OC Top 10 – All-Time Prep Football Greats

1 Pete Dawkins (BH Cranbrook) – Won a Heisman Trophy at Army in 1958 as an All-American tailback before becoming a Rhodes Scholar studying at Oxford and a Brigadeer General in the Vietnam War. As a prepster at Cranbrook, Dawkins was the starting quarterback on the football team, a high-scoring forward on the Crane's hockey team and the baseball team's ace pitcher and clean-up hitter. Demonstrating his merit as a supreme specimen of an athlete, he also lettered in hockey at West Point and while completing his prestigious Rhodes Scholarship in England he became a standout rugby player for Oxford's varsity squad.

2 Mill "The Thrill" Coleman (FH Harrison) – The most electrifying prep football talent the county has ever seen winning two state titles and being named a 3-time all-stater at the quarterback position in the late-1980s and early-1990s. Coleman became the state of Michigan's all-time leader in career passing yardage and touchdowns for the Hawks before going on to have a solid collegiate career as a wide receiver/kick returner at Michigan State and a pro career with the Chicago Bears of the NFL and Montreal Alouettes of the CFL

3 John Miller (FH Harrison) – The consummate workhorse of a two-way player (RB/S) in the early-1980s for Coach Herrington's Harrison squads (leading the Hawks to a state title in 1981) and then in the mid-to-late 1980s for the MSU Spartans as a crafty defensive back  

4 Kirk Gibson (Waterford Kettering) – An All-American wide receiver for Michigan State in the late-1970s following a three-sport varsity career for the Captains in the earlier portion of the decade

5 David Bowens (OL St. Mary's) – A dominating defensive player/tight end for the Eaglets in the mid-1990s winning a state title in 1994. Played collegiately at Michigan and Western Illinois as a tenacious pass rusher before embarking on a decade-long NFL career (drafted in the fifth round of the NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos) that is still going strong. He also had a spectacular prep hoops career as a rim-rattling all-state power forward for several state-ranked Eaglets basketball teams, helping the school advance to the Class C state championship game as a junior. Bowens is currently under contract with the Cleveland Browns.

6 Brian Brennan (Birmingham Brother Rice) – The quintessential "possession receiver" in the 1980s with the NFL's Cleveland Browns who quarterbacked his high school team at Rice in the late-1970s and caught passes in college from Heisman Trophy winner, Doug Flutie in the Big East at Boston College

7 Torin Dorn (Southfield) – Arguably the greatest defensive back in the history of Oakland County prep football who went on to have an all-conference career in the ACC at North Carolina in the late-1980s and then a seven-season run in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders and St. Louis Rams throughout the 1990s.

8 Charles Johnson (Birmingham Detroit Country Day) – Johnson was the ultimate option QB in both high school and college where he won both state and national championships. In college with the 1991 National Champion Colorado Buffalos he was named the MVP of the Orange Bowl, which that year served as the quasi-National Championship game. He is currently the assistant athletic director in Boulder, Colorado at his alma mater where he does color commentator for the Buffalos basketball team. As a high schooler, Johnson was the point guard on Kurt Keener's first final four bball squad in 1986, the same year he led the Yellow Jackets' to the state title on the gridiron.

9 a. Jim Miller (Waterford Kettering) – Tough-as-nails QB with the Captians and MSU Spartans before having an 11-year pro career in the NFL, leading the Chicago Bears to a NFC Central title as a starter in 2000

9 b. Todd Krumm (West Bloomfield) – Instinctive free safety who recovered the game-clinching fumble for the MSU Spartans in their 1988 Rose Bowl victory over USC and went on to have a short pro career in the NFL with the Chicago Bears. Played both football and baseball in East Lansing and as a prepster at West Bloomfield he won a state title in 1983 on the diamond. Krumm was a big hitter and all around playmaker on the gridiron in college, finishing his four years with the Spartans as the school's second all-time leader in career interceptions with 18 total picks.

10 a John Wangler (RO Shrine) – Sparked the Michigan Wolverines to a memorable 1981 Rose Bowl win over Washington after an all-state career slinging the pigskin for the Shrine Knights in High School. Can be seen in several nationally-recognized highlight clips from his days in Ann Arbor delivering the ball into the hands of future NFL all-pro wide out, Anthony Carter for a number of spine-tingling touchdowns in the Big House.

10 b L.J. Shelton (Rochester) – Mammoth offensive lineman who earned All-American honors at EMU in the late-1990s before being drafted in the first round of the 1999 NFL draft by the Arizona Cardinals. Shelton, the son of former NBA center, Lonnie Shelton, was an all-conference performer in both football and basketball as a prepster and has been in the NFL for over a decade. He is currently under contract with the San Diego Chargers