Kansas City Chiefs receiver Mecole Hardman put out the ultimate challenge to Texas High School Football on Twitter.
In an exchange with Dez Bryant, Hardman claimed that an all-star football team made up of athletes from Georgia would beat an all-star team of athletes from Texas – ”any day,” Hardman claimed. Bryant, Mike Evans and Patrick Mahomes all took part in the exchange.
DCTF may be the ultimate authority on Texas High School Football, but we are always up for putting its greatness to the test. We decided to create these all star teams and compare.
To create this team, we set some ground rules. To earn a spot, a player must have been under contract in 2019 – sorry, Dez. We’re treating this as if the game will take place tomorrow. Career achievements matter, but aren’t everything.
Every player we pick must have played high school football in the state. There’s some players that were born in Georgia and then played high school football in Texas, like Aaron Jones – for our purposes, that’s a Texas high school player. We stuck as close as possible positional designations, when possible.
Obviously, this can’t tell us everything. We’ll never know unless this happens. But for now, here’s how we think a high school football game between the best of Texas and Georgia high school football would go.
Quarterbacks
TEXAS: Patrick Mahomes (Whitehouse)
GEORGIA: Deshaun Watson
The only question about this position is whether Texas should turn to the best quarterback in the game or the most productive quarterback of all time. Watson is a great player, but Texas is the home of great quarterbacks.
Advantage: Texas
Running Backs
TEXAS: Adrian Peterson (Palestine), Aaron Jones (El Paso Burges)
GEORGIA: Alvin Kamara, Nick Chubb
Funnily enough, Aaron Jones was actually born in Georgia, but played high school football in Texas. If you asked him, though, El Paso is home. Texas has perhaps the greatest runner ever, but there are question marks past these guys; it’s likely no coincidence that Texas high school football offenses are moving away from the run game.
Advantage: Georgia
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends
TEXAS: Mike Evans (Galveston Ball), Emmanuel Sanders (Bellville), Courtland Sutton (Brenham), Vance McDonald (Winnie East Chambers)
GEORGIA: Tyreek Hill, Demaryius Thomas, Mecole Hardman, Evan Engram
Hill is a great player, but this conversation isn’t close. Texas has superstars and extreme depth at this position. Oh, and by the way, the Texas high school talent heading into the league this year is insane: Jalen Reagor, Denzel Mims, James Proche, CeeDee Lamb and Laviska Shenault. Unbeatable.
Advantage: Texas
Offensive Line
TEXAS: Trent Williams (Longview), Marshall Newhouse (Lake Highlands), Joey Hunt (El Campo), Marcus Cannon (Odessa), Lane Johnson (Groveton)
GEORGIA: Trent Brown, James Carpenter, David Andrews, Chris Hubbard, Orlando Brown
The tackle talent across the board is fantastic, but especially good in Texas. This list doesn’t even count Jake Matthews, Jason Peters or Kelechi Osemele, all of whom could start on any team in the NFL. Andrews is the best interior lineman of this group, but the top-end players for Texas put this away.
Advantage: Texas