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Best HS FB Player You PERSONALLY Saw Play

caneinorlando said:
Matador...from what I was told...Very little...If ANY tape of Freddie...I've been hunting for yrs....Dade HS's (back then) had very little $$ (if any) to spend in ref too video/film dept...
All I can tell people..is what I saw on several occasions when I had the opportunity to see Freddie play...I lived in Ft Myers..but Family lived in Kendall.....I've been fortunate enough to see the Best of the Best Fl HS RBs...
Gore
Washington (thought he'd be an NFL HOFer one day....
Peacock
Marquette Smith
Emmitt
Sean...etc....Wish like **** I could say I've seen better than Miles......can't do it....
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The Late Former UM and Dallas Cowboy RB coach Joe Brodsky (brother was a UM legend) who himself starred at UF...and coached Miami Jackson for 16 yrs...also coached at Lakes (while Freddie was there) had ALWAYS maintained that Freddie was the Best RB (regardless of age) he'd ever seen...(and he coached a slew including Emmitt)....In the mid 90s..I sat down with Legendary UM RB Coach Don Soldinger, and asked him about Freddie (Don was Southridge's HC back then...and had an AA RB himself Tony Smith at the time)...and not only did he back up what Brodsky said...he went on and on bout Freddie, recalling things he saw as well....Don said "Without ANY doubt in his mind....Freddie was the Best he ever saw....
 
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TheMatador said:
I saw Ted in HS, but strangely, don't remember him. I watched Russ Smith run crazy on Greentree during spring 1963. The breakaway back we never had. Best single game performance I saw in person was probably David Hiss from Columbus in '62. Then I watched Richie Anderson run wild in his final HS game here in Maryland. Saw an explosive Rocket Ismail in Big 33 game in Hershey, PA in 1989. Leslie Shepherd, Miami commit reminded me of Paul Warfield, in that same 1989 MD-PA all star game. Never made it in to Miami. Ended up at Temple.

Haven't really seen many HS superstars live. Strange I went to a Hialeah game in '62 but don't remember Hendricks. He was absolutely phenomenal as a Cane 3 years later.
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He woulda been a HS Soph then, right. Maybe not so surprising.

I remember his pass catching skills more than his defense. But ... am I recalling those skills from the UM Frosh team or from his Hialeah days?
 
One of the interesting things about this topic every time it comes up is that it makes me recall kids who seemed like such can't-miss guys in high school getting soundly outplayed at the next level. A lot of HS legends peak early or just don't have the drive at the next level. Why every time you hear "Man (legendary HOFer) was good, but I saw (HS legend) and he was even better" you need to take it with a grain of salt.
 
TheMatador said:
Western NY used to be very good in football. We got some very good players, all-time UM great Don Bosseler from the '50's was from Batavia. He's in the College Football HOF. More recently, Jim Burt was from Buffalo. Syracuse used to have good teams
Ernie Davis was from Elmira.
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Hm..I had no idea, that's awesome! Thank you for that, I have to ask my parents if they by any chance know or heard of Bosseler now!
 
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Trevor Lawrence - Hose for an arm and accurate.
Played against Hines Ward the QB - impossible to take down by yourself and was a pretty good thrower too. Was a one man show on offense!
Andre Hastings - peaked in high school
Calvin Johnson - just a beast - can’t believe he went to Ga. Tech
 
ebfinest said:
Ty Law.
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I played against Ty Law when I was in Pee Wee football. He played running back at that age and he stood out over everyone. Aliquiippa football was crazy then and is still great. I actually have a vhs tape of us playing them in the championship game in a snow storm. Ty Law to the right! Ty Law to the left! He was a freak.
 
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TheSwagger1 said:
One of the interesting things about this topic every time it comes up is that it makes me recall kids who seemed like such can't-miss guys in high school getting soundly outplayed at the next level. A lot of HS legends peak early or just don't have the drive at the next level. Why every time you hear "Man (legendary HOFer) was good, but I saw (HS legend) and he was even better" you need to take it with a grain of salt.
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Here's an example @gogeta4 might get a charge out of. Mark Gambill, McArthur '71-'75, FB/RB - MLB. He was 5'11" 190 as freshman. Only underclassman I saw play at that time. HC at the time refused to play underclassman. Anyway, he was a man-child. As a senior, he was 6'1" 220. Not much straight line speed but was very quick and would literally run over people. Sideline to sideline MLB and would punish runners. Nice kid but dumber than a box of rocks. Not sure what ever happened with him.
 
Skip Cane said:
Trevor Lawrence - Hose for an arm and accurate.
Played against Hines Ward the QB - impossible to take down by yourself and was a pretty good thrower too. Was a one man show on offense!
Andre Hastings - peaked in high school
Calvin Johnson - just a beast - can’t believe he went to Ga. Tech
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Not sure what you mean by "peaked in high school." Dude had a very good career at UGA and played in the NFL.

The Freddie Miles types are the ones who peaked in high school. Not the guys who went on to have successful college and pro careers.
 
ajkreider said:
Yes. We graduated high school together. Was an all-everything QB. Set a bunch of records at Furman. East Tennessee is not quite the hotbed that SoFla is.
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Did you all go to Greeneville? I live about 60 miles from there. I remember how good he was # Furman. Have an under grad and grad degrees from Tusculum.
 
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