Best High School Player Seen

I have not seen that many but I played against Albert Davis of Alcoa. It was like a 30 year old man versus children. Like hitting a brick wall and had 2 extra gears.

One of the best athletes if not the best athlete to come through the Knoxville/Alcoa/Maryville area. Just as good at baseball
 
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Todd Helton- Knoxville Central
Rudy Stinson - Powell
Dante Hickey- Cleveland
Shawn Summers - Oak Ridge
Collins boys at Jeff. Co along with Spencer Riley
Eric Westmoreland - Marion County
Devrin Young - Bearden highlight reel each Friday
Shaun Bohannon- Oak Ridge

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What do most of these have in common?

Yes that's right - they were all highlight reels each Friday until they had to play Maryville HS. Add to that list Gerald Riggs Jr.

I saw all of them at the HS level except Westmoreland.
Maryville wasnt in the conversation back then. Maryville emerged after all had left, except D. Young. Those were all mid to late 90's guys, I listed.
 

Believe you have a winner.... also the other QB was Michael Edmiston... He led them one year through the regular season and the cumulative scores were like 460 to 75. Was not a deep team, lost their scatback to injury...... found the 2003 season data before I hit post... Check out this season and who ended it. Darndest season with a schedule like this I have ever been around. Watched Alcoa dominate in 3A since returning to east TN but did not match this season.

Schedule
Date Opponent Result

FriAug. 22 Franklin W 38-33
FriAug. 29 Blackman W 51-0
FriSep. 12 at Riverdale W 26-21
FriSep. 19 Franklin County W 41-0
FriSep. 26 at Oakland W 51-0
FriOct. 3 at Cookeville W 41-7
FriOct. 10 Howard W 45-0
FriOct. 17 at Coffee County W 46-0
FriOct. 24 Warren County W 70-7
FriOct. 31 Cumberland CountyW 57-7

FriNov. 7 OaklandClass 5A Playoffs Rnd One W 19-6
FriNov. 14 SmyrnaClass 5A Second Round W 29-22
FriNov. 21 RiverdaleClass 5A Quarterfinals L 13-19
 
Maryville wasnt in the conversation back then. Maryville emerged after all had left, except D. Young. Those were all mid to late 90's guys, I listed.

Collins brother from Jeff were mid '80's for Brent and late 80's like '85-'88 for Todd. You didn't want any of those Jeff Co teams. I thought we were good, but those defenses were stacked.
 
Also, y'all should've seen Kent Austin as an 8th grader at Northside Middle (now Brentwood Middle). He was the best QB in the state before reaching high school.
I was just thinking about Jason Cook at BA mid/late 80s. You ain’t been hit until you’ve been hit by a country strong wild man.
 
jackie walker
bill young
albert davis
steve sloan
bill justus
ron widby
rocky goode
phil garner
chip howard
tim townes

You hang around west Knoxville a lot? Fulton? Graduated with Tim, a year behind Phil (though his twin sisters were in my class), way before Rocky, and Chip left Bearden in Jr. high as required by Webb, but he still backed up a year there. I was one of his targets on the playground in elementary school and at the G.R. Lebo football training thingy after school behind Sequoyah elementary in 5th or 6th grade. Overweight but had good hands. Saw FB and BB games with Bill Young, went to school with his wife at Bearden, and watched Justus and Widby in BB in HS and of course UT. You put a serious strain on my way back machine.
 
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I watched Marion County a lot back in those days. After 1 or 2 plays with Eric either on defense or offense you call tell he was the best player on the field. Never seen anyone that could take over control the game on both sides of the LOS like he could. Best RB I've watched in HS except for Leroy Thompson. But best overall player I have ever watched on the HS level. I believe during his time at MC they won 3 state champs in 4 years, and lost a semi final game 7-6 in pouring down game...the LB from South Pittsburg was good also, but you could tell he was destined for LB in college, but i thought Eric would always be a RB...
Eddie Moore. Actually played safety his season year but was going to be a backer.

To me these players will never get mentioned but dominated high school: Thomas Payne and his lineman Scruggs. Forgot his first name. My lord they dominated folks back then. Payne was good enough to play somewhere but I don't think he ever did.
 
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Didn't Xavier Crawford go to Vandy? I think as a RB. And yes Eric Locke was very good, a little under sized but played like a full grown man.
 
Bo Wallace...Giles County QB that wound up at Mississippi..Alontae Taylor from Manchester High School just so hard to catch and tackle/
 
Who are the best High Football players you have watched play in person:

Al Wilson he was playing Safety and was just killing ball carriers. You could just see he was going to be special, speed and furious hits.

Dante Hicky (Spelling?) from Cleveland: saw him play several times and in the KY/TN all-star game. He was electric, played WR and returner but never made it to college because of ???. Best player I've seen in person.

Kelly Holcomb, Chad Henderson and a WR named Grogan on the Lincoln County team in the early 90's-time frame. Kelly would throw a 30-yard dart and you could hear hit the guys in the pads up in the stands. I was surprised Kelly didn't go to a bigger school than MTSU but he had an incredible career. I thought Grogan was the best player on the field, he was a big WR who would catch anything near him and I'm sorry I can't remember his first name, no disrespect intended. I don't think he played college ball anywhere and that was a shame because he was very talented.

Kenny Witherspoon (Spelling) RB I think Stradford High and went to Vandy. He was just smooth and had a Walter Payton type running style, not that he was Walter but just he made moves with no effort, just fun to watch.

I hope I got the names and schools correct. Just my opinion so who is yours?

I haven't seen a ton of elite prospects but I did get to see and handful in person. Most athletic: Von Bell, most physical: Jacques McClendon, most talented: Ronnie Brown
 
Who are the best High Football players you have watched play in person:
Dresser Winn - Dresden HS in state championship game. I would say by far the best single performance I have seen from a HS player. Danny Parker (former Vol beat writer/photographer) was at the game and thought he would have been a good signee for the Vols that year.
 
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