Greg McElroy evaluates how talent, investment in Texas high school football could impact college development

There’s no question that high school football is important in the state of Texas. The investment in the high school game has led to plenty of success at the collegiate levels.

Greg McElroy knows how seriously Texas high schools take football — and the Southlake Carroll (TX) product pointed to an example close to home to make his point.

“Our high school has a full time, 24/7 strength and conditioning coach at my high school,” McElroy told On3’s Andy Staples on Andy Staples On3. “They also have an indoor facility that the Dallas Cowboys used prior to them building the bubble.”

McElroy pointed out just how much money goes toward high school football in Texas. With high school football such a big deal, the amount of money can go toward facilities and coaching staffs.

As a result, high school football players get access to resources players in other states don’t.

“Here’s the problem with Texas, and I don’t think people want to acknowledge this,” McElroy said. “While there is five-star personnel maybe on the roster and there has been, four-star personnel on the roster and maybe has been, Texas is a very wealthy state. Anyone that has ever been there knows that Texas is not afraid to showcase — if you’re from Dallas, in particular, like I am — people are not afraid to flaunt their wealth. Let’s just be real. And high school football in the state of Texas is a remarkable priority. I would say probably as well-invested-in as any high school state in the country, by probably a country mile.

“The amount of money in Texas high school football is on another level compared to pretty much everywhere else. And that means that they attract better coaches, they attract better personal trainers, they attract speed coaches and weight coaches.”

Greg McElroy: Texas high school football players ‘are hitting their ceiling of their potential as a junior and senior in high school’

Because of the amount of resources Texas high school football players have access to, they’re coming into college as higher caliber prospects. In fact, during the 2023 cycle, 19 of the top 100 players in the country came from Texas, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

But McElroy argued those players might be coming in to college with so much talent, they’re not developing well enough to play in the NFL.

“We are talking about kids who, at 12 [years old], have private trainers and quarterback coaches and receiver coaches because the resources are there,” McElroy said. “And, as a result, kids are hitting their ceiling of their potential as a junior and senior in high school. Then, they get to college — yeah, they’re a four-star player, maybe they’re a five-star player — they get to college, and they never get any better.

“They are as good as they’re ever going to be because they’re overdeveloped and their development is accelerated because of how well-trained they are at the high school level. That’s not an indictment. It’s just an acknowledgement of fact.”

How Sam Ehlinger illustrates the difference between Texas products’ high school, college development

McElroy said an example of a player from Texas who might not have developed as planned is Sam Ehlinger. A Westlake (TX) product, he arrived on campus at Texas as a four-star recruit and the No. 126-ranked player in the nation from the 2017 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking.

With the Longhorns, Ehlinger threw for more than 3,000 yards twice and totaled 2,566 yards in the 10-game COVID-19 season in 2020. He also ended up becoming a sixth-round pick in the NFL Draft.

To McElroy, though, Ehlinger didn’t get “a whole lot better” than he was as a true freshman. That’s in part due to the resources he had as a high school player, and Texas college programs have had to consider that out on the trail.

“I’m not going to suggest that Sam Ehlinger was [not] a really good player,” McElroy said. “Was a five-star player coming out of high school. But when Sam Ehlinger was a true freshman at Texas, how much better was he as a fourth-year senior at Texas? How different was it? Was there a significant gap? Was he way better as a senior than he was as a freshman? No, he wasn’t. And that’s because he went to Austin Westlake, was really well-coached, really well developed. And when he arrived in Texas, he was ready to roll as a true freshman. But he never got a whole lot better. I think there’s a ton of examples of that have been on Texas’s roster over the course of the last decade.

“So I think they’ve had to be more thoughtful and more careful about the guys they recruit to make sure they’re not recruiting guys that are totally tapped out. They’re recruiting guys that still have a lot of growth, that can potentially be made within their system so that their seven-star players when they’re seniors, not five-star players like when they arrived.”