Who is the best High School player you watched play and why?

[Funk-d-fied]

I would have to say back in 1997, Jacob Vasquez out of Fort Stockton. Was second in the state in 4A in rushing. Was 2nd team all-state, first team all-district, all-permian basin, all-west texas, and a wendy's high school heisman. He won the district rushing title and had the best yards per carry, least amount of fumbles and most touchdowns in the district. Nontheless, he was 2nd team all state and Shaud Williams of Andrews was 1st team despite the stats. Not bad for a district that featured 2 top 10 teams that year and running backs such as Shuad Williams of the NFL and Willia Amos of Sweetwater who played at Nebraska.

[crzyjournalist03]

I played HS baseball with Zach Segovia of Forney for one year...considering that he made it to the bigs as a pitcher earlier this year, I'd say he qualifies as the best athlete I've ever played with.

He has one heck of a work ethic though...coaches gave him more slack than some of the other players, but he never took advantage of it. He'd be running sprints in the morning before practice, and he was always the last one off the field after practice...you could tell that he wanted it badly...those are the types of guys I like being around!

[Snyder_TigerFan]

It's not often that I'll give props to Sweetwater, but Willie Amos and Moses Brown were two of the best that I remember seeing. They had the moves.

Also, I can't leave Manuel Johnson from Gilmer off of the list.

[rangerjoe33]

Bam Morris, Cooper, TX saw him run over a teammate once and knocked him out. Morris' thigh hit our safeties helmet...lights out.
He also played a great superbowl against the Cowboys.

He was an outstanding athlete, to bad he got caught up in wrong stuff.

[Old Tiger]

Best I watched: Jordan Shipley(Burnet)
Best I played against: Derek Evans(Cameron Yoe)
Probably will be the best I played against/watched: Brock Fitzhenry(Giddings)

[buff4life]

i batted against Homer Bailey when i was a freshman and he was a senior....i was scared!!!

[Old Tiger]

Originally posted by buff4life
i batted against Homer Bailey when i was a freshman and he was a senior....i was scared!!! I saw Homer Bailey at a tournament and laughed at him, he looks goofy.

[Funk-d-fied]

When i was a senior we played in Sweetwater and as we went on defense i looked into the backfield and saw two freshman ready to go... they snapped the ball and I thought, " they are not freshman."

[Johnny Utah]

Best I watched was Tony Brackens from Fairfield. He whipped Rockdale all over the field one night from the nose guard position and he ran all over the Rock from the full back position. Rockdale could not get a snap off, literally!!! Travis Ortega was OUTSTANDING to watch on Defense when he played for Rockdale. He would KNOCK your head off!!!

[wildstangs]

I remember Ft. Stockton having a really good player but I couldnt remember his name. Vasquez was the guy - Did he play anywhere after high school?

Couple of the best I ever got to see in person - Mychael Carrillo, Willie Amos, Case Keenum, and Kendall Briles.

[NDFootball]

Playing with Case Keenum was pretty cool. He just had that self-confidence about him all the time, he was a natural leader.

[SWMustang]

Kenneth Norman - Sweetwater. All - state 4A on offense (tailback) and defense (free safety). Signed a letter of intent to play football at A&M but also signed a baseball contract with the minnesota twins organization and persued that instead. Never made it to the bigs.

[scotty]

I had the good fortune to see some really good ones. Ernie and Ted Koy, Joe Ed Lynn, Tommy Dittmar from Bellville; Aaron and Matt Schobel from Columbus; the kid from Hempstead that went to LSU and then the pros can't remember his name; Fred Smith, Derek Curry, Steve Newsome and Eric Dickerson from Sealy. Out of that bunch I suppose Dickerson was the best as he is now in the Hall of Fame and holds some NFL rushing records to prove it.

[IHStangFan]

I used to have to longjump against Toya Jones (Refugio/Texas A&M) Before he bulked up at A&M, he was the fastest person I had ever seen in person. I remember him as a Jr. in HS jumping somewhere in the neighborhood of 25+ feet and triple jumping around 50+ if I'm not mistaken. It's been a long time, but I just remember the guy being an amazing track athelete.

[TMer25]

Robert Strait at Cuero. You knew it was coming and still couldn't do anything about it.

[Emerson1]

Matthew Stafford or Dabryan Blanton, that I can remember atleast.

Dabryan ran as fast as Stafford could throw the ball

[g$$]

Originally posted by scotty
I had the good fortune to see some really good ones. Ernie and Ted Koy, Joe Ed Lynn, Tommy Dittmar from Bellville; Aaron and Matt Schobel from Columbus; the kid from Hempstead that went to LSU and then the pros can't remember his name; Fred Smith, Derek Curry, Steve Newsome and Eric Dickerson from Sealy. Out of that bunch I suppose Dickerson was the best as he is now in the Hall of Fame and holds some NFL rushing records to prove it.

Hempstead kid was RB Harvey Williams...& Sweeny beat that team in the playoffs his senior year in a game voted Top 10 of the 1980s by DCTF. Unbelievable comeback to win it.

Agreed on Toya Jones IHStang, & he did bulk up at A&M or he would have been in the Olympics. Nice guy too & a pleasure to work with, even came back to finish his degree.

[g$$]

Originally posted by TMer25
Robert Strait at Cuero. You knew it was coming and still couldn't do anything about it.

You are correct. Scrimmaged Cuero my senior year & he was the real deal. Barry Switzer was there in person. Never the same after knee injuries & off the field problems at Baylor. Quite a talent for sure & what a waste.

[Fal44]

Mark Cates from fal... First team all-state, I think he scored 42 total touchdowns his senior year.. He had an offer from Iowa State, but turned it down for baseball..

[Fotbol]

Quan Cosby, if you saw him play, you would agree.

[texasjeremy]

Palestine's Adrian Peterson, he was unstoppable in high school.

[burnet44]

Originally posted by rangerjoe33
Bam Morris, Cooper, TX saw him run over a teammate once and knocked him out. Morris' thigh hit our safeties helmet...lights out.
He also played a great superbowl against the Cowboys.

He was an outstanding athlete, to bad he got caught up in wrong stuff.

He was a stud
but remember the night in Tyler vs Groveton?
96-7?
Groveton comes out of the west endzone field house
Chanting "Bam Bam Bam Bam" they were looking for him
they got him
About the 3rd play of the game Cooper runs a weaksice lead
OLB from Groveton lays Morris out
GAME IS OVER
he came back in but ran tippy-toe the rest of the night
finally giving up in the second half
Groveton-Scotty-Hill killed em


Originally posted by IHStangFan
I used to have to long jump against Toya Jones (Refugio/Texas A&M) Before he bulked up at A&M, he was the fastest person I had ever seen in person. I remember him as a Jr. in HS jumping somewhere in the neighborhood of 25+ feet and triple jumping around 50+ if I'm not mistaken. It's been a long time, but I just remember the guy being an amazing track athelete.

He was just about the greatest track athlete Ive seen overall
He wasnt that good of a fb player
the rb-lb hutchinson? was the best football player on that team
Toya should have been a decathlete he could have been a world class decathlete and IMHO a possible medalist maybe Gold
wasted his career and talent trying to play football
returned punts for the Corps
a true waste of a great talent



Originally posted by TMer25
Robert Strait at Cuero. You knew it was coming and still couldn't do anything about it.

He was good
But w/o the TE Barzeal? to block down for him he wasnt the same
I saw the Jefferson state final game
Jefferson clobbered him
But Strait didnt have a lot of help




Eric Dickerson Sealy
Pro Football HOF
He was a man against boys in HS
without question
the best 3A player in history
but
they has a qb named Scott Able and he was able
Made 1st team all-state qb and MLB
had a sophomore safety named Cloud he was a stud All-State
Had a rt tackle named Zapalac went to SFA? all state
when he blocked down he made a hiway
Except for DF and Pittsburg
Id put them 3rd all time 3a team

[lion75]

1992 Vernon Lion DEXTER BUTLER... 6'2" 250 lb. tailback...100 meter district champion.. 5th in the shot put... 280 yards rushing vs. Southlake Carroll in the famous Pennington Field contest of #1 vs. # 2 in "92. Earlier in the year he ran straight over Zac Thomas for a 71 yard TD on the first play of the game in a 33-10 rout of 4a Pampa. Can I get a witness to anyone who saw this beast?

[buff4life]

Originally posted by Go Blue
I saw Homer Bailey at a tournament and laughed at him, he looks goofy.

goofy or not...he still threw that ball hard...wow..

[Old Tiger]

Originally posted by buff4life
goofy or not...he still threw that ball hard...wow.. true story

[wookinpanub]

Originally posted by g$$
Hempstead kid was RB Harvey Williams...& Sweeny beat that team in the playoffs his senior year in a game voted Top 10 of the 1980s by DCTF. Unbelievable comeback to win it.

Agreed on Toya Jones IHStang, & he did bulk up at A&M or he would have been in the Olympics. Nice guy too & a pleasure to work with, even came back to finish his degree.

I have to correct you on that one. Harvey Williams had to be a junior that year because Hempstead blew it his senior year, when they were the pre-season pick to win state. Bellville upset them 16-13 in the final regular-season week and left them in shock and out of the playoffs.

[wookinpanub]

Best player to ever come out of Caldwell was Alfred Jackson in the early 70's. Hell, they even beat Westlake (when the Chaps were in same conference in its early days) with him running the ball. He went on to play wide receiver for the Horns anchoring the offense with some guy named Earl Campbell. They were best friends and Earl even spoke at the athletic banquet. Very cool. Alfred played for Falcons before retiring.

Defensively, it would have to be Charlie Krueger at A&M. A total legend. Ironically, he discourages kids to this day not to play football because it left him so crippled after all his years with the 49'ers.

Other notables:
Jason Carter - probably best overall athlete. He was even a better basketball player and the rest of the Aggie team even said so from shooting hoops with him for fun.

Mike Stone - (early 90's) fun to watch when he had the ball. 4.3 speed, short but could stampede if I recall correctly.

Bobby Jack Goforth - (early 80s) good athlete overall, now head coach at SA Jay

Chandler Evans - (late 80s) - best QB from Caldwell to date. Played for UH with Klingler before transferring to East Texas when the UH coach (Jenkins?) started showing porn to motivate players. He came from a very moral background. I guess they had Pamela Sue posing with her tongue wagging in the end zone LOL

Kris Kocurek - awesome lineman at Tech and played for Titans for a while.

Jerry Harrison - good receiver (I think) at Baylor in the mid 70's.

[Pudlugger]

Best player I have seen in 3a would have to be De Bryan Blanton from Forney. He was fast!

Best player I ever played against was Bobby Bonds from Riverside Poly CA. He was a great athlete and went on to play baseball for the Oakland As. His son is pretty good too!

[injuredinmelee]

Originally posted by lion75
1992 Vernon Lion DEXTER BUTLER... 6'2" 250 lb. tailback...100 meter district champion.. 5th in the shot put... 280 yards rushing vs. Southlake Carroll in the famous Pennington Field contest of #1 vs. # 2 in "92. Earlier in the year he ran straight over Zac Thomas for a 71 yard TD on the first play of the game in a 33-10 rout of 4a Pampa. Can I get a witness to anyone who saw this beast?

was Butler more impressive than Derrick Richardson? When I saw the ehadline on this post two RBs came to mind. Cedric Benson and Derrick out of Vernon.

[burnet44]

Originally posted by wookinpanub
Best player to ever come out of Caldwell was Alfred Jackson in the early 70's.

Bobby Jack Goforth - (early 80s) good athlete overall, now head coach at SA Jay



AJ was good
BJG was good but he was a way better track athlete than fb player
see my post on Toya Jones

Johnny Lam Jones comes to mind

along with Jack Pardee from Christoval

[slpybear the bullfan]

Colin Jones of Bridgeport.

Almost single handedly won the playoff game against Monahans back in 2005... (and if he could have kicked PATs he would).

Nope... still not over that game! :)

[wookinpanub]

Originally posted by burnet44
AJ was good
BJG was good but he was a way better track athlete than fb player
see my post on Toya Jones

Johnny Lam Jones comes to mind

along with Jack Pardee from Christoval

yea, Goforth's younger sister was just as talented at hurdles. When their dad lost his coaching job (no offense, but it was high time), the family vanished to Conroe area. He was a finalist for the Cuero head coaching job four years ago and had success as an assistant at Katy under Mike Johnston.

[big daddy russ]

Originally posted by Fal44
Mark Cates from fal... First team all-state, I think he scored 42 total touchdowns his senior year.. He had an offer from Iowa State, but turned it down for baseball..


Originally posted by Fotbol
Quan Cosby, if you saw him play, you would agree.

Cates was a hoss. So was Cosby. I remember Refugio had a QB/DB that played against Mart in the Semifinals Cosby's senior year who was every bit the athlete that Cosby was... think his name was Alex Boyd???

Others that come to mind include Eric Tasby (CC Carroll), Martin Dosset (Gregory-Portland), DaBryan Blanton (Forney), the Benton kid from Everman, Kellen Heard (Wharton), Jordan Shipley (Burnet), Limas Sweed (Brenham), Reggie McNeal (Lufkin), Dat Nguyen (Rockport), Jovorskie Lane (Lufkin), Clint Finley (Cuero), Jorrie Adams, Red Bryant, and the Mitchell kid who played QB (Jasper), Adrian Alaniz (Sinton), Justin Warren (Tyler Lee), Billy Pittman (Cameron Yoe), and Tommy Blake (Aransas Pass). I'm sure there are some guys I'm forgetting, but that's a good place to start.

As far as the guys who could just absolutely impose their will on another team no matter who it was, Warren, Finley, Blake, Lane, and Heard were the best of the bunch. Heard was a man among boys. Faster than most skill players and almost always the biggest kid on the field. Lane and Blake were one in the same... just huge, fast kids playing RB against a bunch of guys half their size and no faster than they were. Finley was straight up the best HS player I've ever seen in person.

On a side note, I've seen a bunch of four- and five-star guys who've gone on to successful college and NFL careers, but they never left that impression on me that they just dominated a game. QB's Jarrett Lee (Brenham), Kirby Freeman (Brownwood), and Chad Schroeder (Austin Westlake) come to mind.

By the same token, though, I only saw Lee and Freeman play once, so they may have just had some off-games.

As far as an athlete that came through Ingleside that could've been mentioned in this breath-- Paul Campbell c/o '99. He went somewhere around 6'3" 230 (Izzy, help me out on this) and was one of the fastest kids in the district. A complete animal.

[99IHSMustang]

Originally posted by big daddy russ
As far as an athlete that came through Ingleside that could've been mentioned in this breath-- Paul Campbell c/o '99. He went somewhere around 6'3" 230 (Izzy, help me out on this) and was one of the fastest kids in the district. A complete animal. [/B]

I graduated with him and he was more like 6'2 and about 225 and was pretty darn fast for a kid his size. I do not remember exactly what he ran in the Qtr., but he was extremely fast with full pads on. He played LB on D and Running Back on O. I remember one play in particuler when he picked up a running back and in stead of slamming him to the ground he tossed him over the left side of his body like he was a rag doll and got called for unnecessary roughness. He went to the sidelines and told the coach that he was just having fun.... lol

[burnet44]

trust me
no one mentioned
are in the class with Dickerson and Earl
Im sure all of these were good players
but the gap with these 2?
wider than the XIT

[Gobbler Fan]

Offensively - Robert Straight ...you just dont gain that many yards without talent . He was the main cog starting in his Freshman season for Cuero making 3 straight trips to the finals and winning it on the 3rd try.

Defensively - Rodney Pedraza ... went on to pitch for the University of Texas was the best MLB I have seen but picked Baseball over Football at the next level all state at both. Could hit like a truck and was what a MLB needs to be SMART.

These are the 2 best I have seen . Not that burnet44 would agree but if this was the burnet44 best picks topic his oppinion would matter .


Have a nice day !

[wookinpanub]

Originally posted by burnet44
trust me
no one mentioned
are in the class with Dickerson and Earl
Im sure all of these were good players
but the gap with these 2?
wider than the XIT

I have to agree with you on that one, buddy. I watched Eric play when I was about 11 years old and was astounded at the length of his strides. Because of his height, I swear he could reach from one end of the field to the other in what seemed like 7-8 seconds - amazing. It was like watching leap frog the way he would jump opponents like hurdles. Earl was just a big guy who intimidated the hell ouf of you.

[mrescape43]

Shaud Williams from Andrews. That guy was amazing.

[Snydertigersrul]

Originally posted by Funk-d-fied
I would have to say back in 1997, Jacob Vasquez out of Fort Stockton. Was second in the state in 4A in rushing. Was 2nd team all-state, first team all-district, all-permian basin, all-west texas, and a wendy's high school heisman. He won the district rushing title and had the best yards per carry, least amount of fumbles and most touchdowns in the district. Nontheless, he was 2nd team all state and Shaud Williams of Andrews was 1st team despite the stats. Not bad for a district that featured 2 top 10 teams that year and running backs such as Shuad Williams of the NFL and Willia Amos of Sweetwater who played at Nebraska.


Adrian Peterson of Palestine, a man playing with boys.

[burnet44]

Originally posted by Gobbler Fan


These are the 2 best I have seen . Not that burnet44 would agree but if this was the burnet44 best picks topic his oppinion would matter .


Have a nice day !

that's 1 p in oppinion
before the grammir Nazi's get ya

Strait was good
the TE-MLB had a lot to do with his success Brazeale? #85?

I didnt say any of these guys were bad
but I'd take Earl or Dickerson over Rodney Pedraza any day
while Im sure he was good its like Bum said

"I dont know what class Earl is in, but it dont take long to call the roll"

[g$$]

Originally posted by wookinpanub
I have to correct you on that one. Harvey Williams had to be a junior that year because Hempstead blew it his senior year, when they were the pre-season pick to win state. Bellville upset them 16-13 in the final regular-season week and left them in shock and out of the playoffs.

It may have been Harvey's junior year - the qb was McDade who went to Houston. The years tend to run together for Sweeny during those glory days. I do know we beat them in Katy & I was a youngster. That game was rated Top 10 by DCTF too for the '80s. Hempstead fans held up a sign that read "Sweeny starts basketball Monday" but in the end they started thump-thump & Sweeny kept going!

Appreciate the correction & good stuff.

[g$$]

Originally posted by burnet44
trust me
no one mentioned
are in the class with Dickerson and Earl
Im sure all of these were good players
but the gap with these 2?
wider than the XIT

Saw: Earl Campbell was the best I ever saw while playing for John Tyler HS. He was a beast at NG too. His career as a RB for Texas & the Oilers still gives me chills. One of my best childhood memories was meeting him in the Texas locker room with my Dad thanks to Ken Dabbs helping us out.

Lots of great posts on this thread - but it has to be Earl & Dickerson. They are HOF for a reason.

Tracey Simien in Sweeny (TCU, 9 yrs. NFL LB too) was fun to watch as well. Nobody outworked Trixie either.

Against: Robert Strait of Cuero & West Columbia's Wayne Williams (LSU, Jets) come to mind quickly. SA Cole's Shaquille O'Neal in basketball too in a Kerrville tourney.

Played with Benford Williams at Sweeny (3 titles in '80s) in basketball too; HS All American & fine career at Texas & overseas. Bay City's LaBradford "Moose" Smith (Louisville/NBA 1st rounder) was a hoss too!

[g$$]

My Dad always said Kenneth Hall of Sugar Land (aka the Sugarland Express) was the best he ever saw play. Bear Bryant also called Hall the biggest mistake he ever made in coaching with the way he was handled at Texas A&M. A great one no doubt with lots of state & national records.

(new stadium in Fort Bend County named after him recently too)

[coach]

Originally posted by Johnny Utah
Best I watched was Tony Brackens from Fairfield. He whipped Rockdale all over the field one night from the nose guard position and he ran all over the Rock from the full back position. Rockdale could not get a snap off, literally!!! Travis Ortega was OUTSTANDING to watch on Defense when he played for Rockdale. He would KNOCK your head off!!!


tony was massive and still is. the coaches say he would take plays off all the time just to full the opposing players to make them think he wasnt that good and as sson as the center would get back on his hills bc tony wasnt trying tony wouldd knock the center 5 yards back and demolish the play....he came and helped us practice two years ago during our great run during basketball and he is such an athlete... he could drp step and dunk with out trying and he had two bad knees. alot of ppl say he coud have been better bc he was very lazy and relied on his talent and didnt take care of his body but yeah you are right he was a very impresive football player....i still see him around time to time and he still looks like he could plaay in the nfl but his knees are just too bad....

[big daddy russ]

Originally posted by g$$
My Dad always said Kenneth Hall of Sugar Land (aka the Sugarland Express) was the best he ever saw play. Bear Bryant also called Hall the biggest mistake he ever made in coaching with the way he was handled at Texas A&M. A great one no doubt with lots of state & national records.

(new stadium in Fort Bend County named after him recently too)
I was just about to bring this up, g. I don't think anyone really knows, but as far as I'm concerned, he's the greatest prep football player in Texas history.

[kof96]

kof96 4.1 speed bench 675 squat 885 not bad for a fat kid:D

[burnet44]

Dickerson UIL state meet

http://www.ericdickerson29.com/images/high_s1.gif