– Dallas Jackson, NationalHSFootball.com
Preseason rankings in high school football are good for discussion and little else.
Long the philosophy of the HSFB100 is that once teams get on the field and play the evaluations made by guesstimating how they will perform should be discarded immediately.
That said, it is still entertaining to turn the calendar back and see what the rankings looked like in August versus what the final product was.
Four of the Top 5 teams in the final NationalHSFootball.com HSFB100 poll began the season inside the Top 10. Five of the Top 25 teams were not ranked among the nation’s elite until the third week of the year or later.
While Booker T. Washington, Allen, St. John Bosco, and Miami Central were all expected to be great teams this year there were still misses as five other teams that were ranked in the preseason ended the year outside of the HSFB100.
Here is a look at where the final HSFB100 Top 25 started the season:
TEAM | CITY, STATE | FINAL HSFB100 | PRESEASON | RECORD |
Booker T. Washington | Miami, Fla. | 1 | 4 | 14-0 |
Allen | Allen, Texas | 2 | 8 | 16-0 |
St. John Bosco | Bellflower, Cali. | 3 | 2 | 16-0 |
Miami Central | Miami, Fla. | 4 | 1 | 13-1 |
DeSoto | Desoto, Texas | 5 | 27 | 14-1 |
De La Salle | Concord, Cali. | 6 | 11 | 14-1 |
Mountain Pointe | Phoenix, Ariz. | 7 | 19 | 14-0 |
Cedar Hill | Cedar Hill, Texas | 8 | 46 | 13-2 |
Katy | Katy, Texas | 9 | 14 | 15-1 |
Northwestern | Rock Hill, S.C. | 10 | 31 | 15-0 |
Mallard Creek | Charlotte, N.C. | 11 | 21 | 15-0 |
Moeller | Cincinnati, Ohio | 12 | 54 | 14-1 |
Dwyer | West Palm Beach, Fla. | 13 | NR | 15-0 |
Mentor | Mentor, Ohio | 14 | NR | 13-2 |
Hoover | Hoover, Ala. | 15 | 16 | 15-0 |
Jenks | Jenks, Okla. | 16 | 72 | 12-0 |
Norcross | Norcross, Ga. | 17 | 5 | 13-2 |
American Heritage | Plantation, Fla. | 18 | NR | 15-1 |
Bishop Gorman | Las Vegas, Nev. | 19 | 18 | 13-2 |
Coppell | Coppell, Texas | 20 | 62 | 9-2 |
St. Edward | Lakewood, Ohio | 21 | 12 | 11-2 |
Centreville | Centreville, Vir. | 22 | 95 | 15-0 |
Creekside | Fairburn, Ga. | 23 | NR | 15-0 |
East Jefferson | Metairie, La. | 24 | NR | 15-0 |
St. Joseph Regional | Montvale, N.J. | 25 | 41 | 10-1 |