20 most hyped college football recruits of all-time
By Dustin Hull
1. Ron Powlus
He was described as “perfect” by his high school coach, the best player in the nation by everyone from ESPN, to Sports Illustrated, to Parade in 1993, and was predicted to win multiple national championships and Heisman trophies.
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So you can at least somewhat understand why Ron Powlus never quite lived up to the hype. Though he stayed humble during his time as quarterback for Notre Dame, Powlus was the biggest name there was in the recruiting world as he was offered by all the major title-contenders in the country before deciding on South Bend.
Teams were lining up across the country for a chance at this guy. He started regularly getting mail as a freshman and was thoroughly questioned by the NCAA to make sure there was never teams offering gifts to the can’t-miss prospect.
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And once he finally picked the Fighting Irish, ESPN expert Beano Cook declared he’d win two Heisman Trophies, something only Archie Griffin had previously done, and would be the greatest quarterback in Notre Dame history. That meant better than Joe Montana, Johnny Lujack, Paul Hornung, Joe Theisman, or George Gipp.
People were practically marking down Golden Dome titles before he’d even played a game, and even the South Bend Tribune called him “Among Immortals” after his first game with the Irish.
Despite setting 20 school passing records, Powlus never came anywhere close to the hype of being the greatest of all college football recruits. A slew of injuries would hamper that. But even if he had always been healthy, with such high expectations, it’s hard to imagine him or anyone else ever reaching such level of success.