I’ve seen many good HS QBs in my time. Who are some of your favorite or best QBs you seen. One of mine would be Brady Pope of South Iredell with over 10,000 yards passing. I’m interested in hearing about who you’ve seen. I’m sure we will see list on this one.
Some of the Great HS QBs
- Thread starter Vik-Val 86
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Norris Hopper at Shelby in the 90's was the best High School QB I've ever seen personally.
There’s a ton to name but just thinking of the ones I’ve seen in WNC, Heath Shuler, Crezdon Butler, Jonathon Crompton, Brad Johnson, Tyler Brosius and Zack Jaynes all come to mind.
Lol even made it out of jail in time to play us at maiden on Friday night 🤣🤣
The one year he played QB Rico Dowdle from ACR was amazing. He accounted for 3,000+ yards between rushing and passing that year, and was an outstanding kick returner as well.
Dowdle and Butler were QBs simply to get the ball in the hands of the most explosive guys on the field as quick as possible and it was definitely the right decision. I didn't personally see Dowdle as much but was unreal how much they used Butleron QB dives that went for 8+ yards just due to burst.
Being at Pisgah, I obviously saw Jaynes a ton. The one thing I'll say I'd put him up against about anyone on, was selling a fake. He truly mastered selling a bootleg at the high school level. I can't remember how many times I saw us need short yardage and him sale the bootleg and go the other way for 30+yds. Extremely patient and would just let the defense completely "sale the farm" and then made his next move.
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CJ Leak
Rusty Larue
Anthony Crews
That kid from Newton Conover that went to Nebraska
Rusty Larue
Anthony Crews
That kid from Newton Conover that went to Nebraska
Curt dukes
as far as Maiden goes best athlete quarterback would be Caleb Farley every time he had the ball in his hands he could break a touchdown from 99 yards TD, who now plays for the Tennessee Titans. Best true quarterback for Maiden I'd say Ethan Rhoades who is at NC State right now just had something special to him.
I watched Lake Norman when they had Josh Ladowski. He was phenomenal. Also seen Sun Valley when they had Sam Howell. Great QB. As stated above for Maiden when they had Caleb Farley. The time when Lincolnton was favored to win over Maiden. Farley was too much. Maiden won surprisingly big over Lincolnton.
Lot of good QBs returning back this season with good numbers. Take Hickory’s QB Brady Stober for example with 3,933 yards passing.
Best HS QB's I saw play in person in no particular order....... Rico Dowdle (played QB his senior year out of necessity), Brad Johnson (Owen HS, played at FSU and Tampa Bay Bucs), Heath Shuler, Mike Thomas ( Richmond County), Jonathan Crompton (Tuscola), Sam Howell and Tyler Brocius are the ones I can remember off the top of my head.
Lol I remember that week during practice we were wondering if he would be available. If I remember correctly I believe she got out Friday sometime what we were told at school. Wouldn't the matter either way that whole team was super fast. I remember a fumble defense lineman picked it up and scored before we turned around. But our lineman did get a perfect angle and catch hooper from behind 🤣 a miracle
He got in some trouble at the end of the 96 season and was dismissed from the team while we were still 3A. He returned in 97 when we went to playing 2A and lead Shelby to the Championship game. Then he was drafted by the Reds where he had a nice Pro baseball career.
In no particular order:
Chris Leak
Riley Ferguson
Cam Sexton
Christian Lemay
Joe Cox (shame on Matt Stafford’s wife)
Tedarius Wiley
Sam Howell
OC Wardlow
Chris Leak
Riley Ferguson
Cam Sexton
Christian Lemay
Joe Cox (shame on Matt Stafford’s wife)
Tedarius Wiley
Sam Howell
OC Wardlow
Chris Leak and Joe Cox Independence
OC Wardlow Mt Tabor
EJ Abrams Ward Thomasville
Matt Cline East Davidson/Glenn
Chris Leak is without a doubt the best HS qb I ever saw. Joe Cox had big shoes to fill and did so to the greatest extent possible. Leak would have been even better in college if he didn't have two different head coaches and three different offensive coordinators while also fending off a freshman Tim Tebow to be the starter and win the national title for Florida his senior year. Tebow deserves credit for helping win the 2006 title but Chris Leak was the true leader and best player on that team. And played his best game against Ohio State when OSU was a huge favorite in the days before SEC dominance began in earnest. Florida was the start of that and Leak seems to have been forgotten to time with Tebow mania masking his accomplishments. Still holds most passing records at Florida.
OC Wardlow was unbelievable and it's a shame he wasn't able to go to Virginia because... reasons... I saw him throw the ball 70 yards from one knee in warm-ups and he had accuracy to go with it, not to mention speed to scramble and go 70 yards with his legs if you somehow covered his receivers, which Tabor had plenty of.
EJ Abrams Ward was the best all around athlete I've ever seen and could have played all 22 positions on the field, plus punter and kicker. I'm not kidding, he was a stud middle linebacker for Tville before moving to qb. Think about that... a qb with a linebackers mentality and physicality. Won 3 state titles in four years at Thomasville and honestly should have been 4. Jordan Matthews got lucky his junior year. Big what if at Tennessee if he could have just kept focused and out of trouble.
Matt Cline made East Davidson scary to play against, which pretty much says everything. They sucked as a team but he put them on his back all by himself so you had to outscore them to win, luckily their defense was not able to keep many teams off the board or they would have been relevant with any sort of talent. He could throw for 150 yards and run for 250 and made very good defenses look silly. Went to Glenn to play for his uncle Dickie and made an already potent team a deep playoff contender. All American WR at App St for the legendary Armanti Edwards and was a big part of App States 3 peat/FCS dominance in the late 2000s.
OC Wardlow Mt Tabor
EJ Abrams Ward Thomasville
Matt Cline East Davidson/Glenn
Chris Leak is without a doubt the best HS qb I ever saw. Joe Cox had big shoes to fill and did so to the greatest extent possible. Leak would have been even better in college if he didn't have two different head coaches and three different offensive coordinators while also fending off a freshman Tim Tebow to be the starter and win the national title for Florida his senior year. Tebow deserves credit for helping win the 2006 title but Chris Leak was the true leader and best player on that team. And played his best game against Ohio State when OSU was a huge favorite in the days before SEC dominance began in earnest. Florida was the start of that and Leak seems to have been forgotten to time with Tebow mania masking his accomplishments. Still holds most passing records at Florida.
OC Wardlow was unbelievable and it's a shame he wasn't able to go to Virginia because... reasons... I saw him throw the ball 70 yards from one knee in warm-ups and he had accuracy to go with it, not to mention speed to scramble and go 70 yards with his legs if you somehow covered his receivers, which Tabor had plenty of.
EJ Abrams Ward was the best all around athlete I've ever seen and could have played all 22 positions on the field, plus punter and kicker. I'm not kidding, he was a stud middle linebacker for Tville before moving to qb. Think about that... a qb with a linebackers mentality and physicality. Won 3 state titles in four years at Thomasville and honestly should have been 4. Jordan Matthews got lucky his junior year. Big what if at Tennessee if he could have just kept focused and out of trouble.
Matt Cline made East Davidson scary to play against, which pretty much says everything. They sucked as a team but he put them on his back all by himself so you had to outscore them to win, luckily their defense was not able to keep many teams off the board or they would have been relevant with any sort of talent. He could throw for 150 yards and run for 250 and made very good defenses look silly. Went to Glenn to play for his uncle Dickie and made an already potent team a deep playoff contender. All American WR at App St for the legendary Armanti Edwards and was a big part of App States 3 peat/FCS dominance in the late 2000s.
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Saw Heath Shuler of Swain County hurl a football 63 yards IN THE AIR for a TD against East Montgomery in the late 80s....incredibly smart QB in the day. Mike Thomas of Richmond, Donnie Davis and Chuckie Burnette of Burlington Cummings, Chris Leake of Independence.
Probably not the appropriate place I would imagine but one of the most impressive seasons Ive seen personally in my time would be
Darquez Lee's senior season at Shelby.... The reason I choose this is it was his only season starting as QB for varsity and he finished with over 4900 yards passing and 60 passing TD's ... Cannon for an arm and very accurate.... his senior highlights attached
The ones over the years I saw personally
Chuckie Burnette: Cummings
Kentrell Jones: Gaffney dude was amazing
Chris Leak: Indy
Norris Hopper: Shelby
Brad Johnson: Owen
Chazz Surratt: East Lincoln
Im sure Ill think of others but this will do for now
Darquez Lee's senior season at Shelby.... The reason I choose this is it was his only season starting as QB for varsity and he finished with over 4900 yards passing and 60 passing TD's ... Cannon for an arm and very accurate.... his senior highlights attached
The ones over the years I saw personally
Chuckie Burnette: Cummings
Kentrell Jones: Gaffney dude was amazing
Chris Leak: Indy
Norris Hopper: Shelby
Brad Johnson: Owen
Chazz Surratt: East Lincoln
Im sure Ill think of others but this will do for now
EJ also played fullback prior to playing linebacker lol! Definitely a complete athlete
One QB that I remember was Alex McVeigh who played for Carrboro against South Iredell in 2012 2AA State Championship game. They came in undefeated but was defeated by South. But that kid could throw and had a good arm. Only time I saw him play was against South Iredell. I wonder whatever happened to him. Did he play in college.
I don’t believe I seen Will Greer listed. Davidson Day QB with 14,565 yrds passing. Currently playing for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Best all around athlete I ever saw play in person. Had pro potential in three sports. Baseball may have been his best sport. What a waste.
Drew Williamson
Bo Williamson
Anthony crews
Jefferson boaz
Hendon hooker
Nigel Britt
Bo Williamson
Anthony crews
Jefferson boaz
Hendon hooker
Nigel Britt
Some of the best QB's I've ever seen with my own eyes:
Chris Leak: Independence
Mitch Ellis: North Rowan
Drake Maye: Myers Park
Joe Cox: Independence
Chris Reynolds: Davie
James Smith: Mallard Creek
Holton Ahilers: D.H. Conley
Josh Ladowski: Lake Norman
Ernest Tinnen: Cummings
Daniel Griffith: North Rowan
Austin Kendall: Cuthbertson
B.J. Beecher: Concord
Tommy Beecher: Concord
Sam Howell: Sun Valley
Chazz Surratt: East Lincoln
Alphonzo Miller: North Rowan
Drew Williamson: Cummings
Donnie Davis: Cummings
Maurice Blakeney: A.L. Brown
Donald Britt: Western Alamance
Jefferson Boaz: East Surry
Brady Pope: South Iredell
Mario Sturdivant: North Rowan
Will Jones: Page
Hendon Hooker: Dudley
Luke Samples: East Wilkes
Chris Leak: Independence
Mitch Ellis: North Rowan
Drake Maye: Myers Park
Joe Cox: Independence
Chris Reynolds: Davie
James Smith: Mallard Creek
Holton Ahilers: D.H. Conley
Josh Ladowski: Lake Norman
Ernest Tinnen: Cummings
Daniel Griffith: North Rowan
Austin Kendall: Cuthbertson
B.J. Beecher: Concord
Tommy Beecher: Concord
Sam Howell: Sun Valley
Chazz Surratt: East Lincoln
Alphonzo Miller: North Rowan
Drew Williamson: Cummings
Donnie Davis: Cummings
Maurice Blakeney: A.L. Brown
Donald Britt: Western Alamance
Jefferson Boaz: East Surry
Brady Pope: South Iredell
Mario Sturdivant: North Rowan
Will Jones: Page
Hendon Hooker: Dudley
Luke Samples: East Wilkes
Need to get you up to Reidsville for some games.
Ill add Anthony Crews to the list. 3000+ Passing Yards and 28TDs, along with 1000+ rushing and 30 TDs his one season at Reidsville.
Another one comes to mind. Kevin Mull of South Iredell. Played back around ‘82-83 season. Could hit his receivers on the dime. But due to an offense that ran the ball most of the time that kept his passing production down
