20 most hyped college football recruits of all-time
By Dustin Hull
18. Eric Dickerson
Long before Eric Dickerson became one of the most successful running backs in the history of the NFL, he was just a skinny kid with funky glasses that most of the kids in his neighborhood liked to pick on.
Then middle school came along, Dickerson grew out of his awkward phase, and started playing football. And from that point on, the buzz around him before college continuously grew. In his very first game, he recorded four touchdowns. By high school, he was already gaining attention from a few different colleges around his home state of Texas. And by the time he graduated from Sealy High, he was ranked right along fellow future Hall of Famers Dan Marino and John Elway as the most valued recruits in the nation.
Being the best player in likely the most football-crazy state, Dickerson naturally was given an overload of attention. He was also a state champion in track, able to run 100 yards in an incredible 9.4 seconds. This is all while packing on over 220 pounds to a 6’3” frame for football. It was a combination that allowed him to have a high school career rivaling that of other Texas running back legends that had come before him, like Earl Campbell, Billy Sims, and Kenneth Hall.
When it came time to choose a school, Oklahoma looked like the popular choice by experts, but Dickerson’s mother wanted him to stay close to home. So he ended up at Southern Methodist, where he and Craig James rolled over the competition as the “The Pony Express”.
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