High School Football in Texas

Savor stories from generations of Lone Star football. Here are tales from under the Friday Night Lights: Future Hall of Famer Drew Brees never got onto the field in his first scrimmage. Mean Joe Greene wanted to be a running back like Jim Brown. And much more!

From the best players to the best coaches and some of the most legendary schools and teams in US history, Texas high school football has it all. In the state that made “Friday Night Lights” famous, High School Football in Texas takes an inside look at the state’s greatness in the sport, from the best players when they were in high school to those who’ve gone on to be stars as collegiate players or pros. It’s about record-setters, trend-setters, and some of the most inspirational families and people you’ll ever meet. Some of the players and coaches featured include

• Mean Joe Greene
• Earl Campbell
• Andy Dalton
• Bob Lilly
• Andrew Luck
• Mike Singletary
• Eric Dickerson
• Tim Brown
• Johnny Manziel
• Y.A. Tittle
• Von Miller
• Forrest Gregg
• And many more!

High School Football America founder Jeff Fisher mixes amazing anecdotes and interviews with the many who’ve experienced Texas high school football from every imaginable angle.

Jeff Fisher is an award-winning journalist and Founder/Editor-in-Chief of High School Football America. He’s an expert in high school football, underscored by his appearance on CNBC talking about the big business of the sport. His national rankings appear on iHeartRadio. Jeff resides in Southern California.

“There's a reason Texas high school football inhabits a sacred place in America's sporting imagination and Jeff Fisher sits you down next to the Lone Star legends who explain how they put it there. His deft storytelling and understanding of how the power of a simple game turns boys into men and transforms their communities is a testament to his passion for the sport.”
—Joe Drape, author of The New York Times bestseller Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen

“The legendary origin stories of the game’s greatest players from high school football’s most mythic landscape: Texas! From Drew Brees to “Mean Joe” Green to Earl Campbell, Jeff Fisher goes deep to probe their lives, motivations and field-of-dreams memories. This is Friday Night Lights through the eyes of those who lived and breathed it, a book that both enlightens and entertains. Bravo!"
—Drew Jubera, author of Must Win: A Season of Survival for a Town and its Team and producer of the Netflix hit documentary series Last Chance U

“Texas High School Football conjures up many things, but at the heart of it all lies stories of wide-eyed teenagers playing for the love of the game and for the communities they represent. Jeff Fisher does a masterful job capturing the essence of being “the best of the best.” He takes you into the hearts and minds of some of Texas’ best and what made them special. He expertly brings each subject back to the innocence of their high school football career and the reader has a front row seat in the press box.”
—Chuck Petersen, Texas high school football coach/former player and 2003 AFCA Assistant College Football Coach of the Year at Air Force

“As a small boy growing up in Texas, I couldn’t get enough of high school football. Other than Dave Campbell’s annual Texas Football magazine, the information was hard to come by. But now, decades later, Jeff Fisher’s book tells the Texas high school football stories of so many of the players I enjoyed growing up watching, like Raymond Berry, Bill Bradley, Earl Campbell, Eric Dickerson, and the list goes on and on. I could not put it down. It’s an enjoyable and easy read and I can’t wait for the next edition!”
—Mark Ball, longtime Texas head coach/athletic director and member of the Texas High School Athletic Director's Hall of Honor

“Fisher has conducted firsthand interviews with several of the biggest Texas names in the world of professional football. They reflect on their high school coaches, teammates, and games, and discuss choices that helped them achieve early stardom. Gridiron fans both in the Lone Star State and outside the state’s borders should find much to enjoy in High School Football in Texas.”
—Si Dunn, Lone Star Book Reviews

"Central Texas is well-represented among the list that Fisher put together, including Temple Dunbar’s “Mean Joe" Greene, the Copperas Cove pair of Robert Griffin III and Charles “Peanut” Tillman, Rosebud-born LaDanian Tomlinson, Lampasas’ Johnny “Lam” Jones, and a posthumous look at Temple-born legend Sammy Baugh. Texas is an obvious gold mine from which to explore."
—Tim Waits, Temple Daily Telegram

"It’s hard to overlook or pick a favorite of the unique anecdotes that Fisher dredges out of his subjects, but some of the forgotten chapters from even the more recent stars are illuminating."
—Cam Smith, USA Today

“There's a reason Texas high school football inhabits a sacred place in America's sporting imagination and Jeff Fisher sits you down next to the Lone Star legends who explain how they put it there. His deft storytelling and understanding of how the power of a simple game turns boys into men and transforms their communities is a testament to his passion for the sport.”
—Joe Drape, author of The New York Times bestseller Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen

“The legendary origin stories of the game’s greatest players from high school football’s most mythic landscape: Texas! From Drew Brees to “Mean Joe” Green to Earl Campbell, Jeff Fisher goes deep to probe their lives, motivations and field-of-dreams memories. This is Friday Night Lights through the eyes of those who lived and breathed it, a book that both enlightens and entertains. Bravo!"
—Drew Jubera, author of Must Win: A Season of Survival for a Town and its Team and producer of the Netflix hit documentary series Last Chance U

“Texas High School Football conjures up many things, but at the heart of it all lies stories of wide-eyed teenagers playing for the love of the game and for the communities they represent. Jeff Fisher does a masterful job capturing the essence of being “the best of the best.” He takes you into the hearts and minds of some of Texas’ best and what made them special. He expertly brings each subject back to the innocence of their high school football career and the reader has a front row seat in the press box.”
—Chuck Petersen, Texas high school football coach/former player and 2003 AFCA Assistant College Football Coach of the Year at Air Force

“As a small boy growing up in Texas, I couldn’t get enough of high school football. Other than Dave Campbell’s annual Texas Football magazine, the information was hard to come by. But now, decades later, Jeff Fisher’s book tells the Texas high school football stories of so many of the players I enjoyed growing up watching, like Raymond Berry, Bill Bradley, Earl Campbell, Eric Dickerson, and the list goes on and on. I could not put it down. It’s an enjoyable and easy read and I can’t wait for the next edition!”
—Mark Ball, longtime Texas head coach/athletic director and member of the Texas High School Athletic Director's Hall of Honor

“Fisher has conducted firsthand interviews with several of the biggest Texas names in the world of professional football. They reflect on their high school coaches, teammates, and games, and discuss choices that helped them achieve early stardom. Gridiron fans both in the Lone Star State and outside the state’s borders should find much to enjoy in High School Football in Texas.”
—Si Dunn, Lone Star Book Reviews

"Central Texas is well-represented among the list that Fisher put together, including Temple Dunbar’s “Mean Joe" Greene, the Copperas Cove pair of Robert Griffin III and Charles “Peanut” Tillman, Rosebud-born LaDanian Tomlinson, Lampasas’ Johnny “Lam” Jones, and a posthumous look at Temple-born legend Sammy Baugh. Texas is an obvious gold mine from which to explore."
—Tim Waits, Temple Daily Telegram