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By best, you could use skill, athleticism, success in the pros or whatever you'd like to quantify it. Hell, it's your school...do what you feel. Two come to mind immediately for me. The first would be Joe Johnson (lol, not him). Joe was a Senior when I was a freshman. He played DE and DT. Up until then, he was the biggest human I had ever seen in person. He got a full ride to Louisville and was selected 13th overall in 1994 by the Saints. In his 10 years there, he made the Pro Bowl twice...one of which came in 2000 when he was also an All-Pro selection and Comeback Player of the Year. After the Saints, he played two seasons in Green Bay. I remember he used to come back up to the school...always in some kind of big ass truck.
The next would be my dude Kelly Thames. Whereas I didn't know Joe very well at all, Kelly and I were tight. We kept hearing about this 8th grader coming over that was already like 6'4 or some shit. His freshman year he came in and the varsity coach was already like "he's mine". I was one grade ahead of him, so we had a couple classes together. He was one of those dudes who could get along with anyone. Never had beef. Just a genuinely good dude. My Senior year he led the team to the State tourney. It was held at Mizzou. We didn't win it all, but I remember him telling me "D, I'm gonna be back here" and sure enough that's where he chose to play his college ball. He proceeded to go to work and was named Big Eight Rookie of the Year. Seemed like the sky was the limit for him until he tore his knee up during practice at the Hearns Center. It was even on the evening news here. Folks were HURT. He had to redshirt his sophomore year. He came back and had a very respectable three years at Mizzou, but he was never the same guy. At his best, he was a 6'7/205 3 who could run, pass, get to the rim at will and rebound his ass off. At his worst, he was slower, less and explosive and being made to play out of position down low because the Mizzou didn't have a true big man at the time. He once told me some things about coach Norm Stewart that I'll leave in the vault. He went on to play a little ball overseas and now he's a High School coach. Crazy, cuz I wonder if he plays the "what if" game in his head as much as I do in mine. ...I'm from the era when A.I. was the answer, now they think ai is the answer - Marlon Craft
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