1979 Top 100

[Dwan]

thought this was cool/depressing:

1. Eric Dickerson, RB, 6-3, 205, Sealy (Texas) - SMU
2. Don Mosebar, OT, 6-7, 265, Visalia (Calif.) - USC
3. John Elway, QB, 6-2, 185, Granada Hills (Calif.) - Stanford
4. Drew Dossett, ILB, 6-4, 235, Shreveport (La.) – USC
5. Joey Browner, OLB, 6-4, 200, Atlanta (Ga.) – USC
6. Darryl Sheffey, OG, 6-3, 272, Washington (DC) – Oklahoma State
7. Roger Craig, RB, 6-2, 202, Davenport (Ia.) – Nebraska
8. Jimmy Smith, RB, 6-0, 190, Kankakee (Il.) – Purdue
9. Mike Cade, RB, 6-1, 205, Eloy (Az.) – Michigan
10. George Achica, OT, 6-5, 265, San Jose (Calif.) – USC
11. Vincent White, RB, 5-8, 175, Denver (Co.) – Stanford
12. Craig James, RB, 6-1, 210, Houston (Texas) – SMU
13. Stanley Wilson, RB, 6-1, 195, Los Angeles (Calif.) – Oklahoma
14. Wayne Apuna, ILB, Honolulu (Hawaii) – Arizona State
15. Mike McCloskey, TE, 6-4, 230, Philadelphia (Pa.) – Penn State
16. Jon English, QB, 6-3, 190, Birmingham (Mi.) – Michigan State
17. Tony Hunter, WR, 6-6, 210, Cincinnati (OH) – Notre Dame
18. Buford McGee, RB, 6-1, 180, Durant (Ms.) – Ole Miss
19. Phillip Boren, DT, 6-5, 245, Dallas (Texas) – Arkansas
20. Kevin Ward, QB, 6-1, 198, Conestoga (Pa.) – Arizona
21. Tom Jelesky, TE, 6-6, 250, Merrillville (In.) – Purdue
22. Mitchell Bennett, WR, 5-11, 180, Bonham (Texas) – SMU
23. Doug Collins, DT, 6-4, 240, Andalusia (Al.) – Alabama
24. Weldon Ledbetter, RB, 6-3, 210, Clayton (Mo.) – Oklahoma
25. Michael Carter, DT, 6-2, 235, Dallas (Texas) – SMU
26. Malcom Moore, TE, 6-5, 215, San Fernando (Calif.) – USC
27. Anthony Carter, WR, 5-11, 165, Riviera Beach (Fla.) – Michigan
28. Matt Harlien, OT, 6-4, 265, Corpus Christi (Texas) – Texas Tech
29. Johnny Hector, RB, 5-11, 180, New Iberia (La.) – Texas A&M
30. Claybon Fields, OT, 6-7, 270, Washington (DC) – Purdue
31. Doug Smith, DT, 6-5, 255, Bayboro (NC) – East Carolina
32. Glenn Cobb, LB, 6-4, 212, Miami (OH) – Ohio State
33. Ray Brown, DE, 6-4, 230, Rome (Ga.) – Clemson
34. Rob Moore, FB, 6-2, 217, Santa An (Calif.) – Stanford
35. Winfred Carraway, ILB, 6-3, 235, Detroit (Mi.) – Michigan
36. Stanley Godine, DB, 6-1, 180, Houston (Texas) – SMU
37. Reuben Jones, QB, 6-2, 205, Tulsa (Ok.) – TCU
38. Curt Warner, RB, 6-1, 180, Pineville (WV) – Penn State
39. Paul Parker, OG, 6-3, 280, Tulsa (Ok.) – Oklahoma
40. Bob Clasby, DT, 6-5, 265, Boston (Mass.) – Notre Dame
41. Steve Mott, DL, 6-4, 245, New Orleans (La.) – Alabama
42. Cyrus Lawrence, RB, 5-10, 200, South Hampton (Va.) – Virginia Tech (VPI then)
43. Norris Brown, WR, 6-3, 197, Laurens (SC) – Georgia
44. Johnell Brown, QB, 6-1, 180, Gainesville (Fla.) – Florida
45. Joe Lukens, OG, 6-4, 230, Cincinnati (OH) – Ohio State
46. Shawn McNamara, OT, 6-6, 250, Long Island (NY) – Penn State
47. Will Forts, OLB, 6-1, 205, Fayetteville (Ga.) – Georgia
48. Shelby Gamble, RB, 6-0, 195, South Haven (Mi.) – Boston College
49. Darryl Songy, S, 6-2 185, New Orleans (La.) – Oklahoma
50. Melvin Dorsey, RB, 6-0, 180, Atlanta (Ga.) – Georgia
51. Kevin Lindsey, RB, 5-11, 180, Sandusky (OH) – Ohio State
52. Andrew Provence, OT, Savannah (SC) – South Carolina
53. Irv Eatman, OL, 6-3, 250, Dayton (OH) – UCLA
54. Rick Sharp, TE, 6-5, 220, Carmel (In.) – UCLA
55. Randy Justes, DL, 6-5, 240, Omaha (Neb.) – Missouri
56. Kinny Hooper, RB, 6-1, 205, Cleveland (Tn.) – Ole Miss
57. Phil Carter, RB, 5-11, 190, Tacoma (Wa.) – Notre Dame
58. Tim Spencer, RB, 6-2, 190, St. Clarisville (OH) – Ohio State
59. Tim Case, OL, 6-4, 250, Tilton (Ga.) – Georgia
60. Spencer Jackson, WR, Boca Raton (Fla.) – Florida
61. Darryl Moore, OT, 6-5, 240, Venice (Calif.) – USC
62. Eddie Hornback, QB, 6-2, 200, (Ocean Springs (Ms.) – Notre Dame
63. Dan Plonk, OG, Merritt Island (Fla.) – Florida
64. Rich Hewlett, QB, 6-1, 195, Plymouth (Mi.) – Michigan
65. Roosevelt Wilder, RB, 5-11, 195, Macon (Ga.) – Alabama
66. Clyde Duncan, WR, 6-3, 185, Potomac (Md.) – Tennessee
67. Alana Risher, QB, 6-2, 180, Slidell (La.) – LSU
68. Randy Edwards, DT, 6-4, 245, Marietta (Ga.) – Alabama
69. Rob Hedequist, C, 6-3, 218, Spokane (Wa.) – USC
70. Don Dixon, TE, 6-6, 230, Jacksonville (Fla.) – Georgia
71. James Jones, QB, 6-3, 205, Pompano Beach (Fla.) – Florida
72. Chuck McSwain, RB, 6-3, 198, Forest City (NC) – Clemson
73. Barry Young, OT, 6-6, 240, Apple Valley (Mn.) – Notre Dame
74. Dan Marino, QB, 6-2, 185, Pittsburgh (Pa.) – Pittsburgh
75. Donnie Humphrey, DT, 6-3, 260, Huntsville (Ala.) – Alabama
76. Marty Martinez, WR, 6-1, 180, Drayton Plains (Mi.) – Stanford
77. Todd Blackledge, QB, 6-4, 200, North Canton (OH) – Penn State
78. Jeff Guy, DB, 6-1, 175, Aurora (Colo.) – Texas
79. Mike Edwards, WR, 6-5, 200, Bradenton (Fla.) – Auburn
80. Mike White, DL, 6-5, 240, Philadelphia (Pa.) – Arizona State
81. Dan Gregus, OL, 6-5, 235, Chicago (Il.) – Illinois
82. Layne Walker, QB, Clovis (NM) – SMU
83. Derald Williams, RB, 6-0, 195, Jacksonville (Fla.) – Florida
84. Mike Buchanan, ILB, University City (Mo.) – Texas
85. Charles Waggoner, RB, 6-2, 200, Dallas (Texas) – SMU
86. Mike Cofer, DE, 6-5, 220, Knoxville (Tn.) – Tennessee
87. Jim Hawn, El Dorado (Calif.) – Arizona State
88. Guy Thurston, DL, 6-3, 240, Arvada (Co.) – Colorado
89. Al Blue, DB, 6-2, 175, Maitland (Fla.) – Alabama
90. Richard Abraham, DE, 6-3, 238, Paducah (Ky.) – Kentucky
91. Woody Grigg, OT, 6-7, 240, Winnfield (La.) – Ole Miss
92. Marcus Toney, DB, 6-2, 190, Muskegon (Mi.) – Michigan State
93. Damon McCurty, LB, 6-3, 220, Washington County (Ga.) – Clemson
94. Todd Spratte, TE, 6-4, 235, Rochester (Mn.) – Nebraska
95. Brian Holland, RB, 5-11, 195, Devon (Pa.) – Arizona
96. Jeff Hostetler, QB, Davidsville (Pa.) – Penn State
97. Chuck Ehin, DT, 6-5, 255, Layton (Utah) – BYU
98. Michael Charles, RB, 6-0, 205, Houston (Texas) – SMU
99. Billy Ray Smith, DL, 6-4, 215, Dallas (Texas) – Arkansas
100. Kyle Money, QB, 6-3, 200, Dallas (Texas) - Baylor

[PonyTime]

If SMU was buying ... How much was USC paying that year?

And surprised at the number of Stanfords in there. How good were they back in the day?

[BUS]

It struck me that Mr. Carter was 235.
Grew to 275-280 .

Nice list a payers.

[ponyfan37]

We had 4 RB's in the top 100. That is absolutely insane.

[ojaipony]

If it helps you/me/us feel any better, we DO have several top 100 on our BASKETBALL team. Shake, Akoy, Mike, Whitt . . .

And, in football, we have a top 100 player in Trey Quinn (was #29 on ESPN top 300). I'm looking if we have any others on the roster in the ESPN 300 . . . I don't think so . . .

[SoCal_Pony]

I look at lists like this and am always impressed with the ability to judge talent so early.

Numbers 1 and 3 in high school go 1 and 2 in the NFL draft and become first ballot HoFers.

Multiple Super Bowl QBs (Marino, Elway, Hostetler) as well, so many NFL players and 1st round draft picks.

Also, so many who fail do so because of injuries. We know about Charles Waggoner. #4, Drew Dossett from Louisiana (went to USC) is another. He actually became a doctor and operated on Tony Romo.

[Stallion]

I think this was a list from the mythical national recruiting guru Joe Terranove (Super Prep magazine) -a former Detroit autoworker I believe-I can confirm the legitimacy-I remember reading it. However, back in 1979 it was pretty much a guessing game because ole Joe probably hadn't seen a single player on the list and video was pretty rare before Al Gore invented the internet. Still to give him credit he hit on a bunch of SMU recruits (probably after reading Dave Campbell's Texas Football). The big bust on this list was DB Stanley Godine (from Houston Kashmere) who shrunk about 3 inches and weighed 30 pounds more than his listed weight. He was the Sean Stopperich of this Class and I'm not sure if he ever played. Godine's teammate at Kashmere-DT Harvey Armstrong was actually the Blue Chip All-American on the Kashmere team

[Fresno Mustang]

Looks like Ron Myer gave a bunch of his "Doak Walker Scholarships" that year

[D]

Interesting to see former SMU WR coach Vincent White on the list at 11 as well. Saw video of him in college and he was good, but didn't know he was that highly rated.

[Dark Horse]

We had 4 RB's in the top 100. That is absolutely insane.

Thatt jumped out at me too ... as did the fact that we had five guys ranked higher than Dan Marino

[Stallion]

yeah that Class is one of the more famous in College and Pro Football history too-look at all the superstars

[Digetydog]

We had 4 RB's in the top 100. That is absolutely insane.

Waggoner was the best. He was playing in front of Dickerson and James before he got injured.

[Pony ^]

almost all texas kids too

[ponyte]

#4 on the list is now one of the Cowboys othopeadic surgeons Seems some found work other than football after college.

Godine liked his pot too much.

Micheal Charles ended up a fullback and competed with Charles Drayton. Drayton ended up being the guy that did the most blocking out of the backfield for James and Dickerson.

Still, SMU pulled some great talent that year.

[ponyboy]

#4 on the list is now one of the Cowboys othopeadic surgeons Seems some found work other than football after college.

Godine liked his pot too much.

Micheal Charles ended up a fullback and competed with Charles Drayton. Drayton ended up being the guy that did the most blocking out of the backfield for James and Dickerson.

Still, SMU pulled some great talent that year.

I remember being fired up by the Dallas Times Herald story on the blue chips we signed that class. My UT uncle was in shock. His shock would deepen a few months later on the field in Austin.