Greatest Running Back in State History

[Eagle2]

Thoughts on this interesting list of some of the greatest runners in Texas high school football history as well as college and professional football. There are others as well but these are the best of the best.
What say ye and others considered?
1. Earl Campbell-Tyler
2. Ken Hall-Sugar Land
3. Adrian Peterson-Palestine
4. Eric Dickerson-Sealy
5. Billy Sims-Hooks
6. Cedric Benson-Midland Lee
7. Thurman Thomas-Willowridge
8. Robert Strait-Cuero
9. Jonathan Gray-Aledo
10. John Williams-Waco

[WP4L™]

I'm always going to pick Cedric Benson.

[chhspantherfan]

David Overstreet

[slcdragonfan]

My sentimental favorite is Earl, but when a running back's records stand for decades, it's hard to discount so the Sugarland Express has to be a good option.

Ah heck, all of them.

[Zero Star Recruit]

Should Jamal Charles or Complainian Tomlinson be included?

[aledoalumni]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmdgdFFJtgg

[pied]

Good stuff, but bump up Cedric and Gray for me. Benson won three titles at the highest level and ended up fourth overall. Gray’s numbers and titles were other worldly.

ALL of these guys are great i their own right but the AD ranked too high for all time great HS players.

[Eagle2]

My sentimental favorite is Earl, but when a running backs records stand for decades, it's hard to discount so the Sugarland Express has to be a good option.

Ah heck, all of them.

Earl-mine also and during my years. Halls stats speaks for him. JG & CB with multi titles. The others play on the field were reflective of their teams. BS,TT,ED,AP, great college and pro careers.

[AusMOJO]

Permian had a lot of really good RB's, I don't know if any would crack the top 10 though.

[Matt.Stepp]

For my money it was Benson because he did it at the highest level and for 3 years...I thought his senior year he put that team on his back and willed them to a title...Gray is probably a close 2nd....Campbell really only played RB his senior year from what I understand but because of that one year and what he did at Texas I think that gives him a bump to some people...Thurman Thomas at Willowridge feels super underrated they had a great run while he was there

Hall put up numbers that may never be broken, but I always feel like because he did it in an era of segregation that has to drop him some...he wasn't playing against a large segment of the population (no fault of his own) but I think it is something that has to be considered against guys who played in more recent times

[John Galt]

...Craig James, Houston Stratford, should be on that list, IMO...unless you are a Texas Tech fan
...so should Jerod Douglas, Converse Judson...

...we probably won't see another dominant RB like the list above as the high school game evolves into pass first/run second....a lot of them get worn down in high school and/or college and are not as dominant in the pros- even they even make it...

...on a separate note, whatever happened to Seth McGowen from Mesquite Poteet???

[slcdragonfan]

...Craig James, Houston Stratford, should be on that list, IMO...unless you are a Texas Tech fan
...so should Jerod Douglas, Converse Judson...

...we probably won't see another dominant RB like the list above as the high school game evolves into pass first/run second....a lot of them get worn down in high school and/or college and are not as dominant in the pros- even they even make it...

...on a separate note, whatever happened to Seth McGowen from Mesquite Poteet???

I agree.

[chhspantherfan]

David Overstreet

https://www.texasfootball.com/hof-david-overstreet?ref=search

David Overstreet

Big Sandy High School


_ Inducted in 1994


One of the state’s all-time small-school legends, Overstreet set a Texas schoolboy record for Class B (now 1A) with 7,652 yards and 620 points. As a junior in 1975, Overstreet rushed for 3,032 yards and scored a whopping 56 touchdowns in sparking the Wildcats to the state championship. In the process, he was named the Texas High School Football Player of the Year. In all, Big Sandy won two state titles and shared another during Overstreet’s four seasons. Overstreet’s eye-popping talent set off a recruiting war, eventually won by Oklahoma. Despite playing in the shadow of Heisman Trophy winner Billy Sims -- another small-town Texas talent -- Overstreet was a first-round draft pick by the Miami Dolphins in 1981. He played two seasons in the Canadian Football League and one with the Dolphins before a fatal car accident in the summer of 1984 ended a promising career.

[Matt.Stepp]

Overstreet's Big Sandy teams on that three year run from 73-75 unreal dominance

[chhspantherfan]

Overstreet's Big Sandy teams on that three year run from 73-75 unreal dominance

It always has begged the question, had he not had the wreck, he would have been a big cog in a Super Bowl run.
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Overstreet was killed in a car accident in June 1984. He was driving northbound in his 1980 Mercedes on Texas State Highway 155, when his car swerved off the road about 10 miles northeast of Tyler into gasoline pumps at a service station and exploded.^[2] The Dolphins wore a helmet decal with the number 20 in his memory during their 1984 season in which they reached Super Bowl XIX.