15 college football recruits who had the sickest high school highlight tape

Some college football players were stars before they ever hit the ranks of the NCAA thanks to the sickest high school highlight tapes we’ve ever seen.

If you go through the annuls of college football history, there is no shortage of stars — it’s one of the reasons we love the sport so much as fans. Whether it’s Heisman Trophy winners, finalists or simply players who got out on the field and cemented themselves as unforgettable staples of the game, you could spend all day rehashing the incredible individuals who have graced the gridiron at the college level.

But in the world where everyone has the internet and particularly with social media in the fold, the popularity of high school football highlight tapes have changed the game in a big way. We are no longer relying on word of mouth, horribly grainy footage on a VHS you might be able to get your hand on or just looking at the box score. We can now see it for ourselves how dominant the best players in high school football are.

Subsequently, we have seen many college football recruits reach levels of stardom before they ever take the field for an NCAA program. These are the guys that reach the college ranks with immense expectations because of how dominant we’ve already seen them be on their high school highlight tapes as recruits.

Just because a player is a recruiting mixtape star, of course, doesn’t guarantee they’re going to live up to the hype once they make the jump in level of competition — though there have been plenty of dominant high school players who have lived up to the billing. This is just to say having a jaw-dropping high school highlight tape doesn’t guarantee success in college football.

In the age where every meaningful recruit now has a high school mixtape, there is no shortage of impressive film out there. But looking back, these are the 15 sickest high school football highlight tapes we’ve seen.

Note: All recruiting information via 247Sports.