  We made the state championship once in that era and got destroyed by Jenks.  Cale was a God when I was a kid.  And who can forget all those Jenks/Union teams...agree - fuck those schools. 

[BurntOrange&White 40,059]

1 minute ago, ChiTownDoc said:

I think that's the holy grail unless you're able to go back far enough to watch Earl.  Switzer (I know, relax) says he was the only one he ever saw that could go from hs to the pros.  He loves to bullshit and when asked about Adrian...'yeah, probably...but Earl was Earl, nobody was built like that'.  He was basically a more talented Marcus Dupree with a good head on his shoulders - 'greatest that never was' is a great 30 for 30.  Earl was 5'11'' 240 in an era where lineman were not always 240.  Just unreal.  /endofrandomthoughts

Not that old.

 

 

I played against Jeremy Kerley and Emmanuel Sanders in high school. Those guys were good. Never thought Kerley would make it to the pros but he did. Emmanuel was so fast and it’s crazy to see him have this long of a career in the the league. 
 

one of the best players I played against was a kid out of Cameron Yoe named Derek Evans 6’4 190 lbs receiver and could play every position. Grades were a big issue, heard he couldn’t make it at Blinn 
 

 

[BurntOrange&White 40,059]

Speaking of Kerley and 3a. Look at this all state 3a list. Some interesting names on it. 
 

https://www.setxsports.com/ip/index.php?/topic/272-3a-all-state-team/

Edited October 16, 2020 by BurntOrange&White

[hookem48 4,703]

Eric Dickerson, Harvey Williams, Adrain Peterson, Jamaal Charles, Ervin  Randle, Eugene Lockhart

 

[Laga4 1,270]

I saw Earl vs Austin Reagan in the State Championship.  

Runners up were Tommy Kramer,  Quan Cosby, and Kyler Murray.  

[Ignatius 4,051]

Tony DeGrate; he played at Snyder which was in our district, but (fortunately) was 4 years older than me. My cousin who was that age played on the O-Line against Tony annually from the time he was in 7th grade and got regularly beaten like a red headed rented step-mule. Watching him play against all of these 5’10” 170lb farm boys was like watching Bluto knock out people left and right in a Popeye cartoon...

Edited October 16, 2020 by Ignatius

[BurntOrange&White 40,059]

Just now, Ignatius said:

Tony DeGrate; he played at Snyder which was in our district, but (fortunately) was 4 years older than me. My cousin who was that age played against Tony annually from the time he was in 7th grade and got regularly beaten like a rented mule. Watching him play against all of these 5’10” 170lb farm boys was like watching Bluto knock out people left and right in a Popeye cartoon...

For a small town Snyder at one point had a ton oF milfs. Is it still the same?

[Hornstrader 180]

Vince

Jerry Ball

Thurman Thomas

Hart Lee Dykes

Jordan Shipley

Cedric Benson

Britt Hager

Kyler Murray

Derrick Johnson

 

[Hook1997 5,411]

10 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

Robert Strait. Carried the ball 54 of 56 plays against us. The other two were Fumbled snaps. He also kicked off with nearly every kick sailing out of the end zone. He won district in five events...the 100, HJ, LJ, SP, and anchored the 4x100.

Bombed out at Baylor and went to prison for dealing crack.

I was like 7 years old when my 10 years older brother played against him his senior year, last game of the season.  The week before we got upset by Edna on a last second TD where the RB pushed the ball over the goaline while already down so the next week we had to beat Cuero to make the playoffs, back when just two teams made it before they added half the district making the playoffs.  A Victoria newspaper writer wrote it would snow in July before Hallettsville beat Cuero. They had a Santa throwing snow out before the game on a sleigh and all.   They were actually beating Cuero at half (the only team to have a lead on them all year including the playoffs). Robert Straight won them the game comfortably in the second half.  Csb 

I played against Shane Leckler and he was a good QB too.  Our punter actually had a higher punting average then him In our district his senior year, dude could kick.  He fucked around though his year after high school and then the next year he was suppose to walk on at U of H but never finished his summer school obligations he needed, what a waste.  He could have punted in the NFL for years.

Edited October 16, 2020 by Hook1997

[Ignatius 4,051]

28 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

For a small town Snyder at one point had a ton oF milfs. Is it still the same?

Dude I’m 53; every small town girl under 30 who hasn’t had 5 kids is hot these days.

But, fortunately, haven’t lived out there since literally the day after my high school graduation when I moved into Dobie for summer school....

Edited October 16, 2020 by Ignatius