Fantasy football owners across the country rejoiced Sunday when Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew ended his 38-day holdout.
Jones-Drew, coming off a career-best 1,606 rushing yards in 2011, has been a popular fantasy play since breaking out with a 1,300 yard season for the Jags in 2009.
Maurice Jones-Drew
Getty Images
But the diminutive back hasn't always been in such high demand. He was a virtual unknown entering one of the most highly-anticipated high school football games of all-time as his
De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) program took on
Long Beach Poly in a national No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in the fall of 2001.
"That was the coming out party of then-Maurice Drew," said MaxPreps writer and longtime Bay Area high school sports guru Mitch Stephens, who covered the De La Salle-Poly showdown. "He was a junior and De La Salle coaches purposely hid him the first couple of games so Long Beach Poly wouldn't pay much attention to him."
Following four touchdowns and a big De La Salle victory, Jones-Drew was on the map.
"It was the greatest breakout performance I'd ever witnessed," Stephens said. "There were upward of 25 Division I players on the field that night, but Drew out-shined them all. It was probably De La Salle's crowning achievement because Long Beach Poly was the most talented team I've ever witnessed in 30 years of covering high school football."
Following his career at De La Salle, Jones-Drew moved on to UCLA where he piled up 4,688 all-purpose yards and 36 touchdowns.
Take a look below at Jones-Drew's breakout performance against Long Beach Poly in 2001.
