The Republic of Football Legends of the Texas High School Game

Drawing on dozens of interviews, Conine offers rare glimpses of the early days of some of football's biggest stars. He reveals that some players took time to achieve greatness-LaDainian Tomlinson wasn't even the featured running back on his high school team until a breakthrough game in his senior season vaulted him to the highest level of the sport-while others, like Colt McCoy, showed their first flashes of brilliance in middle school. In telling these and many other stories of players and coaches, including Hayden Fry, Spike Dykes, Bob McQueen, Lovie Smith, Art Briles, Lawrence Elkins, Warren McVea, Ray Rhodes, Dat Nguyen, Zach Thomas, Drew Brees, and Adrian Peterson, Conine spotlights the decisive moments when players caught fire and teams such as Celina, Southlake Carroll, and Converse Judson turned into Texas dynasties. Packed with never-before-told anecdotes, as well as fresh takes on the games everyone remembers,
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