Greatest high school football player in Connecticut history

[JaYnYcE]

Best player I played with was a running back by the name of Jimmy Henry from Greenwich. He set the TD record at 42 in 99 which was then broken a few years later by Tim Washington.

I would say Steve Young would be at the top of the list due to his accomplishments and NFL record QB rating which was broken by P.Manning a few years ago.


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[whaler11]

In the 9 years I officiated football in Connecticut easily the best player I saw in person was Aaron Hernandez. As someone who grew up and played in Central CT, Tebucky Jones Sr. was an absolute beast.

 

[Stinger92860]

George Tarasovic, from bridgeport/harding, went to LSU and played for Pittsburgh ....Got this from my dad

 

[Stinger92860]

Just throwing a few names around, some I remember first hand. Wondering what you guys think? I suppose you can include those that blossomed after high school and turned into great players in college or the pros, a rare thing but it has happened, but I was thinking of the great HS players that dominated the CT HS gridion, of course some went on to bigger and better things while some others for whatever reason didn't.

Bobby Valentine, Andrew Pinnock, Rico Brogna, John Sullivan, Andy Rosbustelli, Pete Demmerle, Carm Cozza, Floyd Little, Kurt Horton, Walt Dropo, Sandy Osiecki, Bill Romanowski, Dwight Freeney, Tarek Saleh, Steve Young......I know I'm missing some. Some on this board might be surprised with Bobby Valentine, but he was the only CT high school football player to ever make 1st team all-state 3 years in a row and Rippowam HS won the state championship 1 or 2 years when BobbyV played there.

Chime in on the ones I missed, especially the long forgotten ones from the 40's & 50's

Carm Cozza was from Ohio.

 

[Stinger92860]

Levi Jackson (1926 - 7 December 2000), a football standout at Hillhouse High School (New Haven, CT), was the first African-American football captain at Yale University, and the first African-American executive at Ford Motor Company. He was a member of the Yale Class of 1950, and captained the 1949 football team, the election taken soon after the 1948 season. Like Albie Boothbefore him, Jackson was a football standout at Hillhouse High School and Yale. Jackson was born in Branford, CT. Jackson's father was a master steward and chef at Yale's Pierson College. Jackson attended Yale on the G.I. Bill. He attained the rank ofsergeant in the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps.[1]
He turned down an offer to play for the New York Giants, which would had made him the first African-American to play in the modern National Football League, after playing football on the Camp Lee team in Virginia for the U.S. Army. Yale coach Howie Odell welcomed Jackson, the team achieving a 7-1-1 record, an Associated Press poll finish at 12, and a victory over Harvard. Jackson's squads were 3 - 1 versus Harvard.

 

[J187Money]

I brought up the criteria of overall athlete thing, and also the criteria of palyers that I've personally seen.

There's so many players in a discussion like this. The kid coming to UConn in the spring to compete for the QB position I believe is the current all time leader in passing. Tough to argue against him as being the best high school player, if you're going to restrict it to the high school gridiron only.

I'm not sure if Burrell played football did he? i don't remember him playing. anyway, when you've got a kid on the field that's playing the QB position for several years in high school, throwing for record yardage, record #'s of TD's, winning state championships, can also run the ball pretty well, and is getting recruited to major colleges on top of all that, for being able to punt with NFL type distance and hang time, and kick field goals regularly 50+ yards? That's a highly talented high school football player.

I don't recall another H.S. football player in CT that I've seen play with my own eyes, that was able to do everything Brogna did on the field.

Yes. Burrell was about the best quarterback I'd ever seen at the HS level. Threw the ball about 60-70 yards in the air and they pulled him off the freshman team half way through the season to play varsity. His junior year he lead Hamden to the state title game (where they lost 3-0 to East Hartford (I think)) in about the coldest game I've been involved with (outside of the 2008 NFC Championship game at Lambeau). He didn't play his senior year to focus on hoops and baseball. Was drafted twice in the 1st round of the MLB draft and played in the NBA.

I've heard people from the northern part of the state rave about Brogna, and I can't say anything different, but I've never been around another multi-sport talent like Burrell who was a pro at 2 levels and who easily could have been an NFL player. He was a reincarnation of Randall Cunningham.

 

[J187Money]

Burrell played at Hamden.

There are a lot of kids who were unheralded because they played for small schools. Look at a kid like Chris Hetherington at North Branford. He was unknown, played D1AA, then went on to have a rather long NFL career as a starter.

I played golf with Hetherington a couple of years back. He is a beast physically.

 

[upstater]

I played golf with Hetherington a couple of years back. He is a beast physically.

Yeah, he's a big kid. We worked the same job in New Haven a couple summers back in the early 90s before he was drafted.

 

[Scoe]

We've had this discussion before Lots of guys to talk about. Tim Washington was an electric offensive player but I don't know where he ended up after going to Syracuse. Romanowski's career is undeniable. Etc. Etc. If you loko at the record books, the names jump out.

Best overall athlete I've personally seen as a high school kid age, is Brogna hands down. The kid did everything on the field except play defense, and he probably could ahve been a shut down coverage DB too if he played every down on both sides of the ball. Top 5 I think passer all time, kicked field goals 50+ yards, state champion winner QB, 1,000+ point scorer in basketball, double digit winner baseball pitcher. had college programs offering him scholarships for multiple sports left and right, but got drafted to MLB out of high school and made a career there.

Yes I remember watching Washington play I have a friend that knew him and he told me that Washington said he should have played at Uconn.

 

[Scoe]

I played against Maurice Humphrey from Berlin he went to Penn State but got into alot of trouble there.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

If you go solely by what he did in HS, Bobby V may well deserve the honor as he was the first three time all state player (and I believe Pozzouli was the only other and one of his was second team).

If you go by entire career, including college and NFL, Steve Young makes a better argument than anyone, Floyd Little and Andy Robustelli (who are also enshrined in Canton) would be second and third.

 

[uconnfootball12]

1. kenny tinney 2. tubucky jones 3. aaron hernandez 4. dwight freeney 5. steve coughlin ansonia ( stanford)

 

[THC]

Forrest Conley, Ed Hrubiec, Adam Salina, Maurice Humphrey, Max DeLorenzo, all Berlin guys, I'm partial.

 

[Jax Husky]

Bob Skoronski

speaking of Andrew Pinnock

I played against Freeney and Pinnock. They were absolute beasts. Statistically, I'd say it has to be Aaron Hernandez. Has there been any other Gatorade Offensive/Defensive player?

 

[huskyrob1]

If you go solely by what he did in HS, Bobby V may well deserve the honor as he was the first three time all state player (and I believe Pozzouli was the only other and one of his was second team).

If you go by entire career, including college and NFL, Steve Young makes a better argument than anyone, Floyd Little and Andy Robustelli (who are also enshrined in Canton) would be second and third.

I agree with you on that score. Bobby V was awesome. I saw him play when I was 12 or 13, he could do it all.

 

[huskyrob1]

I agree with you on that score. Bobby V was awesome. I saw him play when I was 12 or 13, he could do it all.

I'm surprised no one mentioned Fran Lynch (myself included) who played for Roger Ludlowe back the 1960's, back when all 4 Fairfield high schools (Warde, Ludlowe, Notre Dame, Fairfield Prep) produced championship teams.

 

[Lefty2one]

Kyle McIntosh out of Cheshire was pretty filthy. Had 2,000+ rushing yards at Syracuse and was the starting tailback during the McNabb era up there. Don't think he ever lost a high school game either IIRC, him and his brother were the biggest reason for the Cheshire dynasty of the 1990's. Think they won 47 straight or something.

 

[huskyrob1]

Kyle McIntosh out of Cheshire was pretty filthy. Had 2,000+ rushing yards at Syracuse and was the starting tailback during the McNabb era up there. Don't think he ever lost a high school game either IIRC, him and his brother were the biggest reason for the Cheshire dynasty of the 1990's. Think they won 47 straight or something.

Those Cheshire teams were tough back then, I think their winning streak still remains the state record.

 

[Jimdish255]

Kyle McIntosh out of Cheshire was pretty filthy. Had 2,000+ rushing yards at Syracuse and was the starting tailback during the McNabb era up there. Don't think he ever lost a high school game either IIRC, him and his brother were the biggest reason for the Cheshire dynasty of the 1990's. Think they won 47 straight or something.

Good contribution. I think we get a little off track when we judge by college or the pros. I didn't see a lot of Steve Young, but when we played against them it was really a team effort on their part (and some terrible red zone play calling on ours) that allowed them to steal one. He was a heck of a QB no doubt, but not superman until later.

 

[asuwish]

Just throwing a few names around, some I remember first hand. Wondering what you guys think? I suppose you can include those that blossomed after high school and turned into great players in college or the pros, a rare thing but it has happened, but I was thinking of the great HS players that dominated the CT HS gridion, of course some went on to bigger and better things while some others for whatever reason didn't.

Bobby Valentine, Andrew Pinnock, Rico Brogna, John Sullivan, Andy Rosbustelli, Pete Demmerle, Carm Cozza, Floyd Little, Kurt Horton, Walt Dropo, Sandy Osiecki, Bill Romanowski, Dwight Freeney, Tarek Saleh, Steve Young......I know I'm missing some. Some on this board might be surprised with Bobby Valentine, but he was the only CT high school football player to ever make 1st team all-state 3 years in a row and Rippowam HS won the state championship 1 or 2 years when BobbyV played there.

Chime in on the ones I missed, especially the long forgotten ones from the 40's & 50's

I know he didn't turn out to be the best pro, but the thing about Pinnock was that when he finished his career he was the all time rushing leader (I know he's been passed by) but he was probably playing only half a game. We've never had a player with his size and speed. I believe he was at least 260lbs and ran a 4.6 - 4.7ish 40. Those who could actually tackle him couldn't catch him and vice versa. If you were a 185 cornerback you just got out of his way or carried off the field. his team was scoring 50+ a game.

 

[huskyrob1]

I know he didn't turn out to be the best pro, but the thing about Pinnock was that when he finished his career he was the all time rushing leader (I know he's been passed by) but he was probably playing only half a game. We've never had a player with his size and speed. I believe he was at least 260lbs and ran a 4.6 - 4.7ish 40. Those who could actually tackle him couldn't catch him and vice versa. If you were a 185 cornerback you just got out of his way or carried off the field. his team was scoring 50+ a game.

If you're talking only about running backs there was a player named Joe Addison at Fitch High in Groton some years back who was really really good and fun to watch.

 

[cubuff]

Scott Burrell could have been the greatest if he played his senior year... think Vince Young with a cannon. I once saw him throw a rope down field at least 40 yards. Even with a high school ball, it's the most impressive throw I've seen from anybody in my life.

Scott got a lot of flack for "quitting" football his senior year to focus on baseball and basketball but there was a lot more to that story. His senior year, Hamden went from a traditional set to the option because they lost a ton of players from the year before. I'm not sure Scott quite saw it in these terms but the option was an enormous risk to his sports career even if they returned their entire o-line. At 6'6", he would be exposed to constant hits to the knees and ankles. He was already a guaranteed MLB draft pick and heavily recruited in basketball. Why remotely consider that risk?

 

[huskyrob1]

If you're talking only about running backs there was a player named Joe Addison at Fitch High in Groton some years back who was really really good and fun to watch.

Huge apologies to Nick Giaquinto, totally forgot about him. From high school to UCONN and the NFL. I'm even more embarrassed because I still see him now and then at the barber shop. Geez, can't believe I left him out.

 

[storrsbred1]

Was Phil Tinsley from CT? He played at UConn in the early 50's (I think).

 

[huskyrob1]

Was Phil Tinsley from CT? He played at UConn in the early 50's (I think).

Tinsley was from Berlin, CT.

 

[KennyD]

Burrell was a highly touted QB, a FIRST ROUND baseball pitching draftee and, of course a hoops great who got to the NBA. I never saw him play football, but supposedly he was a terrific football player.

A guy from my era and my hs (Weaver) was a great all around hs athlete named John Lee. He was 1st team all-state in the 3 major sports, went on to play minor league football and baseball. He was as good a hs passer as you can imagine and had a great attitude. He had a football scholarship to Arizona State which for reasons which need not be discussed here and for which it would not be the slightest concern in today's world, the scholarship was pulled before he played a down and he wound up going to a small college out west. For that matter, Lee's peer at Hartford High, Eddie Griffin, was a super basketball player and very good running back, not sure if he played baseball. But recruiting was a bit different in the 1960s and a lot of good athletes did not wind up at "major" programs.

 

[KennyD]

As a former beaver and husky football player i watched Lee and Griffin throughout their carrers. They were a few years ahead of me. They wouldn't rank as the best ever although they made all-state. What sets them apart is that they were both tremendous 3 sport athletes (football, basketball, and baseball). They both went on to star at Linfield College in Oregon. They were also cousins.

 

[huskyblooz]

Arkeel has to be included now with the HS greats.

 

[cohenzone]

As a former beaver and husky football player i watched Lee and Griffin throughout their carrers. They were a few years ahead of me. They wouldn't rank as the best ever although they made all-state. What sets them apart is that they were both tremendous 3 sport athletes (football, basketball, and baseball). They both went on to star at Linfield College in Oregon. They were also cousins.

Lee went to Linfield, but I'm pretty sure Griffin went to school in VA, maybe Norfolk State. They were a year ahead of me. Where did you live? I lived on Branford St. between Cornwall and Palm.

 

[CL82]

I don't think he's the winner but Nick Gianquinto ought to get a shout out.