Top 10 hyped high school football players

The hype surrounding Hillcrest (Springfield, Mo.) senior receiver Dorial Green-Beckham is already building and it's barely September.

Green-Beckham's jaw-dropping performance of 18 catches for 284 yards and three touchdowns in a 48-26 win over Seneca set the Twitter world abuzz with followers offering both compliments and put-downs of the senior's effort.

The hype will likely continue throughout the season for Green-Beckham, who is ranked No. 1 by Tom Lemming on the MaxPreps Top 100 player rankings.

Of course hype and high expectations have long been a part of high school football. While some players have overcome the hype to have successful college and pro careers, others have not quite lived up to the buildup. Here's a look at 10 former high school greats who are among the most hyped players in high school football history:

Emmitt Smith, Escambia (Pensacola, Fla.) — Plenty of hype surrounded Smith throughout his career, whether it was setting records at the high school, college or professional level. Before finishing his career as the NFL's all-time leading rusher, Smith was chasing national high school football records as a standout at Escambia. Besides leading his team to a pair of state championships, Smith also concluded his career in 1986 with a then-national record 45 games with 100 or more yards.



Video of Emmitt Smith in high school

Adrian Peterson, Palestine (Texas) — Talk of turning pro following his senior year in high school swirled around Peterson, who concluded his career at Palestine with 2,960 yards and 32 touchdowns in his senior year of 2003-04. He was named the U.S. Army National Player of the Year and went on to set an NCAA freshman rushing record with 1,925 yards while at Oklahoma. In 2007, Peterson was named the NFL Rookie of the Year. He's since been a four-time Pro Bowl selection.

John Elway, Granada Hills (Calif.) — Elway has become the benchmark against which all high school quarterbacks have been judged since he wowed college scouts in the late 1970s. He was ranked the No. 1 quarterback in the country and parlayed that talent into a scholarship at Stanford. The No. 1 pick in the NFL draft in 1983, Elway won two Super Bowls in his storied career with the Denver Broncos.

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Dan Marino, Central Catholic (Pittsburgh) — Rated second in the nation behind Elway in 1979, Marino won Parade All-American honors at Central Catholic and became a starter at the University of Pittsburgh as a freshman. Eventually he went on to set numerous all-time passing marks in the NFL during a Hall of Fame career.

Herschel Walker, Johnson County (Wrightsville, Ga.) — Walker burst onto the college scene at Georgia and was an immediate Heisman Trophy candidate as a freshman, an award he would later win as a junior. As a senior in 1979 he won the first Dial Award for the national high school scholar-athlete of the year and he led Johnson County to its second state championship with 3,167 yards rushing. Walker played 12 NFL seasons and had 13,787 rushing yards as a professional in the USFL and NFL combined.

Ron Powlus, Berwick (Pa.) — Highly regarded coming out of Berwick, Powlus was earmarked as a possible multiple Heisman Trophy winner by college pundit Beano Cook after beating out the likes of Peyton Manning for All-American honors in 1992. Powlus never quite lived up to the hype, but he did set a number of passing records for the Fighting Irish.

Kevin Willhite, Cordova (Rancho Cordova, Calif.) — One of the fastest runners in the country, Willhite won nearly every national award presented in 1981. Every major college in the country wanted the speedster from Sacramento, but he ultimately chose the University of Oregon. Injuries in college robbed him of his speed, however he did play several games in the NFL as a fullback.

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Marcus Dupree, Philadelphia (Miss.) — Dupree rivaled Willhite as the best running back in the country in 1981. He exploded onto the college scene as a freshman at the University of Oklahoma where he was named the Football News Freshman of the Year. However he left Oklahoma after his sophomore year and played stints in the USFL and later in the NFL, which were cut short due to injury.

Todd Marinovich, Capistrano Valley (Mission Viejo, Calif.) — Regarded as Robo-QB due to the strict diet and training regimen implemented by his father, Marinovich earned All-American honors in 1987 at Capistrano Valley and finished as one of the all-time leading passers in California high school history. He became the starting quarterback at USC and was later drafted by the Los Angeles Raiders. Drug issues dogged him throughout his time in college and the NFL, cutting his career short.



Ronald Curry, Hampton (Va.) — Curry quarterbacked Hampton to three state football championships (1995-97) and is considered one of the best athletes the state of Virginia has ever produced. A Parade All-American in football, Curry was also a McDonald's All-American in basketball. He played both sports at North Carolina and was eventually selected in the NFL draft by the Oakland Raiders. A quarterback throughout his high school and college career, Curry transitioned to wide receiver in the NFL and played for seven seasons.