Highest Rated HS Athletes to Play FCS Football?

[TexasTerror]

Just curious...

Who are some of the highest rated athletes in the history of the I-AA (now FCS) to have signed with these schools out of high school? Or transfer to these schools?

I'm assuming schools in FCS with open enrollment may have scored some high-rated HS athletes. They may have not played due to academic reasons which kept them away from the FBS schools, but they did sign, eh?

I'm sure a school like Grambling that have a rich history had some solid recruits out of the HS level, especially during Eddie Robinson's heyday...

So any athletes you can share? Someone questioned this on KatFans.com and I thought it'd be fun to give them some legit information...

[patssle]

Just to get it out of the way...Rhett Bomar was ranked #1 in the nation for QBs coming out of high school.

Chris Brown was ranked #13 for outside linebacker in 2005 and played for the "national champions" Texas Longhorns for 6 games.

Noah Allen was #14th for QB. Transfered to SHSU in 2004 from OU as backup to Dustin Long, played 2 games in 2005 then kicked off the team.

[BearsCountry]

Randy Moss at Marshall?

[Mr. C]

In my time, Moss was definitely the most celebrated. He also came in as a redshirt freshman. Most of the great FCS players were not recruited that hard out of high school, but slipped through the FBS radar for one reason, or another. Dexter Coakley should have been recruited highly, but wasn't because of his size and the fact that he went to Fork Union Military Academy out of high school. Matt Stevens is a prime example of FCS stars. Stevens came to Appalachian State as a 140-pound walk-on WR. By the time he finished up, he was a 210 pound CB, ran less than a 4.4 40 and was projected as a mid-round, first-round draft choice (he was ranked No. 1 among DBs). A massive knee injury cost him the first round and he fell to the fourth round with the Buffalo Bills. He managed a nine-year NFL career and won a Super Bowl ring with the New England Patriots. There are a lot of guys like that in FCS, who were not highly recruited, but blossom.

How many first-round draft choices have we had at the FCS level?

[UNHWildCats]

from 1978 to 1996 these are the 1st rounders from curent FCS schools

1978 (17) Doug Williams - Grambling
1979 (7) Phil Simms - Morehead State
1980 (23) Roynell Young - Alcorn State
1982 (14) Barry Redden - Richmond
1983 (17) Leonard Smith - McNeese State
1983 (24) Ken O'Brien - UC Davis
1989 (27) Shawn Collins - Northern Arizona
1992 (26) Robert Porcher - South Carolina St
1993 (19) Lester Holmes - Jackson State
1995 (3) Steve McNair - Alcorn State

[McNeese75]

Sure didn't take long to get the answer you wanted did it :D

[Mr. C]

from 1978 to 1996 these are the 1st rounders from curent FCS schools

1978 (17) Doug Williams - Grambling
1979 (7) Phil Simms - Morehead State
1980 (23) Roynell Young - Alcorn State
1982 (14) Barry Redden - Richmond
1983 (17) Leonard Smith - McNeese State
1983 (24) Ken O'Brien - UC Davis
1989 (27) Shawn Collins - Northern Arizona
1992 (26) Robert Porcher - South Carolina St
1993 (19) Lester Holmes - Jackson State
1995 (3) Steve McNair - Alcorn State
Great job and a nice list. Of course Doug Williams finished up the year before I-AA started and Ken O'Brien was a Division II star at UC Davis. Surprised that Portland State QB Neil Lomax's name wasn't on the list. He was a good QB for the Cardinals before injuries shortened his career.

Randy Moss was a first-round choice in, I believe, 1998. His freshman year was Marshall's last in I-AA (1996).

It would be interesting to know how seriously this group of players were recruited by the big boys.

[appfan2008]

from 1978 to 1996 these are the 1st rounders from curent FCS schools

1978 (17) Doug Williams - Grambling
1979 (7) Phil Simms - Morehead State
1980 (23) Roynell Young - Alcorn State
1982 (14) Barry Redden - Richmond
1983 (17) Leonard Smith - McNeese State
1983 (24) Ken O'Brien - UC Davis
1989 (27) Shawn Collins - Northern Arizona
1992 (26) Robert Porcher - South Carolina St
1993 (19) Lester Holmes - Jackson State
1995 (3) Steve McNair - Alcorn State
is that the end of the list or is that how far your research went?

cuz i was curious if anymore had been drafted first round since then

[appfan2008]

from 1978 to 1996 these are the 1st rounders from curent FCS schools

1978 (17) Doug Williams - Grambling
1979 (7) Phil Simms - Morehead State
1980 (23) Roynell Young - Alcorn State
1982 (14) Barry Redden - Richmond
1983 (17) Leonard Smith - McNeese State
1983 (24) Ken O'Brien - UC Davis
1989 (27) Shawn Collins - Northern Arizona
1992 (26) Robert Porcher - South Carolina St
1993 (19) Lester Holmes - Jackson State
1995 (3) Steve McNair - Alcorn State
also just wanted to add... pretty good list of players with a number of quarterbacks

[thirdgendin]

I would imagine Ingle Martin was the highest rated HS athlete to ever play football at Furman. He was a Parade All American, among other awards. Here is his bio re: high school.

"Considered one of the nation's top prep quarterbacks in 2000...named to prestigious Parade All-America Team...named to PrepStars All-America Dream Team...publication ranked him among the nation's top dozen QBs...ranked among the nation's top five prep QBs by National Bluechips...ranked among the nation's top 20 QBs by Prep Football Report and among the nation's top 15 signal-callers by Rivals.com...named to SuperPrep's All-America team...that publication ranked him the top player in the state of Tennessee and among the nation's top 25 QBs...twice earned Division II Tennessee Player-of-the-Year...led Montgomery Bell Academy to three consecutive Tennessee state championships with 32 consecutive wins and final USA Today National Top 25 rankings in both 1999 and 2000...completed 62-of-137 passes for 964 yards and seven touchdowns and rushed for 935 yards as a senior...converted 6-of-9 field goal attempts in 2000 with three field goals better than 50 yards, including a school record 56-yarder."

[P2TheB]

Out of HS, UNI's Whitney Lewis was the #2 or #3 prospect by Rivals/Scout. He went to USC, and then transferred to UNI last year. #1 was either Reggie Bush or Ernie Sims...Lewis was #3.