Thanks for watching, we hope you enjoyed! Please like, share & subscribe to support the channel. Other ways to support the channel: Donate to the channel via PayPal (PayPal account not needed) - www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=BZRANMGGL9Q9Q Join our Discord, meet the community, submit requests, be included in channel and content polls - discord.gg/cAkQwUuPN8 Find great Football products on Amazon - Our Affiliate Links are - amzn.to/3zvNAaj (Football) & amzn.to/434hHTI
Yes, colleges are definitely scouting players in HS. HS ages are from 14 to 18. What you have to consider is that in some states like Texas, there are lots of tiny towns that center around agriculture and ranching. Going back decades, there’s literally nothing else to do but go to the local HS football games. It brings communities together, giving people common ground. Local businesses are going to help fund their teams etc. It’s the same story with basketball in the Midwest. There was nothing else to do for entertainment, so local sports become a huge part of rural life.
Also, in some states, on game days, the stadium becomes the largest or 2nd largest or 3rd largest city in the state. But you're right, especially in Texas, Friday nights have been a tradition for generations. Their fathers and grandfathers played for the same school. And maybe your father won a state championship and now you're trying to win a ring yourself. Texas high school football is nuts. The state champion teams are living legends.
Yes, high school players (usually 14-18 years old), especially the best ones, are recruited by colleges sometimes as early as middle school. The best high school players are rated by stars with 5 stars being the highest rating. 4-5 stars will almost always play at a high level college, and 3 stars often will too. Usually people will go to the local high school they are zoned for, but again, often the best players will be recruited by a private academy with an elite football program, or they will transfer to a different public school who has a very good program. Being recruited by a private school is legal, but being recruited by a public school isn’t (although it still happens)
In some small towns, especially in the south, the High School teams are a point of pride, and the stadiums are very big. It has changed a lot over the years, but in the old days Fridays were for High School, Saturday for college and Sundays for NFL. You go to the nearest high school to your house, usually.
My city has 36k people and our high school has full astroturf stadium. Elevators in the school. Waste of money considering our football team has never done well. It's just an excuse for city's to spend money off their budget before they lose it.
If you want to go to free public school, you do go to your local community school but people can pay to go to fancy private schools in any area. As you can imagine, they do usually attract high quality athletes. People who are well off enough will also move to the town that has the better sports teams just for that.
Texas has a lot of impressive high school facilities in the most random places, not just the stadiums but the schools themselves. Not just a wealthy suburb like Allen, but even driving through some random small town away from any metro, suddenly this massive gleaming new brick building appears, and then a huge stadium next to it - that’s your local high school. And a parking lot full of pickup trucks 🤣. The schools are funded primarily through local property taxes, though ticket sales might be big in a place like Allen.
You also have "boosters" who give to high school sports programs. They should check out some movies and tv shows like Johnny Be Good or Friday Night Lights to get a better understanding.
The town of Odessa and Permian High School are the basis of the great football film Friday Night Lights (based on 1988 Permian season as they make a run for the title). If you guys haven't seen it yet, def check it out! Gives you great insight into Texas football and the passion/sacrifice that goes into it.
@@DNReacts Fantastic film and the film score (music) always hits me in the feels. Also a TV show from 2006-2011 called Friday Nigh Lights that loosely goes along the same theme of the movie. I'd say it kinda had a cult following and was cancelled at least once and brought back due to fans. I loved it but it was more of a drama show about football rather than a football film with a little bit of drama.
Yeah man. High school football is massive in America as well. I played for a powerhouse program in North Carolina that has a massive (compared to other high schools) and historic stadium, and it was always packed. I vividly remember that in my junior year, we played our cross town rivals in front of almost 12 thousand people. That game, along with quite a few others (mostly playoff games) were actually televised with real announcers, scorecards on the screen, etc on the local tv channels. I miss those days
In 1963 (yes, 60 years ago), Alamo Stadium (18,000) held over 23,000 to watch Brackenridge High School (the previous year's state champions) play Robert E. Lee HS for the city championship in what is known as the "Texas HS Football Game of the Century" (Lee won 55 to 48). Besides radio announcing, the game was even televised. Texans have taken their high school football seriously for decades.
Originally, all HS events have been understood to be entertainment for the community in which they reside. These events can be anything from plays, concerts, and sporting events. A great form of cheap entertainment and alumni pride, these games have become a true community social gathering. Not everyone will make use of these opportunities due to the rise of professional entertainment of today but many still do. And that is reason so many people show up to these events. Today, it is mostly parents, family, and students who show up also there is a large percentage of community members and alumni who will show up.
In Tx you have districts that depending on where you live is the school you attend. There's ways to get around that district location schools and it's been used to get into a better football program.
Enjoyed the reaction! I'm in college now, but my high school stadium back home has a capacity of around 8,500 and our city's population is around the same. I love going back home to cheer on my old team and the games are always packed. Its really fun and amazing when the folk of your city come out to support high school athletics (even middle school). Our stadium definitely isn't on the same level as some of the ones shown in the video. Some of them definitely looked like college stadiums!
Something to consider about the Barrow, Alaska high school team, the town is located so remotely that they would have to fly to away games and visiting teams would have to fly in.
Hey guys great video as always. Yeah high school kids will announce at various times throughout the year where they play to go to college. For top players it usually December or the signing season of February and it gets plenty of press attention. It's like a mini NFL draft. Also, some high school kids, ages 14 to 18 will also go to schools that are known as high school powerhouse football programs. My team's (Michigan Wolverines) QB is from Illinois but he went at least one year to a powerhouse high school in Florida. In fact, some of the high school games are broadcast nationally and there is even an all star like high school game with players from around the country. Keep up the great work, can't wait to see more.
I played twice for the Austin Panthers on the field at El Paso High. We won both times BTW. It’s a great place to play, and what they don’t tell you in the video is that the stadium also has an amazing view looking south across El Paso and into the night lights of Juárez, Mexico.
There are teams that are really good that have almost every player being recruited by a division one college. For example IMG Academy, Mater Dei high school, Bishop Gorman high school, and St. John Bosco high school are some of the teams where every starter has a full ride to a division one college
I would imagine on teams like that even the guys not going to Divison I are at least going to Division II schools. But on average most high schools across the country its 4-10 players going to play college football.
Public high schools in Texas are not allowed to recruit players. There are some private high schools in other areas of the country that do recruit players. As for college recruitment, you can check rankings on sites like Rivals. Rivals currently has high school recruits ranked through the class of 2025 (current high school sophomores with 2 years of high school football remaining).
Funny how they show Canton-McKinley and Massillon High schools back-to-back. Those 2 high schools are arch rivals, and draw huge crowds to their games.
@@OdieSalmon Really?! I’ve only seen the show. Guess I’m adding that to my queue:) … I’m a bit skeptical though bc, you know, Tim Riggins lol. Taylor Kitsch … Zach Gilford, Jesse Plemons, Adrianne Palicki … they were all so perfect!
@@KB_-_ I worked at the production company who made both for a short while. The TV show was cool because the episodic format and fictional characters allowed for all sorts of dramatic storylines and wild tangents to unfold, and as you mentioned the casting was great. But the movie, which is adapted from the book of the same name and based on the true story of the 1988 Permian Panthers season in Odessa, Texas, holds a special place in my heart. Billy Bob Thornton’s locker room speech in that film is as good as they get in the sports movie genre.
@@KB_-_ Yes I had a stretch there where I was leaving work with odds bits of random West Dillon memorabilia semi-frequently. I had a buddy who was obsessed with the TV show and I think I gave most of it to him. Great fun, hope they react to either one.
I live in Alaska and that blue field by the ocean (Barrow, Alaska) is a town that is fly in and out only. There are no roads that connect it to anything else. It's also hundred of miles from any other kind of civilization. My daughter's school plays against that school as well, they are on the same division. Which we spanked them 40-0 in football this year. Houston High School is our daughter's school. We live in Wasilla, Alaska
I live in a _very_ small town in the middle of the country. One of the high schoolers here is the National Bareback Bronc riding champion in rodeo. In order for him to get proper training, his father and he moved to a larger school district while his mother and the other kids stayed here. And this is for a sport that has very little money involved. Yes, kids and parents move into certain High School districts in order for their kids to get to play for larger football schools. Those larger football schools are where the college scouts show up most often and where a kid who is really good at football can shine.
You need to watch the movie 'Friday Night Lights" It's a classic movie about how serious high school football is in Texas..You can just watch the last 45 minutes to get the best part of the movie..
Your supposed to have to live in the school district to play ball at the school. But even as low as high school alumni will help pay to move kids into their district
I’ll just add or pay for families to “host” kids from other areas. I had friends who lived with other families for their entire high school career for basketball.
The best colleges in the nation like Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, LSU, Notre Dame, etc can pluck highly rated recruits from all over the country. For example, the quarterbacks from this past year who will be taken in the top 5 of the NFL draft are CJ Stroud and Bryce Young who are both from California, but played thousands of miles away from home at Ohio State and Alabama respectively because they are known for elite QB development and are usually in the playoffs every year, which gets them more exposure for NFL scouts. Georgia is known for elite defensive play and will usually get the best defensive players in the nation. Ohio State is known for being the best developer of wide receivers and have a roster of about 5-6 5 star wide receivers when most teams don’t even have one because every year Ohio State has first round NFL receivers. In 2021 Ohio State had 2 receivers that went first round at #10 & #11 and had another one that transferred to Alabama bc the roster was so stacked and he went #12 in the 2021 draft.
9:57 The press boxes are not just for fans especially in highschool. You have the play by play announcers, press, team statisticians and coaches (off/def coordinatords or assistant) using the birds eye view to call plays or communicate info down to coaches on the field. Teams have 10 main position coaches ( which includes the 1 head, 3 coordinators & assistant coaches) and a few managers (helpers) .
High school football in places like Texas and Alabama, and Florida are no joke... they have thousands of fans at each game... it's a huge deal in the south... especially Texas tho!!!
Highschool FB in every State has levels depending on the enrollment size of school. 1A to 6A Every State crowns a "State champion" at each level. So you have a 1A, 2A 3A State champ and so on . This is for fare student opportunity. Schools in US range from only 700 students up 5k students. The more students the more great athletes .
But no matter the highschool if you are a Division 1 talent the coaches will find you . There are National scouting web sites that grade and show highlights of every kid for coaches and fans .
College sports programs have scouts that keep an eye out for talented high school athletes. College scouts started watching a friend of mine while she was in middle school in our very small Texas town (population 1000+-). By the time she graduated high school, she had offers from LOTS of colleges from all over the US. She went on to play in the Olympics, WNBA (women's pro basketball).
You asked whether high schools recruit students to play football, or whether the students just go to the high school in the area where they live. For public (government) high schools, it is almost always the latter case. The school districts draw geographic boundaries, and students who live within each boundary are told which school they will attend. Parents sometimes buy houses in a particular location, just so their children can go to a "good" school. At the beginning of the video, they talked about Allen High School in Texas. It is the only and only high school in Allen, Texas, a city of 100,000 people, and so it has a huge student body -- over 5,300 high schoolers. So in theory, they have a large pool of potential football players to draw from. The average Texas high school has only 609 students, so Allen is almost nine times as big.
Yes, highschool kids are scouted and given scholarships. For example, I went to school with a kid named nick since elementary school. Nick was always huge. I’m 6’2 and he’s Atleast 6 inches taller than me. He had to be nearly 6 ft tall in 5th grade. By the time we were 14 he had college offers to play football, and he never played football a day in his life. He simply was such a large human schools were willing to pay for his schooling just to teach him to play football for them.
I went to school with a guy that was a phenomenal long snapper. He was hounded all the time to play somewhere else. My graduating class had 57 students. He did go to another highschool for his junior year. Got a State championship ring and came back home for his senior year. We went 3 and 7! 😂
Great start to the new channel fellas. I had an open Sunday, so I hopped on TH-cam and there you two were. I ended up binge watching all the reaction vids and I must say, I love the style, energy & the approach you both bring. This is my first time, even thinking about enjoying the NFL, since my home team (Philadelphia Eagles) lost in the Superbowl. So, I'd like to thank you guys for bringing me out of NFL misery. Best of luck. I can't wait for the next video. Respect from your best friends across the Atlantic. 🤜🏻💥🤛🏻 🦅 Fly Eagles Fly 🦅
@DNReacts you're welcome.. much deserved 👏🏻 I have a few suggestions for vids, even though you guys probably have a long list already... The fastest players ever, the best statistical players ever, the best franchises or maybe one that explains every team, and one explaining how much the NFL has evolved since the beginning..
The Dallas suburb of Allen has only one public high school with about 7,000 students. That's why they plow everything into a single stadium. Barrow High School began a football program in 2006 at the request of students in a place that couldn't grow a grass field -- it's north of the Arctic Circle. A Florida woman heard the story and helped finance and install a field that could remain durable on the Arctic permafrost. And that really is the Arctic Ocean on the side where the passing road is.
The vast vast majority of American youth enroll in a high school based on geography and the town they reside in including athletes. However, there are definitely a select few athletes who are already regarded as potential college or professional football stars who will enroll in more of a "football" high school. These schools have much more resources and prestige and allow the blue chip athlete to showcase his abilities to the utmost. These schools often will play for their State championship for instance so they play in high profile games with lots of eyeballs and interest.
They usually go to their local school but there is an academy in Florida called IMG Academy which recruits the best athletes throughout the US. These kind of academies are pretty rare though
FYI, we generally don't have School Leavers, like in the UK, so unless you're the odd guy/girl who graduates early (rare) or gets expelled, High School is ages 14-18.
Ratliff Stadium was one of my favorite stadiums to play in, it holds so much history when it comes to West Texas football🙌 so glad I got to experience it
Seeing these stadiums is pretty insane since my stadium was pretty much a small area on the edge of town with small seating on the north and south sides. I don't think I ever actually watched a game in the stands though. I tended to wander the grass and old gravel track that surrounded the field. Couldn't tell you the capacity.
You got a lot of responses about the HS kids being recruited for colleges but at one point you asked about people deciding where to go to HS. Some areas allow you to go wherever you want either in a specific school district (various high schools) or even from outside the school district. No place will provide transport to school for you from outside their school district (the area near each school) but these places will let you attend if you can get yourself there. Meanwhile most of the country, when people decide to go to a school it's just near where they live and if they are good at football and want to play for a powerhouse school their parents have to move into the school's area.
10:15 - that's the football field from the movie Friday Night Lights Also, theres a school in Florida called the IMG Academy that does allow parents to enroll their kids for some of the best football coaching before going to college
I played at Alamo Stadium in high school. 🙂 The city of San Antonio has other high school stadiums that are nice as well. And they fill up quick with the crowds every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday during the season. Good times.
Like others have said, HS football powerhouses are often private preparatory schools or religious (often Catholic) and tend to recruit semi-locally. “Basketball schools” that are perennial juggernauts are even more oft private nowadays and even recruit _internationally_ from Europe, Asia and Africa with the kids either boarders at the prep academy or living with local families who sponsor them. 👍
Manning Bowl in Lynn Massachuesetts had been the home field for Lynn's two high schools, Lynn English and Lynn Classical. It was built in the 1930s and had a capacity of 21,000. It was torn down in the 1990s.
Texas football is basically a religion. We start playing around 9 years old and don't stop until we're 18. Friday Night Lights is a great Texas high school football movie (Permiam High School was mentioned)
Subscribed guys!!! Great reactions and yes high school football players are recruited by colleges from their freshman year on up. Some athletes are so talented that they may be recruited before they enter high school!!! Keep up the great work! Cheers from Orlando, Florida!!!
Public high school players live in the area of the school. But there are private high schools (you have to pay tuition) that are football powerhouses and parents will send their kid there to get the extra exposure to college scouts. And it's not unheard of for a family to move across the country so their kids can go to a premier school for football (and other sports)
Hey, I played in two of those stadiums in Ohio and my son played in at least one. Both were big rivals of ours but now two of my granddaughters go there and two are alumni. Back in the day (before my time) I believe Canton was the first high school stadium in the country to have lighting and night games. Our school was the second. Also one of the first to have artficial turf and video screens. Our stadium held 10,000 and was usually packed Friday nights.
In case you didn't notice, the Union City (NJ) High School field is on TOP of the high school (and parking garage). That is what makes that field unique. Not many athletic fields are on the 3rd floor of a building.
To answer your question about how a student chooses which high school to go to: normally you are assigned to the schools in the school district you live in. However, anyone is allowed to apply and go to any school they wish. This not only applies to athletes who want to go to schools known for their championship history and reputation for college recruiting, but also to smart students who feel other schools have better academic standards.
I don't believe that's accurate. A student can go to any private high school they'd like, if they get in for academics and/or sports... but if you go to a public high school (which most people do), you go to the school you're assigned to based on where you live. Most athletes recruited by colleges just go to their local public high school.
Well actually there is no national standard on this issue, it’s going to be determined by state and local law. So there may be some variation across the states. When I was in high school a friend’s family moved to the next town over, but he wanted to remain in our school and not transfer. He actually needed approval from our school board to remain in our school. The Board was apparently surprised when he and I attended the meeting to observe the vote 🤣
@@Big_Tex Of course there are exceptions to the rule, as there are with just about everything. But broadly speaking, you attend the public school that you're zoned to based on where you live. And it's pretty standard in every state. There is no such thing as "school choice" unless you live in Arizona, where they just recently passed school choice legislation.
There are powerhouse schools for high school sports, including football. Some are public schools, some are private schools. Public schools are supposed to be populated based on the student's address, but variances and other special considerations (some questionable) are given. High schools have 3 levels of competition: Frosh, JV and Varsity. Most Varsity players are 16-18, though you may see a few younger standout players on the team.
Dorman is right down the road from me lol. You should see Byrne's football stadium which is also near Dorman. It has a giant HD TV screen that is placed like the one at the Dallas Cowboys stadium. I was amazed when I saw it
Recruiters and scouts are always on the hunt, even with middle schoolers (ages 11-14). I have a relative football player, who had scouts on his tail as far back as middle school, as a QB.
You must go to the high school that serves the area where you live. So, if you want your child to go to a particular high school you must buy your house in that district. However, it is difficult to know whether your child will be a star player when he is 12 or 13 years old. In Texas, I would suspect that this kind of stuff goes on a lot more than in the rest of the country, but it isn't the norm. Potential college players can in some cases, be recruited at a very young age, but there are very strict rules for doing that and some colleges have gotten into big trouble for violations.
Just for a little context. Big High Schools have big programs of all types. We had a Planetarium for instance. A school across town has a Natatorium. I didn't play sports in high school... but our Marching Band had over 250 members in 1990. The State Championship was held in the Hoosier Dome, that's been torn down now, in front of 15 to 20 thousand people. The press boxes were for judges etc. I played guitar in the Jazz Band, and at contests if you did well during the day you played at night, which we always did. We played in front of well over 5 thousand in Auditoriums at Ball State and Western Michigan, and even an outdoor Amphitheater at Purdue. I've sold a lot of chocolate. Lol
You most definitely have the press at high school football games, because highlights are on the local new channels. Lots of these players have a large following from high school all the way to the pros.
Some of these towns that's the only sports they have or only gatherings for the town so the whole town comes out to watch. Massillon (the one with the tiger on the outside of the stadium) had a documentary on streaming services talking about their football history and fandom.
Certain high schools are known for producing great players who are recruited to play for elite college teams. If the schools are private (often, not always affiliated with a religious denomination, and receive no government funding), players may be actively recruited from a wide geographic area. If the private school accepts boarders (less common than in Britain, but they do exist here - I boarded, myself), students may literally come from anywhere. Other (most) high schools are funded by local and state taxes ("public schools", in American vernacular - equivalent to a British state school). If a public school has an exceptional football program, a great player may play there if he can demonstrate residence within the school's attendance boundaries. Sometimes, he may live with an aunt/uncle/grandparent/older sibling who lives near the school. Sometimes, his parents literally move house in order to be close to the school. These are exceptional cases. The overwhelming majority of high school football players simply attend the nearest local school to their parents' home. For further perspective, most high school football players are not good enough to merit athletic scholarships at the college level - even at lower division schools, let alone elite college teams. There are roughly 10,500 scholarship football players at the highest college level, and approximately 1,000,000 boys play football in high school. Even counting scholarship players at lower levels, maybe 2% of high school players are good enough to have football pay their way through university. Of those 10500 scholarship players, fewer than 200 are drafted by NFL teams. Even at that point, being drafted is not a guarantee of a place on the team. The road to the NFL is very crowded and very, very narrow.
High school football is big here in Ohio as well. As locals, if someone asks you where you went to school, everyone as second nature says their high school name no matter what college they went to and degrees they may have.
Growing up in San Antonio, it is impossible to communicate how insanely important High School Football is to the community. The small towns are crazy, of course, but even in the big cities, where people have lots of entertainment choices, HS Football rules. I went to Holmes H.S., which played at Northside Stadium. I'm kinda surprised it didn't make this list, as its enormous compared to other school fields I've seen.
Consider football is played in Alaska ( can get cold later) but also Arizona the desert ( hot at the start of the season). So you could end up playing in the desert heat and arctic cold in the same season depending on your location.
High School Varsity football is played almost entirely by 17 and 18 year old boys. Americans do not drop out at 16 as no one will emply anyone without a High School diploma or GED.The NBA, NHL, MLB will not draft anyone until after their 12 th grade(high School senior, usually 18 year old) year. And they will not touch anyone who can't get a high school diploma or GED. The NFL will not draft anyone until they have a full year after thrir last high school year, and tend to prefer college seniors(age 22 years old). MLS also has a minimum age of 22, this is so NCAA is not adversely affected by MLS.
Public (tax-funded) schools and private (tuition-based) schools have different rules about who they can have on their teams. The system favors the private schools. By contrast, private universities on average have disadvantages recruiting compared to public (partially tax-funded) universities because their academic standards are higher.
High schoolers are often recruited by schools, particularly private schools, and offered scholarships to play. Thus making a lot of public schools heavily desired where people try to move to the towns to play or are offered free private schooling to play as well.
In most states, students at the public schools are based on where you live, with a few exceptions. Special programs, courses, advanced studies, etc. Private schools don't have that limitation.
High school students are recruited and the good players have several offers from universities around the country. A student signs a Letter of Intent which delineates which college he has chosen based upon the offers he has received. The five star recruits will get offers from many of the top universities.
Lifelong loyalty to one's high school, university, etc. is a thing. Rich alums donate a lot of money. The same happens with the country itself: rich people donating art, etc. A young country like the US shouldn't be loaded with Vermeer, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Titian; but it is.
You guys should consider reacting to big high school football games (or basketball). The goal of each high school sport is to win the state championship. So there are some intense regular season and playoff games. ...In most towns in America, the local tv news channels have a special segment to show highlights of many of the local high school football games on Friday nights.
A lot of these schools are public schools. Which are as you said just the kids that live locally around the school in a predetermined mapped out area. However there are private schools and those ones will actually go to public schools specifically to watch some of the high school players and recruit them into the private school giving them scholarships into the private school. So yes high schoolers can get recruited although it is more of a rare scenario.
You keep saying 15 and 16 year old's, but most of the players who start on the varsity team are 17 and 18. And these stadiums are the exceptions, although they are more common in the wealthier suburbs near the larger cities in Texas,
1,000%. There are 14-year-old high school freshman that are already being approached by colleges. Many would say that colleges keep their eyes out for young players that are incredible standouts even on the middle school level. There's been some 12-year-olds that are 6'3, 220lb and they definitely get on the radar
You two ask a lot of great questions. Yes you're correct, most schools and high schools are locality driven. Live near it, go to it! High schools (14-18 years olds) are generally categorized by population denoted by 1A-6A, though some high schools are ridiculous in size and are larger than some small colleges. The Round Valley H.S. for example is only a 3A school and relatively small compared to bigger metropolitan high schools. There are also private high schools mostly driven by religion. These usually have the better facilities because they are allowed larger alumi and parent donations, similar to colleges. Depending where you live and how each state runs their school boundary lines, high schools do recruit students to be apart of their "winning" team like colleges. As you're well aware, football on either side of the water is big time sport. Our egg-shape just has more money at all levels and in the bigger states like California, Florida and Texas football is big time at all levels even pee-wee football. These young kids are scouted from young teen ages. While you're at it, same for basketball in the more urban cities. Not all colleges scout the smaller towns unless they are known for the abilities on the field (winning). However, a lot of time based solely on the size of the USA, a lot of these small towns-ish (Odessa, TX and Edgar, AZ) these really are only "game" in town so the the bigger stadiums are supported by the local residents not just students and their parents. In every town across our (USA) landscape there is a story about the "local town football hero" that has never done anything but be good at a sport. Nothing more no pro contract, just a local legend.
In places like Ohio, Texas, etc., Friday night football is the main source of entertainment. Heck, I attended a small university in Ohio, which at the time had an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The local high school would play at our stadium on Friday nights and draw 15,000 spectators. Then the university would play on Saturday afternoons and draw 10,000-12,000 fans.
It just several different factors and circumstances.For example here in Louisiana usually the kids go to the high school closest to their neighborhood. However some students athletes may be recruited to attend and play sports private schools,charters school,magnet programs or laboratory schools for the local colleges / universities. For example, the city where I live has two lab schools, university lab for LSU and Southern lab for Southern University.
3:13 lots fof high schools with big stadiums that cost millions do have college teams scouting, but the Round Valley Dome and the Elks haven't had very many college recruits. I can only remember one from there. The dome was funded because of some government funding programs and a couple lawsuits
My hs team had a pre game practice at the hof stadium after checking out the NFL HOF then went to play a team called new Philadelphia Really awesome experience
High-schools have orgizations called boosters that contribute financially to the team plus you'll see ads from local businesses and hear the announcers thank local businesses during time outs. Thanks for doing my suggestion. I suggested it for a good laugh when y'all saw the seating capacities after y'all mentioned who attends school soccer matches and y'all didn't let me down.
WOW! I’m shocked, 2 high schools from the west side of Cincinnati made the list - Taylor and Elder. My dad went to Elder a long time ago in the late 40’s. Elder was a big rival of my high school, Oak Hills. The Elder stadium is call The Pit. I was there once for an Oak Hills/Elder game. I don’t remember much other than a group of girls walking around in their Beat Elder jerseys.
Seniors in HS are 18, US schools are organized a bit different than UK, its still 13 years though, K-5 are primary or elementary school, 6-8 are middle schools or Junior HS, than 9-12 are HS, translates to year 10 & 11 plus two years of college in the UK. so year names are off by 1 year in the US when compared to UK because of calling year 1 kindergarten.
I might be late to this but, to address your question you asked in the 7th minute, here in Texas the governing body for public high school sports is the UIL. Here in Texas, school football starts in 7th grade(typically 12-13 years old), to 12th grade(17 or 18 years old). High school here in the US is 4 years, with freshman( 9th grade), Sophomore(10th), Junior(11th) and Senior(12th) years. The highest level of sports in American high school is the varsity team. The varsity usually consists of Seniors and Juniors but can include sophomores and even Freshmen depending on their skills. Some states do not allow freshmen to play varsity. The varsity team is your Friday Night Lights team. Every student is zoned for a specific public high school according to their home address. This is their home school. Students can transfer to other schools but there are guidelines and rules. One of the rules is that a player who transfers to another school, where they are not zoned within their district, must sit out a year of varsity sports before they can play. There are strict rules against transferring to another school just to play sports and the UIL has levied punishments on players and schools that violate those rules. Of course, it is not perfect and there have been many schools who have been accused of cheating the system and recruiting players. Private schools in Texas are governed by a different organization called TAPS. Public school football is king here in Texas whereas in other states, like California, private school football is more dominant. Private schools are not held to the same zoning restrictions as public schools. I hope this answered your question.
I'm not sure if it's been mentioned here but one major factor in what schools are capable of related to the fact that public schools are funded with money directly related to the property taxes in the their area. An affluent area will have schools that have facilities that might be shocking compared to inner city areas AND are more likely to have alums that can afford to donate to the school directly if something like a college level stadium was needed. That school in Alaska is pulling in next to no funds from property taxes so school funding is...an issue...but that school in Canton, OH has a lot of benefits that come from tourism dollars for the community, that affect property values, that benefit the school directly. Notes that the Stadium is named for Paul Brown. Paul Brown was the founder of the Cleveland Browns AND Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL and went to that High School. He was also at some point hired as coach of that football team. You'd better believe they'd end up with a near pro style stadium.
Thanks for watching, we hope you enjoyed! Please like, share & subscribe to support the channel.
Other ways to support the channel:
Donate to the channel via PayPal (PayPal account not needed) - www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=BZRANMGGL9Q9Q
Join our Discord, meet the community, submit requests, be included in channel and content polls - discord.gg/cAkQwUuPN8
Find great Football products on Amazon - Our Affiliate Links are - amzn.to/3zvNAaj (Football) & amzn.to/434hHTI
Yes, colleges are definitely scouting players in HS. HS ages are from 14 to 18. What you have to consider is that in some states like Texas, there are lots of tiny towns that center around agriculture and ranching. Going back decades, there’s literally nothing else to do but go to the local HS football games. It brings communities together, giving people common ground. Local businesses are going to help fund their teams etc. It’s the same story with basketball in the Midwest. There was nothing else to do for entertainment, so local sports become a huge part of rural life.
Reminds me of Friday Night Lights the show... love that show
@@alexis-marie_9920 Yes, exactly. That was a great show! Also the basketball movie, “Hoosiers”.
Also, in some states, on game days, the stadium becomes the largest or 2nd largest or 3rd largest city in the state. But you're right, especially in Texas, Friday nights have been a tradition for generations. Their fathers and grandfathers played for the same school. And maybe your father won a state championship and now you're trying to win a ring yourself. Texas high school football is nuts. The state champion teams are living legends.
@@alexis-marie_9920 Friday Night Lights (the book) was about Odessa Permian which is featured in this video.
@@alexis-marie_9920 yeah it is! Lol, now you just made me start rewatching it
Yes, high school players (usually 14-18 years old), especially the best ones, are recruited by colleges sometimes as early as middle school. The best high school players are rated by stars with 5 stars being the highest rating. 4-5 stars will almost always play at a high level college, and 3 stars often will too.
Usually people will go to the local high school they are zoned for, but again, often the best players will be recruited by a private academy with an elite football program, or they will transfer to a different public school who has a very good program. Being recruited by a private school is legal, but being recruited by a public school isn’t (although it still happens)
Thank you for the context, appreciate the comment!
@@DNReacts no problem, love the videos guys!
In Florida, even public school students can go to any public school they want. No more "zoning" rules. They made the change a few years ago.
@@areguapiri that’s interesting. I live in Tennessee, and there are some counties that are like that but it isn’t a statewide thing
@@areguapiri Florida also produces the second most NFL players per capita
In some small towns, especially in the south, the High School teams are a point of pride, and the stadiums are very big. It has changed a lot over the years, but in the old days Fridays were for High School, Saturday for college and Sundays for NFL. You go to the nearest high school to your house, usually.
My city has 36k people and our high school has full astroturf stadium. Elevators in the school. Waste of money considering our football team has never done well. It's just an excuse for city's to spend money off their budget before they lose it.
@@BOOGiNSif you don’t spend your budget then the next time the budget is established they’ll give you less. It’s smart to spend your budget.
If you want to go to free public school, you do go to your local community school but people can pay to go to fancy private schools in any area. As you can imagine, they do usually attract high quality athletes. People who are well off enough will also move to the town that has the better sports teams just for that.
Texas has a lot of impressive high school facilities in the most random places, not just the stadiums but the schools themselves. Not just a wealthy suburb like Allen, but even driving through some random small town away from any metro, suddenly this massive gleaming new brick building appears, and then a huge stadium next to it - that’s your local high school. And a parking lot full of pickup trucks 🤣. The schools are funded primarily through local property taxes, though ticket sales might be big in a place like Allen.
Facts.
You also have "boosters" who give to high school sports programs. They should check out some movies and tv shows like Johnny Be Good or Friday Night Lights to get a better understanding.
Local businesses fund the teams also. They get to advertise at the stadium. Big money with HS football.
Even my high school had a press box. It's quite common. Most high schools do and their games are usually broadcast on the radio.
The town of Odessa and Permian High School are the basis of the great football film Friday Night Lights (based on 1988 Permian season as they make a run for the title). If you guys haven't seen it yet, def check it out! Gives you great insight into Texas football and the passion/sacrifice that goes into it.
Thanks Paul. We’ve had a few suggestions for this. I’ve added it to the list!
@@DNReacts Fantastic film and the film score (music) always hits me in the feels. Also a TV show from 2006-2011 called Friday Nigh Lights that loosely goes along the same theme of the movie. I'd say it kinda had a cult following and was cancelled at least once and brought back due to fans. I loved it but it was more of a drama show about football rather than a football film with a little bit of drama.
I played there!
They also made a TV show based on Friday Night Lights. Its a bit more fictionalized than the movie but you get the same gist of what goes on in Texas.
@@texfarmer567 Fancy meeting you here! It's a small TH-cam after all!
Yeah man. High school football is massive in America as well. I played for a powerhouse program in North Carolina that has a massive (compared to other high schools) and historic stadium, and it was always packed. I vividly remember that in my junior year, we played our cross town rivals in front of almost 12 thousand people. That game, along with quite a few others (mostly playoff games) were actually televised with real announcers, scorecards on the screen, etc on the local tv channels. I miss those days
In 1963 (yes, 60 years ago), Alamo Stadium (18,000) held over 23,000 to watch Brackenridge High School (the previous year's state champions) play Robert E. Lee HS for the city championship in what is known as the "Texas HS Football Game of the Century" (Lee won 55 to 48). Besides radio announcing, the game was even televised. Texans have taken their high school football seriously for decades.
Originally, all HS events have been understood to be entertainment for the community in which they reside. These events can be anything from plays, concerts, and sporting events. A great form of cheap entertainment and alumni pride, these games have become a true community social gathering. Not everyone will make use of these opportunities due to the rise of professional entertainment of today but many still do. And that is reason so many people show up to these events. Today, it is mostly parents, family, and students who show up also there is a large percentage of community members and alumni who will show up.
In Tx you have districts that depending on where you live is the school you attend. There's ways to get around that district location schools and it's been used to get into a better football program.
Enjoyed the reaction! I'm in college now, but my high school stadium back home has a capacity of around 8,500 and our city's population is around the same. I love going back home to cheer on my old team and the games are always packed. Its really fun and amazing when the folk of your city come out to support high school athletics (even middle school). Our stadium definitely isn't on the same level as some of the ones shown in the video. Some of them definitely looked like college stadiums!
Thank you! Appreciate it.
Something to consider about the Barrow, Alaska high school team, the town is located so remotely that they would have to fly to away games and visiting teams would have to fly in.
Hey guys great video as always. Yeah high school kids will announce at various times throughout the year where they play to go to college. For top players it usually December or the signing season of February and it gets plenty of press attention. It's like a mini NFL draft. Also, some high school kids, ages 14 to 18 will also go to schools that are known as high school powerhouse football programs. My team's (Michigan Wolverines) QB is from Illinois but he went at least one year to a powerhouse high school in Florida. In fact, some of the high school games are broadcast nationally and there is even an all star like high school game with players from around the country. Keep up the great work, can't wait to see more.
Thank you Bryan, really appreciate the support! That’s crazy regarding broadcasting for high school games. Puts the size of it into perspective.
Michigan beats a lot of other schools in academics and Nobel prizes and stuff like that.
Y’all growing so fast. Not surprised. Great channel keep it up dudes
Thanks Chad! Appreciate it.
I played twice for the Austin Panthers on the field at El Paso High. We won both times BTW. It’s a great place to play, and what they don’t tell you in the video is that the stadium also has an amazing view looking south across El Paso and into the night lights of Juárez, Mexico.
There are teams that are really good that have almost every player being recruited by a division one college. For example IMG Academy, Mater Dei high school, Bishop Gorman high school, and St. John Bosco high school are some of the teams where every starter has a full ride to a division one college
I would imagine on teams like that even the guys not going to Divison I are at least going to Division II schools. But on average most high schools across the country its 4-10 players going to play college football.
I don't know if you noticed the ages of some of those stadiums, but some of them are older than the NFL. NFL played it's first season in 1920.
Public high schools in Texas are not allowed to recruit players. There are some private high schools in other areas of the country that do recruit players. As for college recruitment, you can check rankings on sites like Rivals. Rivals currently has high school recruits ranked through the class of 2025 (current high school sophomores with 2 years of high school football remaining).
Funny how they show Canton-McKinley and Massillon High schools back-to-back. Those 2 high schools are arch rivals, and draw huge crowds to their games.
The narrator saying "costed" killed me lol. I grew up in Massachussets. We didn't have HS Football THAT Big, but we did have a blast.
I caught that 😂
I hope they watch Friday Night Lights … I would love to see them react to the pilot 😂
FNL movie > FNL show
@@OdieSalmon Really?! I’ve only seen the show. Guess I’m adding that to my queue:) … I’m a bit skeptical though bc, you know, Tim Riggins lol. Taylor Kitsch … Zach Gilford, Jesse Plemons, Adrianne Palicki … they were all so perfect!
@@KB_-_ I worked at the production company who made both for a short while. The TV show was cool because the episodic format and fictional characters allowed for all sorts of dramatic storylines and wild tangents to unfold, and as you mentioned the casting was great. But the movie, which is adapted from the book of the same name and based on the true story of the 1988 Permian Panthers season in Odessa, Texas, holds a special place in my heart. Billy Bob Thornton’s locker room speech in that film is as good as they get in the sports movie genre.
@@OdieSalmon that’s amazing… what an opportunity to work so close to such creative people. Totally jealous! :)
@@KB_-_ Yes I had a stretch there where I was leaving work with odds bits of random West Dillon memorabilia semi-frequently. I had a buddy who was obsessed with the TV show and I think I gave most of it to him. Great fun, hope they react to either one.
I live in Alaska and that blue field by the ocean (Barrow, Alaska) is a town that is fly in and out only. There are no roads that connect it to anything else. It's also hundred of miles from any other kind of civilization.
My daughter's school plays against that school as well, they are on the same division.
Which we spanked them 40-0 in football this year.
Houston High School is our daughter's school. We live in Wasilla, Alaska
I live in a _very_ small town in the middle of the country. One of the high schoolers here is the National Bareback Bronc riding champion in rodeo. In order for him to get proper training, his father and he moved to a larger school district while his mother and the other kids stayed here. And this is for a sport that has very little money involved. Yes, kids and parents move into certain High School districts in order for their kids to get to play for larger football schools. Those larger football schools are where the college scouts show up most often and where a kid who is really good at football can shine.
I thought that may be the case! Thank you!
You need to watch the movie 'Friday Night Lights"
It's a classic movie about how serious high school football is in Texas..You can just watch the last 45 minutes to get the best part of the movie..
Thanks Michael!
@@DNReacts It's based on a true story...You will enjoy it..be sure you don't confuse the movie with the T.V. series
Great movie must watch.
Your supposed to have to live in the school district to play ball at the school. But even as low as high school alumni will help pay to move kids into their district
I’ll just add or pay for families to “host” kids from other areas. I had friends who lived with other families for their entire high school career for basketball.
The best colleges in the nation like Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, LSU, Notre Dame, etc can pluck highly rated recruits from all over the country. For example, the quarterbacks from this past year who will be taken in the top 5 of the NFL draft are CJ Stroud and Bryce Young who are both from California, but played thousands of miles away from home at Ohio State and Alabama respectively because they are known for elite QB development and are usually in the playoffs every year, which gets them more exposure for NFL scouts. Georgia is known for elite defensive play and will usually get the best defensive players in the nation. Ohio State is known for being the best developer of wide receivers and have a roster of about 5-6 5 star wide receivers when most teams don’t even have one because every year Ohio State has first round NFL receivers. In 2021 Ohio State had 2 receivers that went first round at #10 & #11 and had another one that transferred to Alabama bc the roster was so stacked and he went #12 in the 2021 draft.
Now, maybe you understand the term Friday night lights ( the only thing you have to do on Friday night is the high school football game )
9:57 The press boxes are not just for fans especially in highschool.
You have the play by play announcers, press, team statisticians and coaches (off/def coordinatords or assistant) using the birds eye view to call plays or communicate info down to coaches on the field.
Teams have 10 main position coaches ( which includes the 1 head, 3 coordinators & assistant coaches) and a few managers (helpers) .
High school football in places like Texas and Alabama, and Florida are no joke... they have thousands of fans at each game... it's a huge deal in the south... especially Texas tho!!!
Highschool FB in every State has levels depending on the enrollment size of school. 1A to 6A
Every State crowns a "State champion" at each level. So you have a 1A, 2A 3A State champ and so on .
This is for fare student opportunity. Schools in US range from only 700 students up 5k students. The more students the more great athletes .
Thanks for the info Robert!
But no matter the highschool if you are a Division 1 talent the coaches will find you .
There are National scouting web sites that grade and show highlights of every kid for coaches and fans .
College sports programs have scouts that keep an eye out for talented high school athletes. College scouts started watching a friend of mine while she was in middle school in our very small Texas town (population 1000+-). By the time she graduated high school, she had offers from LOTS of colleges from all over the US. She went on to play in the Olympics, WNBA (women's pro basketball).
You asked whether high schools recruit students to play football, or whether the students just go to the high school in the area where they live. For public (government) high schools, it is almost always the latter case. The school districts draw geographic boundaries, and students who live within each boundary are told which school they will attend. Parents sometimes buy houses in a particular location, just so their children can go to a "good" school. At the beginning of the video, they talked about Allen High School in Texas. It is the only and only high school in Allen, Texas, a city of 100,000 people, and so it has a huge student body -- over 5,300 high schoolers. So in theory, they have a large pool of potential football players to draw from. The average Texas high school has only 609 students, so Allen is almost nine times as big.
Yes, highschool kids are scouted and given scholarships. For example, I went to school with a kid named nick since elementary school. Nick was always huge. I’m 6’2 and he’s Atleast 6 inches taller than me. He had to be nearly 6 ft tall in 5th grade. By the time we were 14 he had college offers to play football, and he never played football a day in his life. He simply was such a large human schools were willing to pay for his schooling just to teach him to play football for them.
I went to school with a guy that was a phenomenal long snapper. He was hounded all the time to play somewhere else. My graduating class had 57 students. He did go to another highschool for his junior year. Got a State championship ring and came back home for his senior year. We went 3 and 7! 😂
Great start to the new channel fellas. I had an open Sunday, so I hopped on TH-cam and there you two were. I ended up binge watching all the reaction vids and I must say, I love the style, energy & the approach you both bring. This is my first time, even thinking about enjoying the NFL, since my home team (Philadelphia Eagles) lost in the Superbowl. So, I'd like to thank you guys for bringing me out of NFL misery. Best of luck. I can't wait for the next video. Respect from your best friends across the Atlantic. 🤜🏻💥🤛🏻 🦅 Fly Eagles Fly 🦅
Thank you so much! Glad you’re enjoying the content. We are having a lot of fun with it! Really appreciate the support 🤝🏻
@DNReacts you're welcome.. much deserved 👏🏻 I have a few suggestions for vids, even though you guys probably have a long list already... The fastest players ever, the best statistical players ever, the best franchises or maybe one that explains every team, and one explaining how much the NFL has evolved since the beginning..
Yes, kids go to specific high schools for football. Many of those stadiums were in Texas.
The Dallas suburb of Allen has only one public high school with about 7,000 students. That's why they plow everything into a single stadium.
Barrow High School began a football program in 2006 at the request of students in a place that couldn't grow a grass field -- it's north of the Arctic Circle. A Florida woman heard the story and helped finance and install a field that could remain durable on the Arctic permafrost. And that really is the Arctic Ocean on the side where the passing road is.
The vast vast majority of American youth enroll in a high school based on geography and the town they reside in including athletes. However, there are definitely a select few athletes who are already regarded as potential college or professional football stars who will enroll in more of a "football" high school. These schools have much more resources and prestige and allow the blue chip athlete to showcase his abilities to the utmost. These schools often will play for their State championship for instance so they play in high profile games with lots of eyeballs and interest.
They usually go to their local school but there is an academy in Florida called IMG Academy which recruits the best athletes throughout the US. These kind of academies are pretty rare though
FYI, we generally don't have School Leavers, like in the UK, so unless you're the odd guy/girl who graduates early (rare) or gets expelled, High School is ages 14-18.
Ratliff Stadium was one of my favorite stadiums to play in, it holds so much history when it comes to West Texas football🙌 so glad I got to experience it
There’s three requirements for a Texas Town:
1. Steakhouse
2. Dairy Queen
3. A High School Football stadium that can hold at least 10,000 people.
Pretty much.
Seeing these stadiums is pretty insane since my stadium was pretty much a small area on the edge of town with small seating on the north and south sides. I don't think I ever actually watched a game in the stands though. I tended to wander the grass and old gravel track that surrounded the field. Couldn't tell you the capacity.
Yeah these are crazy!
You got a lot of responses about the HS kids being recruited for colleges but at one point you asked about people deciding where to go to HS.
Some areas allow you to go wherever you want either in a specific school district (various high schools) or even from outside the school district. No place will provide transport to school for you from outside their school district (the area near each school) but these places will let you attend if you can get yourself there.
Meanwhile most of the country, when people decide to go to a school it's just near where they live and if they are good at football and want to play for a powerhouse school their parents have to move into the school's area.
Thank you for the context Brett!
10:15 - that's the football field from the movie Friday Night Lights
Also, theres a school in Florida called the IMG Academy that does allow parents to enroll their kids for some of the best football coaching before going to college
To see the extent of early high school sports recruiting check out IMG academy high school
I played at Alamo Stadium in high school. 🙂 The city of San Antonio has other high school stadiums that are nice as well. And they fill up quick with the crowds every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday during the season. Good times.
Like others have said, HS football powerhouses are often private preparatory schools or religious (often Catholic) and tend to recruit semi-locally.
“Basketball schools” that are perennial juggernauts are even more oft private nowadays and even recruit _internationally_ from Europe, Asia and Africa with the kids either boarders at the prep academy or living with local families who sponsor them. 👍
Opening up a can of worms regarding high school recruiting.
Manning Bowl in Lynn Massachuesetts had been the home field for Lynn's two high schools, Lynn English and Lynn Classical. It was built in the 1930s and had a capacity of 21,000. It was torn down in the 1990s.
Texas football is basically a religion. We start playing around 9 years old and don't stop until we're 18. Friday Night Lights is a great Texas high school football movie (Permiam High School was mentioned)
Yep.
Thanks for this, we’ve had a few mentions of Friday Night Lives. Have added to the list to watch!
@@DNReacts Lights*
Subscribed guys!!! Great reactions and yes high school football players are recruited by colleges from their freshman year on up. Some athletes are so talented that they may be recruited before they enter high school!!! Keep up the great work! Cheers from Orlando, Florida!!!
Thanks for the info and the support!
There are more than 16,000 High School Football teams.
Sick video..The Stadium in Tacoma is where 10 things I hate about you was filmed..at the 6:20 mark Heath Ledger was singing on that top step
Public high school players live in the area of the school. But there are private high schools (you have to pay tuition) that are football powerhouses and parents will send their kid there to get the extra exposure to college scouts. And it's not unheard of for a family to move across the country so their kids can go to a premier school for football (and other sports)
Hey, I played in two of those stadiums in Ohio and my son played in at least one. Both were big rivals of ours but now two of my granddaughters go there and two are alumni. Back in the day (before my time) I believe Canton was the first high school stadium in the country to have lighting and night games. Our school was the second. Also one of the first to have artficial turf and video screens. Our stadium held 10,000 and was usually packed Friday nights.
In case you didn't notice, the Union City (NJ) High School field is on TOP of the high school (and parking garage). That is what makes that field unique. Not many athletic fields are on the 3rd floor of a building.
To answer your question about how a student chooses which high school to go to: normally you are assigned to the schools in the school district you live in. However, anyone is allowed to apply and go to any school they wish. This not only applies to athletes who want to go to schools known for their championship history and reputation for college recruiting, but also to smart students who feel other schools have better academic standards.
I don't believe that's accurate. A student can go to any private high school they'd like, if they get in for academics and/or sports... but if you go to a public high school (which most people do), you go to the school you're assigned to based on where you live. Most athletes recruited by colleges just go to their local public high school.
@@barnabydodd8956 I’m pretty sure OP was just specifically talking about public high schools
Well actually there is no national standard on this issue, it’s going to be determined by state and local law. So there may be some variation across the states. When I was in high school a friend’s family moved to the next town over, but he wanted to remain in our school and not transfer. He actually needed approval from our school board to remain in our school. The Board was apparently surprised when he and I attended the meeting to observe the vote 🤣
@@Big_Tex Of course there are exceptions to the rule, as there are with just about everything. But broadly speaking, you attend the public school that you're zoned to based on where you live. And it's pretty standard in every state. There is no such thing as "school choice" unless you live in Arizona, where they just recently passed school choice legislation.
@@barnabydodd8956 In Florida, the zoning rules are no longer used for public school students. Now, they can go to any public school they want.
The most exciting is to find out the biggest rivalries in each state. Things get crazy when the rivals play against each other!!!
There are powerhouse schools for high school sports, including football. Some are public schools, some are private schools. Public schools are supposed to be populated based on the student's address, but variances and other special considerations (some questionable) are given.
High schools have 3 levels of competition: Frosh, JV and Varsity. Most Varsity players are 16-18, though you may see a few younger standout players on the team.
Thank you for the context, appreciate the comment!
Dorman is right down the road from me lol. You should see Byrne's football stadium which is also near Dorman. It has a giant HD TV screen that is placed like the one at the Dallas Cowboys stadium. I was amazed when I saw it
American Football: High School=Friday; College=Saturday; Professional=Sunday, Monday, Thursday.
Recruiters and scouts are always on the hunt, even with middle schoolers (ages 11-14). I have a relative football player, who had scouts on his tail as far back as middle school, as a QB.
Varsity (first string players) are 17-18 years old
You must go to the high school that serves the area where you live. So, if you want your child to go to a particular high school you must buy your house in that district. However, it is difficult to know whether your child will be a star player when he is 12 or 13 years old. In Texas, I would suspect that this kind of stuff goes on a lot more than in the rest of the country, but it isn't the norm.
Potential college players can in some cases, be recruited at a very young age, but there are very strict rules for doing that and some colleges have gotten into big trouble for violations.
Friday night is HS football, Saturdays are college and Sundays are NFL
Press boxes in football especially high school are mainly used for coaches and the PA announcer.
Just for a little context. Big High Schools have big programs of all types. We had a Planetarium for instance. A school across town has a Natatorium.
I didn't play sports in high school... but our Marching Band had over 250 members in 1990. The State Championship was held in the Hoosier Dome, that's been torn down now, in front of 15 to 20 thousand people.
The press boxes were for judges etc.
I played guitar in the Jazz Band, and at contests if you did well during the day you played at night, which we always did. We played in front of well over 5 thousand in Auditoriums at Ball State and Western Michigan, and even an outdoor Amphitheater at Purdue.
I've sold a lot of chocolate. Lol
You most definitely have the press at high school football games, because highlights are on the local new channels. Lots of these players have a large following from high school all the way to the pros.
Some of these towns that's the only sports they have or only gatherings for the town so the whole town comes out to watch. Massillon (the one with the tiger on the outside of the stadium) had a documentary on streaming services talking about their football history and fandom.
Certain high schools are known for producing great players who are recruited to play for elite college teams. If the schools are private (often, not always affiliated with a religious denomination, and receive no government funding), players may be actively recruited from a wide geographic area. If the private school accepts boarders (less common than in Britain, but they do exist here - I boarded, myself), students may literally come from anywhere.
Other (most) high schools are funded by local and state taxes ("public schools", in American vernacular - equivalent to a British state school). If a public school has an exceptional football program, a great player may play there if he can demonstrate residence within the school's attendance boundaries. Sometimes, he may live with an aunt/uncle/grandparent/older sibling who lives near the school. Sometimes, his parents literally move house in order to be close to the school.
These are exceptional cases. The overwhelming majority of high school football players simply attend the nearest local school to their parents' home.
For further perspective, most high school football players are not good enough to merit athletic scholarships at the college level - even at lower division schools, let alone elite college teams. There are roughly 10,500 scholarship football players at the highest college level, and approximately 1,000,000 boys play football in high school. Even counting scholarship players at lower levels, maybe 2% of high school players are good enough to have football pay their way through university.
Of those 10500 scholarship players, fewer than 200 are drafted by NFL teams. Even at that point, being drafted is not a guarantee of a place on the team.
The road to the NFL is very crowded and very, very narrow.
Thanks for the info Kent!
High school football is big here in Ohio as well. As locals, if someone asks you where you went to school, everyone as second nature says their high school name no matter what college they went to and degrees they may have.
I never knew this, and was my fav thing I learned in this video. I thought H.S. Football was only crazy popular in TX, but now I know better. :)
That Tacoma high school has to be where they filmed "10 things I hate about you", surprised they didn't mention that in the video.
My first job in Radio was doing color commentary for local football
Growing up in San Antonio, it is impossible to communicate how insanely important High School Football is to the community. The small towns are crazy, of course, but even in the big cities, where people have lots of entertainment choices, HS Football rules. I went to Holmes H.S., which played at Northside Stadium. I'm kinda surprised it didn't make this list, as its enormous compared to other school fields I've seen.
Consider football is played in Alaska ( can get cold later) but also Arizona the desert ( hot at the start of the season). So you could end up playing in the desert heat and arctic cold in the same season depending on your location.
High School Varsity football is played almost entirely by 17 and 18 year old boys. Americans do not drop out at 16 as no one will emply anyone without a High School diploma or GED.The NBA, NHL, MLB will not draft anyone until after their 12 th grade(high School senior, usually 18 year old) year. And they will not touch anyone who can't get a high school diploma or GED. The NFL will not draft anyone until they have a full year after thrir last high school year, and tend to prefer college seniors(age 22 years old). MLS also has a minimum age of 22, this is so NCAA is not adversely affected by MLS.
Public (tax-funded) schools and private (tuition-based) schools have different rules about who they can have on their teams. The system favors the private schools. By contrast, private universities on average have disadvantages recruiting compared to public (partially tax-funded) universities because their academic standards are higher.
High schoolers are often recruited by schools, particularly private schools, and offered scholarships to play. Thus making a lot of public schools heavily desired where people try to move to the towns to play or are offered free private schooling to play as well.
In most states, students at the public schools are based on where you live, with a few exceptions. Special programs, courses, advanced studies, etc. Private schools don't have that limitation.
High school students are recruited and the good players have several offers from universities around the country. A student signs a Letter of Intent which delineates which college he has chosen based upon the offers he has received. The five star recruits will get offers from many of the top universities.
Lifelong loyalty to one's high school, university, etc. is a thing. Rich alums donate a lot of money. The same happens with the country itself: rich people donating art, etc. A young country like the US shouldn't be loaded with Vermeer, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Titian; but it is.
You guys should consider reacting to big high school football games (or basketball). The goal of each high school sport is to win the state championship. So there are some intense regular season and playoff games.
...In most towns in America, the local tv news channels have a special segment to show highlights of many of the local high school football games on Friday nights.
A lot of these schools are public schools. Which are as you said just the kids that live locally around the school in a predetermined mapped out area. However there are private schools and those ones will actually go to public schools specifically to watch some of the high school players and recruit them into the private school giving them scholarships into the private school. So yes high schoolers can get recruited although it is more of a rare scenario.
Thanks Jessica!
You keep saying 15 and 16 year old's, but most of the players who start on the varsity team are 17 and 18. And these stadiums are the exceptions, although they are more common in the wealthier suburbs near the larger cities in Texas,
Thanks Charles.
1,000%. There are 14-year-old high school freshman that are already being approached by colleges. Many would say that colleges keep their eyes out for young players that are incredible standouts even on the middle school level. There's been some 12-year-olds that are 6'3, 220lb and they definitely get on the radar
Crazy!
You two ask a lot of great questions. Yes you're correct, most schools and high schools are locality driven. Live near it, go to it! High schools (14-18 years olds) are generally categorized by population denoted by 1A-6A, though some high schools are ridiculous in size and are larger than some small colleges. The Round Valley H.S. for example is only a 3A school and relatively small compared to bigger metropolitan high schools. There are also private high schools mostly driven by religion. These usually have the better facilities because they are allowed larger alumi and parent donations, similar to colleges.
Depending where you live and how each state runs their school boundary lines, high schools do recruit students to be apart of their "winning" team like colleges. As you're well aware, football on either side of the water is big time sport. Our egg-shape just has more money at all levels and in the bigger states like California, Florida and Texas football is big time at all levels even pee-wee football. These young kids are scouted from young teen ages. While you're at it, same for basketball in the more urban cities.
Not all colleges scout the smaller towns unless they are known for the abilities on the field (winning). However, a lot of time based solely on the size of the USA, a lot of these small towns-ish (Odessa, TX and Edgar, AZ) these really are only "game" in town so the the bigger stadiums are supported by the local residents not just students and their parents. In every town across our (USA) landscape there is a story about the "local town football hero" that has never done anything but be good at a sport. Nothing more no pro contract, just a local legend.
Amazing comment, thank you Cole! Appreciate the info!
In places like Ohio, Texas, etc., Friday night football is the main source of entertainment. Heck, I attended a small university in Ohio, which at the time had an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The local high school would play at our stadium on Friday nights and draw 15,000 spectators. Then the university would play on Saturday afternoons and draw 10,000-12,000 fans.
That’s crazy!
Friday nights in Texas in the fall are wild! The football is incredible here
Great video, guys!
Thank you!
It just several different factors and circumstances.For example here in Louisiana usually the kids go to the high school closest to their neighborhood. However some students athletes may be recruited to attend and play sports private schools,charters school,magnet programs or laboratory schools for the local colleges / universities. For example, the city where I live has two lab schools, university lab for LSU and Southern lab for Southern University.
3:13 lots fof high schools with big stadiums that cost millions do have college teams scouting, but the Round Valley Dome and the Elks haven't had very many college recruits. I can only remember one from there. The dome was funded because of some government funding programs and a couple lawsuits
Here in TX wenare all about football. I coach a rec league 11-12 year old team and even that gets crazy. Love it
My hs team had a pre game practice at the hof stadium after checking out the NFL HOF then went to play a team called new Philadelphia
Really awesome experience
High-schools have orgizations called boosters that contribute financially to the team plus you'll see ads from local businesses and hear the announcers thank local businesses during time outs.
Thanks for doing my suggestion. I suggested it for a good laugh when y'all saw the seating capacities after y'all mentioned who attends school soccer matches and y'all didn't let me down.
WOW! I’m shocked, 2 high schools from the west side of Cincinnati made the list - Taylor and Elder. My dad went to Elder a long time ago in the late 40’s. Elder was a big rival of my high school, Oak Hills. The Elder stadium is call The Pit. I was there once for an Oak Hills/Elder game. I don’t remember much other than a group of girls walking around in their Beat Elder jerseys.
Thanks for the info Meg!
Seniors in HS are 18, US schools are organized a bit different than UK, its still 13 years though, K-5 are primary or elementary school, 6-8 are middle schools or Junior HS, than 9-12 are HS, translates to year 10 & 11 plus two years of college in the UK. so year names are off by 1 year in the US when compared to UK because of calling year 1 kindergarten.
I might be late to this but, to address your question you asked in the 7th minute, here in Texas the governing body for public high school sports is the UIL. Here in Texas, school football starts in 7th grade(typically 12-13 years old), to 12th grade(17 or 18 years old). High school here in the US is 4 years, with freshman( 9th grade), Sophomore(10th), Junior(11th) and Senior(12th) years. The highest level of sports in American high school is the varsity team. The varsity usually consists of Seniors and Juniors but can include sophomores and even Freshmen depending on their skills. Some states do not allow freshmen to play varsity. The varsity team is your Friday Night Lights team. Every student is zoned for a specific public high school according to their home address. This is their home school. Students can transfer to other schools but there are guidelines and rules. One of the rules is that a player who transfers to another school, where they are not zoned within their district, must sit out a year of varsity sports before they can play. There are strict rules against transferring to another school just to play sports and the UIL has levied punishments on players and schools that violate those rules. Of course, it is not perfect and there have been many schools who have been accused of cheating the system and recruiting players. Private schools in Texas are governed by a different organization called TAPS. Public school football is king here in Texas whereas in other states, like California, private school football is more dominant. Private schools are not held to the same zoning restrictions as public schools. I hope this answered your question.
I swam for my high School. The pool was indoors and in the middle of the school. It had a seating of 2,000 people.
I'm not sure if it's been mentioned here but one major factor in what schools are capable of related to the fact that public schools are funded with money directly related to the property taxes in the their area.
An affluent area will have schools that have facilities that might be shocking compared to inner city areas AND are more likely to have alums that can afford to donate to the school directly if something like a college level stadium was needed.
That school in Alaska is pulling in next to no funds from property taxes so school funding is...an issue...but that school in Canton, OH has a lot of benefits that come from tourism dollars for the community, that affect property values, that benefit the school directly. Notes that the Stadium is named for Paul Brown.
Paul Brown was the founder of the Cleveland Browns AND Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL and went to that High School. He was also at some point hired as coach of that football team. You'd better believe they'd end up with a near pro style stadium.