College football has seen more than its fair share of outstanding players. In January of 2020, ESPN compiled a list of the 150 best college football players of all-time, commemorating the 150th anniversary of college football’s existence. However, not much insight was given into how these players performed in high school. To dive into the high school careers of players ranked tenth through sixth, click here. Now, let’s get into the top five players of all-time:
5. Jim Thorpe (RB, Carlisle): Thorpe’s childhood was tumultuous, as he ran away from school several times and was orphaned at the age of 16. He did not play any sports prior to college, but settled on track once he had enrolled at Carlisle. Legendary coach “Pop” Warner noticed Thorpe’s shiftiness and within months, Carlisle upset Harvard, a highly-ranked team in 1911. Thorpe dominated in all three phases of the game and even won two Olympic gold medals at the 1912 Stockholm Games. He is now the namesake of the annual award given to college football’s best defensive back.
4. Archie Griffin (RB, Ohio State): College football’s only two-time Heisman Trophy winner played high school football at Eastmoor in Ohio, where he racked up almost 1,800 yards in just 11 games his senior year. He also rushed for a whopping 267 yards in the City Championship Game that same season on 31 carries. Griffin immediately won the starting job at Ohio State as a freshman and his accolade-laden college career began.
3. Bo Jackson (RB, Auburn): Jackson did not exactly have eye-popping high school rushing totals for McCalla (AL). It was his baseball talent that caught most people’s eyes, and the Yankees quickly drafted him in the second round of the 1982 MLB Draft. Jackson, however, declined and chose to play college football at Auburn, who continually had eyes on the three-sport athlete due to his play style. He eventually blossomed into both a college star and an NFL legend with the Raiders.
2. Herschel Walker (RB, Georgia): Despite being overweight as a child, Walker shaped himself into a force on the football field. He played for Johnson County (GA) and rushed for a mind-blowing 3,167 yards his senior year, almost three times the total yards that Bo Jackson rushed for in his last year of high school. Walker was the definition of a scholar-athlete as well, being named valedictorian while also playing football and running track. He committed to UGA and helped the Bulldogs win a national championship in 1980 as a freshman.
1. Jim Brown (RB, Syracuse): Brown was born in Georgia, but later moved to Massachusetts, where he played high school football at Manhasset Secondary School. He earned 13 letters, dominating especially in football, basketball, track, and baseball. Brown continually dominated on the football field, but was also widely recognized for his whopping 38 points per game mark for the basketball team. Jim Brown gets the honor of being named the Best College Football Player Ever.
