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

14. Darnell Dockett

For many people when you think of the most impressive and great high school football highlight tapes in history, Darnell Dockett probably isn’t the first player that comes to mind. However, the 1999 recruit for the Florida State Seminoles was an absolute man among boys when on the field and completely wrecked games along the defensive line.

Because of the time when he was coming up in the college football recruiting ranks, Dockett’s film isn’t exactly plentiful. However, what we do have is a player who couldn’t be stopped. In fact, in the highlights above, the referee actually stops the game for a moment to make sure one of the opposing offensive linemen Dockett harassed on the previous play is okay. That says quite a bit about what Dockett was doing to his opponents.

After starring at Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville, MD, the 6-foot-4, 260-pound Dockett went to play for Bobby Bowden in Tallahassee and made an immediate impact. He got on the field as a freshman due to injuries and took his place on the line to never relinquish it. Throughout his college career, he established himself as one of the best defensive linemen in the country.

Due to an arrest and some locker room concerns, Dockett dropped to the third round of the 2004 NFL Draft where the Arizona Cardinals finally selected him. He continued to thrive on the field, however, earning three trips to the Pro Bowl, one Second-Team All-Pro selection (2009) and even coming up with three sacks in Super Bowl XLIII against the Steelers.

And if you saw what he was doing in high school, very little of that is surprising. Dockett was simply a beast.