It is one helluva list. Getting it down to 100 was a major task.
Tom Brady, John Elway and Aaron Rodgers among 100 players in inaugural California High School Football Hall of Fame class
- Thread starter TurtleLoveCA
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It is one helluva list. Getting it down to 100 was a major task.
I guess this is for what one has done after HS. Tom Brady 11-9 as a QB for Serra, no playoff appearances. 😁
Very tough list to put together. However, I would have thought Lance Briggs would have made it. Excellent player at Elk Grove and an All-pro player in the NFL
I'm quite confused on the selection process. Agree it seems to have little to do with the player's actual High School career.
Two points to confirm this:
1) Tom Brady is nowhere near one of the Top 100 California High School Football players ever.
2) The glaring omission of Kevin Willhite, who was arguably one of the state's best HS football players ever - but suffered massive injury after his senior season of FB
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They got a few of them right. Jerry Robinson from Newman (who happens to also be on college football all time list ) was included. Beat yeah the list overall was strange. I’m not even sure how good Aaron Rogers was in HS. I mean Jake Browning from Folsom as a HS player probably trumped all of these guys by a mile.
Browning was a system guy. In this guy's opinion? He wasn't even a Dano Graves.
I liked Dano alot. One of my fav all time. But browning put up stupid numbers, set records at wash, and made it to nfl. (Sort of)
Like I stated Browning a system guy. Graves was Gatorade player of the year I believe. I am old so could be wrong. I am not trying to put Browning down sy all. Great career. Graves just a gritty take over a game guy! Just my opinion.
Likewise Gino Toretta of Pinole had just an above average HS career, but a HOF college career at the U. Probably doesn’t belong on this list.
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I have to imagine guys like this will be there in future years as both of these guys should be in the CA HSFBHOF…. They both had better HS careers then Brady did….
This list looks heavy on players who played over 10 years ago or more….
But, consider that Brady's freshmen team, when he was second string, was winless and scored two offensive touchdowns.
Ken O’Brien from Jesuit is on the list. As is Tedy Bruschi from Roseville.
Also, while he transferred to DLS, DJ Williams was a Sac area kid, as was his uncle and brother whom all played at Grant Union.
Yeah, based upon their supposed criteria (judging from the list produced) it is a major error.
Briggs starred at all 3 levels and possibly has an outside chance at the Pro Football HOF.
Also, what about Onterrio Smith and Donte Stallworth??? Both starred in HS and college and played in the NFL, with Stallworth having the longest, best career (outside of Briggs).
Even when considering careers after HS, how does Matt Barkley get on the list over Jake Browning?
Browning broke Nat’l records for single and career, also starred in college where he was a 4-year starter and is still bouncing around NFL practice squads.
Barkley’s NFL career hasn’t been anything to speak about and his numbers in college were similar Browning’s.
I don’t see the separator except name recognition, which wouldn’t matter if this was a viable non-biased list.
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Odd to say the least. They are clearly weighing pro career in some cases and name recognition in others. Sometimes both.
I’d speculate that the vast majority that saw Brady and Rodgers play in HS (I saw both) never would have predicted their HOF best QB’s of their generation success. I sure didn’t.
Rodgers went the JC route for a reason. He was considered a tad undersized and was a bit of a late bloomer.
Brady clearly was more highly recruited, largely due to his size and potential but his arm was underutilized at Serra. He did showcase some of the late game moxie and clutchness he later became known for, but clearly didn’t set HS football on fire. And we all know his career at scUM was checkered, splitting time Drew Henson.
Both got on that list largely for their pro careers.
Not only does Browning and Graves have an strong argument, I’d say both Troy Taylor and Aaron Garcia do too. Especially when considering that Ken O’Brien is on the list.
IIRC Garcia once held the pro record of career TD passes and might still. Sure, it was the Arena league but couple that with his HS career (which was stellar) and he seems quite worthy.
Taylor was among the top dual threat QB’s of his era and played for what was the most dominant NorCal program before DLS took over that crown. He also starred in college at CAL and had a cup of coffee in the NFL.
But Browning and/or Graves needs to be on that list over Matt Barkley and Ken O’Brien. Period (Browning more so than Dano if collegiate careers are highly considered).
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You are clearly entitled to an opinion, but I find that opinion to be super short-sighted.
In all serious, you’re a Oakdale guy right? How much did you actually see any or all these Folsom kids play?
”System guys” don’t set Nat’l records like Browning did. David Graves didn’t. Tanner Troisin didn’t. Jake Jeffrey didn’t. Kaiden Bennett didn’t. Joe Curry didn’t. Tyler Tremain didn’t.
It was basically 2 really special guys. Dano and Jake. The rest put up numbers, for sure, but not to the degree Dano Graves did in 2010 while barely playing more than a half each game (until the postseason) and nowhere near the degree Jake Browning did, not only in 2014 but for his 4-year career.
If it were as simple as “system” then some of those guys should have been close. But they weren’t.
Yes, Taylor and Richardson left him in the second half of games he shouldn’t have been in and ran up stats/scores. Something they didn’t really do with Dano. But some of those later QB’s were left in games too.
And let’s not forget that Browning didn’t play with the likes of Jordan Richards, Joe Ngata, Elijhah Badger or Rico Flores either. He largely threw to smaller, non elite players (Josiah Deguara, while very good, wasn’t yet the monster TE he developed into at Cincinnati and wasn’t an elite prospect coming out of HS).
The cherry on top of this all is the fact that Browning went on to star at a P5 program where he started all 4 years. He even led UW to a CFP appearance his SOPH season, won the PAC-12 conference POY and finished 6th in the Heisman voting.
HS players that are merely “system” players don’t accomplish such things. Nor do they hang around NFL training camps and practice squads for multiple years.
And while Dano Graves was surely among the best dual threat HS QB I’ve ever seen, he didn’t make the cut in college nor sniff the NFL. You got it backwards in that Graves wasn’t Browning.
Now if the argument was solely about HS and which QB gave Folsom a better shot to give DLS’s defense (or any elite opponent) trouble — I might be convinced to take Graves and the trio of stud receivers/playmakers he had (Richards, Troisin, Babineaux). But it’s also hard to pick against Browning’s 2014 squad who had way better line play on both sides of the ball.
Give me Folsom’s 2014 lines and I’d take Graves and his playmakers over Browning and his playmakers all day.
But in terms of size, talent, skill, etc. Browning was the best collegiate and pro QB prospect Folsom has produced during this current era.
The notion of Browning being a system guy is flat wrong. His career after Folsom compared to all others before and after proves this point.
Exactly right.
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Absolutely agree on your Browning take TR. Personally. I think Graves has a special place in both of our hearts but you can’t deny the incredible run Jake had and he’s still competing for roster spot on the Bengals.
Good catch. I was looking through the list on twitter. I must have missed a tweet. Bruschi was the one I thought would be in for sure.
I was wondering the same thing. Was Aaron Rodgers a great HS QB?
List is a little SoCal Centric, but that's where the Lions share of the state's talent is. But years ago NorCal was better than it is now, IMO. NorCal publics especially
When the Coach Tedford came to Butte College he was scouting aTight End named Garrett Cross. He was supprised to find a diamond in the rough Rogers. The rest is history.
Here's wishing you great football
Eddie Lebron on that list. I was talking to some of the old guys at a game. And they were telling that Bruce Orvis was a better athlete. He was on the same COP team that went undefeated
He also developed Bear Valley. So yes back in the day northern California had good athletes
Not especially. Good for HS, of course. But his numbers were pretty mediocre, even for the time.
He produced less than 4500 pass yards in 2 years as a starter. He had a few awesome performances here and there, but wasn't able to garner much D1 FBS college interest beyond a walk-on offer from the University of Illinois.
Yeah, Wilhite is as bad an omission as there is on this haphazard list.
While Wilhite doesn't have the long-standing name recognition of many of the other names, it seems lost upon those that created this list that not only was Wilhite the consensus #1 recruit and POTY in CA in 1981/82-- he beat out the likes of Bo Jackson and Marcus Dupree for the National POTY honor!
Of course Wilhite's collegiate career was largely derailed by numerous nagging injuries -- the 1st of which occurred running track during his senior year at Cordova -- and he never really got back to previous form.
I mean, since this list is referred to as "California High School Football Hall of Fame" it would seem to most that an athletes HS career should carry the most weight. After all, Hall-of-Fames dedicated to College and Pro also exist. And I don't believe anything accomplished (or not accomplished) in HS affects eligibility for either. They are mutually exclusive.
Which is exactly how you'd expect this CA HS list should operate.
When we speculated all those years over how Folsom's 2010 and 2014 teams could have fared against DLS during those same seasons, I postulated that -- while the 2014 team was the hands down toughest match up due to their physicality and ability on both sides of the ball -- Dano Graves dual threat capability would have given the Spartans defense a lot more trouble (as historically many talented dual threat QB's did).
Look no further than his performance against that vaunted (albeit injured and limited compared to the 1st matchup) Grant Pacers defense which IIRC boasted something like 7-8 D1 FBS players. And then again against a very athletic and talented Serra-Gardena.
While Dano was very talented and coached up by one of the best HS QB coaches there was, he didn't possess the overwhelming elite talent needed to overcome his size deficiencies as the likes of Doug Flutie and Kyler Murray were able to do.
Dano essentially ended up in the same boat as Tate Martel, the great Bishop Gorman QB who was even a bit bigger than Graves. Exceptional, elite HS players that weren't able to translate to the next level.
Meanwhile Jake Browning clearly translated to major college ball but hasn't yet been able to make that next step to the NFL.
There's still hope, though. Just ask Kurt Warner. Gotta keep grinding and hopefully find the right coach and situation then see what happens.
It seems obvious this list is mainly honoring players on their entire careers, including after high school. I say that because there is one player on the Top 100 list who is a glaring omission. This was the one player John Madden said could have jumped from high school to the NFL. he was referring to DJ Williams of DLS.
He’s on the list it’s in alphabetical order…….but in similar mold the big omission was Lance Briggs who was a monster at EG, Arizona and 7 time pro bowler with the Bears
Aaron Garcia and Dave Barr were better high school quarterbacks than Rodgers or Brady! The criteria seems to weigh heavily on post HS career.
But even then some strange omissions. Aaron Taylor is on the short list as the best player ever at DLS. And his post HS career he was an All American, Lombardi winner and super bowl champion, yet he didn’t make the inaugural list? Strange.
But even then some strange omissions. Aaron Taylor is on the short list as the best player ever at DLS. And his post HS career he was an All American, Lombardi winner and super bowl champion, yet he didn’t make the inaugural list? Strange.
I think most of us have deduced that.
Some of us just believe their criteria is flawed. Or just flat wrong,
The Collegiate HOF doesn’t consider HS or Pro accomplishments and the Pro Football HOF doesn’t consider HS or Collegiate accomplishments.
So why should a “CA HS HOF” consider anything other than HS accomplishments???
It makes no sense.
If all levels of a career are to be factored in, then it’s more specifically a “CA Football HOF”. They should remove the “HS” part of it.
Considering they likely want people to have interest in this HOF, it makes sense they’d want recognizable names included. And while I personally think they should focus on amazing CA HS careers, perhaps they should take your advice and re-name drop the “HS” part of the name and go with the California Football HOF
It’d be a far more apt name or title.
If that’s what they had labeled it in the first place I don’t believe most would have been confused or taken issue with anything outside of the few glaring player omissions that have been cited.
