LeBron James High School Football Video against Hoban (2001)

Nickerson said:
So you’re conceding that the film above was unimpressive? And do those same 4 and 5 star guys jog off the line on run plays, whiff on blocks all game and generally avoid contact? And I’m still waiting on those great highlights you mentioned earlier....
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Like I said you must either never played football or been to an actual game ... or just watch highlight tapes ... you thinking highlight tapes show the players full game is all I need to know
 
Bowtiethatguy said:
Like I said you must either never played football or been to an actual game ... or just watch highlight tapes ... you thinking highlight tapes show the players full game is all I need to know
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Actually you never said that before lol. And I’m giving you an out by wanting to see only LBJs highlights. I would love to see more full games so I could reinforce my opinion lol.

Ok you’re really sensitive on this topic so I’ll take back everything I said. I wouldn’t want to ruin the greatest moment of your life getting smacked around by LeBron in football 20 years ago lol.
 
Nickerson said:
Actually you never said that before lol. And I’m giving you an out by wanting to see only LBJs highlights. I would love to see more full games so I could reinforce my opinion lol.

Ok you’re really sensitive on this topic so I’ll take back everything I said. I wouldn’t want to ruin the greatest moment of your life getting smacked around by LeBron in football 20 years ago lol.
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Your showing your age bud ! Have a good one
 
Bowtiethatguy said:
The same thing said about lebron is being said about a WR committed to OSU from Massillon ... I’m not going to hate on Lebron seeing as he was playing football for fun and not a career move ... STVM was Div 4 or 5 at the time .... he also played basketball year round never really time to train or take football seriously and Urban Meyer still thought he was worth the scholarship offer to ND ..... Thank you for posting the vid !!!
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So, Urban Meyer thought LeBron was worthy of a D1 scholarship offer to ND. But I guess there are those on here who are far better at judging talent than Urban! LOL! ?
 
Lets get a few things straight here
  1. Lebron has always been a special athlete and was by far the best pee wee football player in Akron at the time. Hands down not even close I played in this age group, Antonio Pittman was the closest thing.
  2. He never trained for football past the 5th grade which includes lifting weights. The kid was dunking in the 6th grade won the AAU nationals in 5th. He always loved football but basketball loved him back more.
  3. His high school tape is very overrated. He really only moonlighted in football and never went against any of the top programs or players. He never went against a Div 1 DB that I can think of off the top of my head. He certainly wouldve been a Div 1 star had he concentrated on the sport but its crazy to even imagine it since physically and financially that would be the dumbest move he couldve made in his life.
  4. Why in the world would the best basketball player on the planet be physical and risk injury when you can just out athlete people. He was not on the field to block fam.
  5. This ST.V team was low key garbage. We scrimmaged them every year and every year the first play always went 80 yards untouched right up the guy. Outside of Sian Cotton that football team was average at the time not the powerhouse they were when Boardman took over.
  6. Romeo Travis was never a football guy he chose the right sport. While he was good in football he was borderline special in basketball.
  7. Whoever compared that 01 ST.V team to 01 WGH is smoking crack. WGH wouldve blew out ST.V by 42 before halftime. Scrimmaged against both teams that game wouldn't even be a challenge for WGH starters. Prescott Burgess would have lit Lebron up on any route inside the hashes
 
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Thurgood75 said:
Lets get a few things straight here
  1. Lebron has always been a special athlete and was by far the best pee wee football player in Akron at the time. Hands down not even close I played in this age group, Antonio Pittman was the closest thing.
  2. He never trained for football past the 5th grade which includes lifting weights. The kid was dunking in the 6th grade won the AAU nationals in 5th. He always loved football but basketball loved him back more.
  3. His high school tape is very overrated. He really only moonlighted in football and never went against any of the top programs or players. He never went against a Div 1 DB that I can think of off the top of my head. He certainly wouldve been a Div 1 star had he concentrated on the sport but its crazy to even imagine it since physically and financially that would be the dumbest move he couldve made in his life.
  4. Why in the world would the best basketball player on the planet be physical and risk injury when you can just out athlete people. He was not on the field to block fam.
  5. This ST.V team was low key garbage. We scrimmaged them every year and every year the first play always went 80 yards untouched right up the guy. Outside of Sian Cotton that football team was average at the time not the powerhouse they were when Boardman took over.
  6. Romeo Travis was never a football guy he chose the right sport. While he was good in football he was borderline special in basketball.
  7. Whoever compared that 01 ST.V team to 01 WGH is smoking crack. WGH wouldve blew out ST.V by 42 before halftime. Scrimmaged against both teams that game wouldn't even be a challenge for WGH starters. Prescott Burgess would have lit Lebron up on any route inside the hashes
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That is what a few people can’t seem to grasp .. for us that played with and against him know he wasn’t even taking football seriously he was just playing it like playing tackle football at the park he wasn’t trying ... but to act like if he put the same effort into it as he did basketball and not think this guy wouldn’t dominate is crazy ... he put up his numbers on a mediocre offense when everyone knew the ball was coming his way ... there They played with 2 QBs that season and the leading passer had 1400 yards passing ... Lebron caught 1300 of those .... on just playing around on the field ...
 
Idk fellas. That’s 8 quarters worth of tape and zero physicality. I get that he wasn’t putting effort into football and who can blame him? But there’s a big difference between taking plays off/playing lazy and not being physical. I’ve seen plenty of kids with talent take plays off then flip the switch, but I’ve never seen someone who is as good as you say LeBron was have that bad of film for two entire games. Never. If he was as good as you say he was then he should have popped on film more than he did especially considering Hoban was a pretty even match for them. Even just how he reacts to people being near him on the field is very telling....I guess maybe it was just two off games but I would need to see more to believe the hype.
 
I have no idea how good of a football player LeBron could have been or not. He is a once in a generation athlete, so my guess is he probably would have been very good had he fully committed to the sport. Still, IMO this talk about his lack of physicality misses one crucial point. That is, even in 2001, LeBron knew full well that he was going to be playing professional basketball after he graduated from STVM. The only thing that would have stood in between him and millions of dollars was the type of career ending injury that could have occurred on the football field. I recall that many people thought he was crazy for playing football at all considering the fortune he was potentially jeopardizing. Given the career he was destined for and the riches that were to come with it, I am sure he was VERY careful to avoid as much contact as possible. And I am sure that this was done with the full backing (and, if I recall correctly, the direction) of the STVM coaching staff! And anyone who says they would have conducted themselves differently is being disingenuous.
 
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Irish60 said:
So, Urban Meyer thought LeBron was worthy of a D1 scholarship offer to ND. But I guess there are those on here who are far better at judging talent than Urban! LOL! ?
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I remember an interview with Jim Tressel and he said the same about LBJ, that he would have been a great college receiver...then JT laughed and said he thought LBJ made the right career choice.
 
cjb56 said:
I remember an interview with Jim Tressel and he said the same about LBJ, that he would have been a great college receiver...then JT laughed and said he thought LBJ made the right career choice.
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Looking at LeBron's success in the NBA, I'd say Tressel was right!
 
To those calling him soft. You have to remember he was the first pick in the NBA out of HS. Pretty sure he knew he'd be one of the top three picks.
So if you were him and had just a little bit of common sense you are not going to get involved in any type of injury doing something for fun. SO yes he probably did avoid as much unnecessary contact as possible. Look at how he developed physically and what 2 years of college would have done for him. 6'8", 250# athlete, he would have been a very, very good pro receiver, IMO.
 
I remember preparing for Norton or Coventry at the time and they played St. V before playing us. I was shocked at what I saw from Lebron when he wasn't getting a fade route thrown to him, or when they were running the ball. It was less than impressive and that's an understatement. Obviously he made the right career choice.
 
When you saw him on the court at St.V, he was a man among boys. I believe it would have been the same, had he chosen football. The Irish made it to the state semi’s his junior year and he chose not to play his senior season. So it’s just a guess how good they may have been, had he chosen to suit up. Seems like a very smart decision, from an exceptional all around athlete. Go Irish !
 
I saw many of LeBron’s high school Games. He didn’t like getting hit. He’d run out of bounds to avoid being tackled. Maybe he was protecting his basketball future. That’s just the way it was.
 
SeeYaSometime said:
I saw many of LeBron’s high school Games. He didn’t like getting hit. He’d run out of bounds to avoid being tackled. Maybe he was protecting his basketball future. That’s just the way it was.
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I'd imagine it was a little of both. If I recall, there were some pointed discussions between the football coaches and basketball coaches setting some ground rules before LeBron took the field. Keep him on the outside against smaller defenders; which I imagine was fine with LeBron. It worked to his strengths, to the football coaches needs and to the basketball coaches great relief! I can also imagine Coaches Dambrot and Dru in the Chapel reciting novenas every Friday night during football season!
 
Irish60 said:
I'd imagine it was a little of both. If I recall, there were some pointed discussions between the football coaches and basketball coaches setting some ground rules before LeBron took the field. Keep him on the outside against smaller defenders; which I imagine was fine with LeBron. It worked to his strengths, to the football coaches needs and to the basketball coaches great relief! I can also imagine Coaches Dambrot and Dru in the Chapel reciting novenas every Friday night during football season!
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I’m glad you mentioned his running sideline routes. I was pretty sure I remembered the same but was reluctant to post. The aging memory thing.
 
The one Buchtel/SVSM scrimmage i went to when he played......He was suffering from a bad case of Alligator Arm! Lol

Thurgood, do you remember that?
 
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