I played HS ball vs a RB that the world recruited. His position coach his jr year took a job as head coach at another school defore his senior year. The coach told us that summer “if you stick him good, he’ll quit”. Well we played him early his senior year and he ran wild in first Qtr. On a KO before half, one of our LBers hit him straight up real good. He was finished for the game.
This guy signed with a school we all love dearly and played early on in his career until he quit. Yes, it happens.
Back in the mid-1990s, I was covering a high school team that had a conference rival with a running back who had committed to Nebraska on it. He had the same reputation, though. If you hit him good, he didn't want to play. They had a rematch in the playoffs and on the first play of the game, this guy got the ball, and a linebacker on our team got into the backfield and just cold-cocked him, and as he got up, said "It's gonna be like that all night!"
I think he ended up with something like six yards on 12 carries, and his team lost badly. And he never did anything with the Huskers, as you might imagine. Ended up transferring to another school.
Some kids just don't like the physical aspect of football. They might play because it's their ticket to a better life, or because someone pressures them into playing, but you can be successful in football, up to a point, even if you don't like contact.