Texas or Georgia: Which state would win a football all-star game?

By Ashley Wirz

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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

Former Texas A&M DE Myles Garrett (Artie Guerrero)

Defensive Line

TEXAS: Myles Garrett (Arlington Martin), Malcom Brown (Brenham), Jerry Hughes (Fort Bend Austin)

GEORGIA: Cam Heyward, Grady Jarrett, Bruce Irvin

This is one of the two positions that Georgia dominates. Garrett is a great player and Hughes is a longtime starter, but the talent and depth Georgia produces at the position stands apart. The state has two Pro Bowlers and also Irvin, one of the most consistent performers in the league. 

Advantage: Georgia

Linebackers

TEXAS: Von Miller (DeSoto), Craig Robertson (Stafford), Elandon Roberts (Port Arthur Memorial), Tyus Bowser (Tyler John Tyler)

GEORGIA: Vic Beasley, Alec Ogletree, Thomas Davis, Justin Houston

Texas has quietly moved away from the linebacker position. Much of the state is playing a base nickel defense, which limits the number of linebackers that play across the board. Of course, Miller is by far the best player of the entire front seven – maybe the whole defense – but his excellence isn’t enough to make up for the rest of the unit. 

Advantage: Georgia

Defensive Backs

TEXAS: Earl Thomas (West Orange-Stark), Jamal Adams (Carrollton Hebron), Xavien Howard (Houston Wheatley), Jalen Mills (DeSoto)

GEORGIA: Antoine Bethea, Shawn Williams, A.J. Bouye, Darius Slay

If we split this into corners and safeties, the position might be split. When looking at things holistically, though, Texas has the best safety in the game, the most accomplished safety in the game and two very good corners. The GA corners are better, but the gap between safety play is immense. 

Advantage: Texas

Specialists

TEXAS: Justin Tucker (Austin Westlake), Thomas Morstead (Pearland)

GEORGIA: Will Lutz, Sam Martin

Lutz is a solid kicker, but Tucker is on pace to be one of the greats in the history of the game. Martin and Morstead are both solid. Georgia gets a boost from Hill and Hardman in the return game. Don’t discount a new contributor jumping into the mix next year too: punter Braden Mann. 

Advantage: Texas

Final Count: 5-3

Listen, Georgia is a state 1/3 the size of Texas. The fact that this can even be a conversation is impressive. Per capita, no place on earth likely puts out the caliber of football talent that Georgia does. And looking at the all-star teams, Georgia has some advantages, notably in the front seven. 

That said, Texas is just different. It had 119 NFL players last season to Georgia’s 88. It produced four Heisman winners in the 2010s to Georgia’s one. It had more Pro Bowlers. It had more All-Pro members. Even cornerback Jeffrey Okudah is projected to be the first player from either of these two states in the 2020 NFL Draft. 

Georgia is a state on the rise. High level coaching is arriving and taking the in-state talent to a different level. No program is benefitting more than the University of Georgia. That said, if you come at the king, you best not miss – and Texas high school football is still king.

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