Top 20 high school football quarterback factories

Quarterback is arguably the most important position in sports and several high school football programs have developed a reputation for producing talented passers. From St. Louis way out west in Hawaii to Pittsburgh's Central Catholic in the northeast, we set out to identify the 20 best. Some have produced multiple Heisman Trophy winners and Super Bowl starters while others are best known for pumping out a steady stream of record breakers at the prep level.

Listed alphabetically, the list factors in high school, college and professional success. Some of the top players to ever play the position make an appearance here, including Drew Brees, Eli and Peyton Manning and Dan Marino.

Randy Allen (Highland Park), Todd Dodge (Southlake Carroll, Westlake), Tom Knotts (Independence), Cal Lee (St. Louis), Mike Mauk (Kenton) and Bruce Rollinson (Mater Dei) are some of the legendary head coaches that have helped craft a quarterback legacy at their respective schools.

Read on for a look at the prep level's top quarterback training grounds. Byrnes (Duncan, S.C.)
After earning South Carolina's Mr. Football as a senior at Byrnes, Elder accounted for 3,311 yards and 28 touchdowns at Virginia and is now a college coach. A top prospect in high school, Korn played at three colleges including Clemson and is now the QB coach at Coastal Carolina. Dodd threw for 10,292 career yards while leading Byrnes to two state titles before accounting for 4,079 career yards at Rutgers. Bentley piled up 13,245 passing yards and 177 touchdowns in three seasons for the Rebels before playing at Murray State and Old Dominion.

Carroll (Southlake, Texas)
Notable signal callers: Chase Daniel (2005), Greg McElroy (2006), Riley Dodge (2008), Kenny Hill (2013), Quinn Ewers (2022)
Daniel had a nice college career at Missouri, went undrafted but has been in the NFL since 2009. McElroy, who threw for 4,682 yards as a senior at Carroll, led Alabama to a national title. Dodge was the 2006 MaxPreps National Player of the Year and is now head coach at Carroll. Hill was the state Gatorade Player of the Year in 2012 before throwing for a Texas A&M-record 511 yards in his first college start. Ewers might end up being better than all them — he's the No. 1 prospect nationally in the Class of 2022.

Central Catholic (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Notable signal callers: Dan Marino (1979), Marc Bulger (1995), Tino Sunseri (2008), Perry Hills (2012)
Upon retirement, Marino held 40 different single season or career NFL passing records. Bulger threw for 22,814 yards and 122 touchdowns in a 10-year NFL career. Sunseri started three seasons at Pittsburgh. Hills started 25 games at Maryland.

Chandler (Ariz.)
Notable signal callers:  Brett Hundley (2011), Bryce Perkins (2015), Jacob Conover (2019), Mikey Keene (2021)
Hundley contributed three solid years at UCLA and is now a backup for the Arizona Cardinals. Perkins had two good seasons at Virginia and is now on the Chargers practice squad. Conover led Chandler to three straight state titles (2016-18) and is now at BYU. Keene led Chandler to a first Open Division state title and is committed to UCF.

Evangel Christian Academy (Shreveport, La.)
Notable signal callers: Josh Booty (1995), Phillip Deas (1997), Brock Berlin (2000), John David Booty (2004), Dez Duron (2009)
Josh Booty threw for a then-national record 11,700 career yards along with 126 touchdowns before starring at LSU, then pursuing a MLB career. Deas had almost identical prep numbers but never threw a college pass due to injury. Berlin (13,902 career passing yards) led Evangel Christian to three straight state titles, was the Gatorade National POY, played at Florida and Miami in college and four years in the NFL. John David Booty threw for almost 8,500 yards in high school before leaving a year early and backing up Matt Leinart at USC. He played for three NFL teams in three seasons.

Folsom (Calif.)
Graves was the MaxPreps National Player of the Year in 2010 when he led Folsom to a state title and piled up more than 4,500 total yards and a then-state record 85 touchdowns. Browning ranks No. 3 all-time nationally with with 16,775 career yards (in three seasons) and national record 229 passing touchdowns before an excellent career at Washington.

Hart (Newhall, Calif.)
Connors led California in passing his senior season (4,144 yards). Boller played nine seasons in the NFL. Matter was a prep All-American before heading off to Stanford. Norton played at Fresno State. White threw for 10,835 career yards at Hart before a college career at Memphis.

Highland Park (Dallas, Texas)
Notable signal callers:  Bobby Layne (1944), Fred Benners (1948), John Roach (1951), Matt Stafford (2006), Luke Woodley (2010), John Stephen Jones (2018), Chandler Morris (2020)
Layne is a Pro Football Hall of Famer with his jersey retired by the University of Texas and Detroit Lions. Benners and Roach also made it to the NFL, as did Stafford, who has thrown for 43,142 career yards for the Lions and 270 touchdowns. Jones, the grandson of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, accounted for more than 8,500 yards and 109 touchdowns while leading Highland Park to two straight state titles.

Independence (Charlotte, N.C.)
When Leak graduated from Independence, he was the national career passing eader with 15,593 yards (he now ranks sixth). He led Florida to a 2007 national championship before stints in the NFL and CFL. Cox started at Georgia in 2009 and Carrothers played at Grambling State and Winston-Salem State.

Kenton (Ohio)
One of the most prolific passing programs in the country under head coach Mike Mauk, his sons ran the spread offense to perfection. Maty is high school football's all-time leading passer with 18,932 yards and Ben is right behind him in second at 17,364. Maty, who holds three other national career records, played four college seasons, three at Missouri. Sherman (2013) led the country in passing yards with 5,920, Hites accounted for almost 11,000 total yards and 101 touchdowns and Huston has thrown for 10,299 career yards and 90 touchdowns in 32 games thus far.

Lake Travis (Austin, Texas)
Notable signal callers: Garrett Gilbert (2009), Baker Mayfield (2013), Charlie Brewer (2017), Hudson Card (2020)
Gilbert led Lake Travis to back-to-back state titles, played in college at Texas and SMU and Sunday finally made his first NFL start after being drafted in 2014. Mayfield also led Cavaliers to a state title before winning the 2017 Heisman Trophy  and being taken with the first pick of the 2018 NFL Draft. Brewer is currently starting at Baylor and Card is a backup at Texas.

Notable signal callers: John Huarte (1961), Matt Leinart (2001), Colt Brennan (2002), Matt Barkley (2009), J.T. Daniels (2018), Bryce Young (2020)

All were either fantastic in high school or college, but none as of yet have lit it up as pros. Still, a pair of Heisman Trophy winners — Huarte and Leinart — plus MaxPreps Players of the Year in Daniels and Young is impressive. Barkley, the 2006-07 Gatorade National Athlete of the Year, threw for 12,327 yards and 116 TDs at USC and is currently a backup with the Buffalo Bills. 

Notable signal callers: Peyton Manning (1994), Eli Manning (1999), Arch Manning (2023)

Perhaps Newman shouldn't be singled out as the program, but instead Archie Manning should be credited as the true producer. His two sons Peyton and Eli won multiple Super Bowls and are surefire Hall of Famers. Grandson Arch is currently ranked the country's No. 1 quarterback in the Class of 2023. 

Northwestern (Rock Hill, S.C.)
Worley was the national Gatorade Player of the Year his senior season before spot duty at Tennessee (3,600 career passing yards, 23 touchdowns). Rudolph threw for 10,986 yards and 132 touchdowns at Northwestern, then piled up another 13,267 yards and 90 touchdowns at Oklahoma State. He won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award before signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Moloney was South Carolina's 2016 Mr. Football award winner and is now a junior at Northwestern.

Pulaski Academy (Little Rock, Ark.)
The Bruins are the true definition of a prep quarterback factory under Kevin Kelley's famous "no punt" attack. They boast four players — Hatcher (15,483), Loucks (13,711), Bratcher (10,468) and Keith (10,371) — in the 10,000-yard passing club. Thrash started it all by throwing for 77 touchdowns in 2001. Hatcher (5,779) and Bratcher (5,196) led the nation in passing in 2017 and 2019, respectively.

Puyallup (Wash.)
A string of three consecutive starters at the school in the late 1980s and early 1990s — Hobert, Damon Huard and Brock Huard — all reached the NFL. Brock was the 1994 Gatorade National Player of the Year. Luke Huard signed with Mack Brown during his first stint at North Carolina and Holcomb, now at College of Idaho, once tied a national record with 10 touchdown passes.

St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.)
Notable signal callers: Todd Husak (1996), Josh Rosen (2015), Re-al Mitchell (2018), DJ Uiagalelei (2020)
Husak had a nice career at Stanford, Rosen had a fine career at UCLA before being the 10th pick of the 2018 NFL draft and Uiagalelei was the 2020 MaxPreps Co-Player of the Year. On Saturday he started his second game in place of Heisman Trophy favorite Trevor Lawrence at Clemson. He's thrown for 883 yards and four touchdowns without an interception this season.

St. Louis (Honolulu, Hawaii)
Notable signal callers: Jason Gesser (1998), Timmy Chang (2000), Jeremiah Masoli (2007), Marcus Mariota (2011), Tua Tagovailoa (2017), Chevan Cordeiro (2018), Jayden de Laura (2020)

Gesser (Washington State), Chang (Hawaii) and Masoli (Oregon) all had impressive college careers before Mariota (Heisman winner at Oregon) and Tagovailoa (Alabama) struck it rich in the NFL as first round picks. Cordeiro is the current starter at Hawaii and de Laura made quite a debut as a true freshman starter at Washington State over the weekend with 270 total yards and three touchdowns in a 38-28 win over Oregon State.  

Outside of Newman, there is no school that has produced two Super Bowl champions and Super Bowl MVPs. Brees, a 13-time Pro Bowl selection, did it in 2010 and Foles won the game and award in 2014. Ehlinger is the current starter at Texas and was the 2015 MaxPreps Junior of the Year. Klubnik is the No. 10 ranked pro-style QB in his class, according to 247Sports.