07-18-2022, 05:42 PM
(07-18-2022, 05:18 PM)msqueri Wrote: Mills was the #1 QB recruit in the country. I’ll never be able to convince old timers that anybody was in Elway’s class and that’s fine but it’s hard to be all that much more highly regarded than Mills was.I was around for both players recruitment. I can assure you that beyond any doubt Elway was more highly "regarded" than Mills ever imagined being. Certainly the situation was much different, as when Elway was recruited there was not the plethora of recruiting services and the like. No way to know how he would have fared in the present climate. However, Elway actually made it into the mainstream media, not just the "specialty" rags. That is the only high school player I recall from that "era" ever doing so. While he wasn't a household name, the "general public" did vaguely know who he was. It is certainly fair to question this public acclaim being a "valid" evaluation of a high school player, but Elway certainly had it. This is even in an era where there was no ESPN or the like to "hype" anybody. The fact Elway had a monster arm was certainly part of it. In today's game, that may not matter as much, but it for sure did then.