Best PA HS Football Player(s) over the past 30 years?

[scs13]

Given the big-time talent on display the past few weekends from PA roots: Saquon Barkley, Will Fuller, Jaelen Strong, Tyrelle Pryor, Lesean McCoy, D'Andre Swift, etc, the State has had a tremendous surge in producing national talent over the past decade. This begs the question about the best high school player to grace the fields over the past 30 years. Is it Pryor? Dan Connor? Devlin? Revis? Perhaps someone who saw more success in HS than at higher levels like David Williams, Nosovitch, Jeremiah Young?

So...if you had the opportunity to name 5 players as first-ballot Hall of Famers for PA HS football (again...past 30 years), who would be included on your list?

 

[RoverNation05]

I love questions like this. Thinking locally, the first two names that jump out are Dan Kendra and Austin Scott. Kendra was the consensus #1 recruit in the country, ahead of his time in a lot of ways, but a monster. Blew out his ACL at FSU, I wonder if that happens in 2016 instead of 1996 how his career is different, given advances in medicine. Great read about him here: http://www.sbnation.com/longform/20...dra-profile-florida-state-football-recruiting

Scott was just so comically dominant, best combination of power and shiftiness we've had up here. Was his own worst enemy at Penn State.

I can write more later, but these are the "all timers" I could come up with in the Valley since 1986, best/most dominant high school players I've seen

Dan Kendra, QB, Bethlehem Catholic (Florida State)
Austin Scott, RB, Parkland (Penn State)
Tim Massaquoi, WR, Parkland (Michigan)
Brendan Nosovitch, QB, ACC (South Carolina)
Dan Koppen, OL, Whitehall (BC)
Dan Persa, QB, Liberty (Northwestern)
Juan Gaddy, RB, Easton (Temple)
James Mungro, RB, East Stroudsburg (Syracuse)
Eddie Scipio, RB, Bethlehem Catholic
Saquon Barkley, RB, Whitehall (Penn State)
Rashonn Drayton, RB, ACC
Mike Cerimele, LB, ACC, Penn State
Mark Libiano, TE, Easton (East Carolina)
Anthony Gonzalez, QB/S, Liberty (Pitt)
Greg DeLong, TE/DE, arkland (North Carolina)
Nate Hobgood-Chittek, DT, William Allen, (North Carolina)

 

[scs13]

Well done, RoverNation! How could I forget Kendra and Scott? They were absolutely dominant. Your list is really strong. I especially liked Persa and Gaddy...two real gamers.

 

[shfoot]

Rover:
Didn't Mungro have something like 8000 yds rushing??

 

[Relayer]

Rover, I thought I might see Beca's Mike Gregorek on your list. He was a beast of a linebacker. Anyone who can stuff Dustin Picciotti twice on 4th and 1 in the same game deserves consideration.

foot, Mungro had 8,432 yards.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIAA_football_records

 

[coach1378]

I know most will look at stats, but my vote would be for Sharrif Floyd.

 

[RoverNation05]

Gregorik was an awesome high school player and the heart and soul of the '99 Becahi team. He was a name I thought of. However, I think the difference between Gregorik and the guys I listed is the combination of football skills and physical tools. Gregorik was a great, 6'0 230 pound linebacker who was a good Patriot League player. Cerimele had the same awesome high school production, but was 25 pounds heavier, famously the strongest non-Kendra guy in the Valley, a USA Today All American, and was a captain at Penn State. Ditto for Libiano, an exceptional high school linebacker, who was 6'4 240, and was an All American and Butkus Award nominee in college.

Mungro was the superstar on the only true MVC team to go to state playoffs. He ran for 3,087 yards as a that season and scored 47 TDs. He followed that up with 2,541 yards and 34 TDs as a senior. Was a 1,000 yard rusher at Syracuse with McNabb and had a nice NFL career as a 3rd down back (I think won a Super Bowl with the Colts).

Persa was the first true spread QB in the modern offensive era. As an Easton guy, he was a thorn in my side, but he was masterful. And he obviously had a great, All Big Ten career at Northwestern, cut short by an Achilles tear.

Gaddy is another one where modern surgery and rehab could have made a difference in the long run. Got his scholarship pulled from Florida State when he was a Prop 48 kid (ineligible as a freshman) then blew his ACL in spring ball at Temple, which was a very different injury in 1994 than it is now. He's the fastest guy on this list and still has the best 0-60 acceleration I've seen. He ran a 10.7 100 meter dash as a sophomore, and I wonder if his real move was to stick with track rather than focus all of his energy on football.

What I would love to see is what Tim Massaquoi do in a modern offense. He was a 6'5, 230 pound five star wide receiver with a 38 inch vertical, playing in an offense that threw the ball 100 times a season (and he caught 50 of them). But him on Parkland's team last year and he may have caught 130 passes.

 

[RoverNation05]

I know most will look at stats, but my vote would be for Sharrif Floyd.

I don't think that's an outlandish statement at all. Absolute monster. I remember talking to one of the Easton coaches in 2009 about their regular season game with Parkland, and he said it was tough to prepare for because their season opening film (against GW) was absolutely worthless. All it showed was Floyd grabbing the center with one hand, the guard with the other, throwing them both down, then tackling Andre Williams in the backfield.

 

[sammyk]

Curtis Martin Allderdice
LaVar Arrington North Hills
Brandon Short McKeesport
Ty Law Aliquippa
Darell Revis Aliquippa
Sean Gilbert Aliquippa
Tyrell Pryor Jeanette
Sean Lee Upper St. Clair
Paul Poslusny Hopewell
Russell Shell Hopewell
Tyler Palko West Allegheny
Barry Church Penn Hills
Drevon Henery Aliquippa

Non WPIAL players
Dan Persa Liberty
Dustin Picotti CB West
Steve Slaton

 

[SDLND1]

I saw Austin Scott play in person twice it was not even fair same with Floyd men among boys. picotti I saw on tv but that team were all monsters.

 

[RoverNation05]

I say this about Austin Scott all the time, I think Penn State was a big mistake. This sounds ridiculous to say, but I wonder if he would have had more success at a school that cared less about what he did off of the field. With all of the academic and discipline suspensions, he never really could get into a flow at the next level. But my lord was he good.

Picciotti understandably gets a lot of mention in these conversations, but for my money Dave Armstrong was just as good if not better. The Harris brothers at Downingtown are two more from that generation of D1 players that really stick out in my mind.

From the WPIAL, Ron Graham is another name worth mentioning from that awesome Penn Hills defense.

 

[Newport2]

Mark Jones from Strath Haven is the best all around football player I've ever seen in this area in my 40+ years of watching HS football

 

[pcc64]

HS player, Eugene Jarvis, Central Catholic

 

[RoverNation05]

HS player, Eugene Jarvis, Central Catholic

Yes absolutely. He had a nice college career at Kent State too, didn't he lead the country in rushing one year?

 

[delcofootball1]

Ron Powlus

 

[shfoot]

Mark Jones from Strath Haven is the best all around football player I've ever seen in this area in my 40+ years of watching HS football

Newport2: Actually, Dan Connor had better stats in most categories. DC being a power runner, but Mark had that explosive speed.

 

[pcc64]

Yes absolutely. He had a nice college career at Kent State too, didn't he lead the country in rushing one year?

Yes he was The RB when Edlemen of the patriots was the Kent QB. His career was cut short when he suffered a lacerated kidney. They found out that he in fact had only one kidney so that was it for his college career. Gave it ago up in Canada for a few years. He was one of the rushing leaders and was number 1 returning RB the year he got hurt. He scored 5 TD's in State Championship game at Hershey in 2004. An all time favorite of mine.

 

[Newport2]

Newport2: Actually, Dan Connor had better stats in most categories. DC being a power runner, but Mark had that explosive speed.

I get that he had better stats. And I'm not knocking Connor at all. But the way Jones could control an entire game on defense at safety and offensively with about 10-12 touches was something to see. Nobody could cover him. Nobody could outrun him on D (game saving tackle in one of the Eastern Finals or semifinals I believe to save the game). You couldn't kick to him on punts or kicks. A man among boys in HS. People in Delco were talking about him as a 7th and 8th grader.

Not the biggest or most celebrated college career, but as a freshmen for the defending national champions I'm pretty sure he played both ways AND returned kicks in the SEC.

He was the key for Strath Haven going from local power to state power. A great great HS player. His stats were impressive playing in the wing T. Can't imagine what his numbers would look like with a spread offense look

 

[shfoot]

I understand you're not knocking DC. Both were special in their own way. I believe Mark punched a ball out of rb's arm on a break away against west allegheny in the state final in 1999. SH recovered the ball in the endzone. I also remember watching him play at rose tree. Yes, everyone was talking about both players in middle school.