The most passionate NFL fans know which NFL teammates were also teammates at the college level. Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase of the Cincinnati Bengals…Jalen Hurts and DeVonta Smith if the Philadelphia Eagles…Tua Tagovailoa and Jaylen Waddle of the Miami Dolphins…you get the idea by now.
Of course, that’s not necessarily a coincidence. Many NFL GMs wish to reunite college teammates together, knowing the special chemistry they built in the NCAA will carry over to the NFL level.
But high school is different. What are the odds that a pair or trio of NFL players actually played high school ball together…considering how many different high schools there are in the country? Spoiler alert: Not as low as you might think.
Here are 15 NFL duos slash trios that actually played on the same high school football team.
Teddy Bridgewater And Amari Cooper
Bridgewater and Cooper attended Miami Northwestern Senior High School in Miami, Florida. In 2019, an old clip surfaced of Bridgewater throwing a touchdown pass to the future multi-time Pro Bowl wideout made its way around the internet.
Miami Northwestern has actually been a factory for producing NFL talent. Tampa Bay Buccaneers star linebacker Lavonte David also attended high school here. As did Tutu Atwell, Artie Burns, Deandre Baker, Eli Rogers and the late Tray Walker, who tragically died in a biking accident in March 2016.
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Who knows what the future holds? Perhaps we’ll see Bridgewater and Cooper reunite at the NFL level some day…
Stephon Gilmore And Jadeveon Clowney
Gilmore and Clowney have been two of the NFL’s very best at their respective positions since entering the NFL.
During his tenure with the New England Patriots, Gilmore was the NFL’s premier shutdown cornerback. And when he was with the Houston Texans, Clowney was a game-wrecker of a pass-rusher and run-stopper.
Now, imagine being a high school QB and having to go up against this tandem. Clowney and Gilmore manned the defense of the South Pointe High School team in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
In 2008, this super duo led South Pointe to a state championship. How dominant was that ‘08 team? They outscored opponents 672-98 on the year.
Tyson Campbell, Patrick Surtain II And Marco Wilson
Campbell and Surtain are two of the best young cornerbacks in the NFL today, and Wilson himself is no slouch. Just imagine having to play offense against three future NFL cornerbacks in high school for crying out loud!
Campbell, Wilson and Surtain attended the American Heritage School which holds campuses in Delray Beach and Plantation, Florida. In news that won’t shock you, the super cornerback trio led the program to consecutive state championships.
All three men were taken in the 2021 NFL draft – Surtain ninth overall to the Denver Broncos, Campbell 33rd overall to the Jacksonville Jaguars and Wilson 136th overall to the Arizona Cardinals.
D’Andre Swift, John Reid And Jon Runyan Jr.
St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania isn’t short on graduates who went on to enjoy successful careers in the professional sports world. Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski went here, as did future NFL star Marvin Harrison Jr.
Running back D’Andre Swift, cornerback John Reid and offensive lineman Jon Runyan Jr. played on the St. Joseph’s football team together. Fittingly, all three of them were also taken in the 2020 draft.
Swift went 35th overall to the Detroit Lions, Reid 141st overall to the Houston Texans and Runyan 192nd overall to the Green Bay Packers. Pretty cool that Swift and Runyan got to play each other twice a season in the NFC North to begin their careers.
Jimmie Ward And Jaquiski Tartt
From high school teammates to NFL teammates, it’s been quite the journey together for the San veteran defensive backs.
Ward and Tartt, who are one year apart, played football together at W. P. Davidson High School in Mobile, Alabama. After graduating, Ward attended college at Northern Illinois, and Tartt went to the smaller and lesser-known Samford Bulldogs school.
Tartt and Ward were reunited at the NFL level when the 49ers took the former in the second round of the 2015 draft – one year after they selected Ward with the No. 30 selection. They were teammates for seven years together before Tartt left as a free agent in the 2022 offseason.
Christian Kirk And Byron Murphy
Another rare duo that got to play both high school football AND professional football together. Pretty cool story if you’re Kirk and Murphy.
These two attended Saguaro High School, in Scottsdale, Arizona together. Fun note: David Spade attended Saguaro high as well! Kirk flourished as an explosive wide receiver and running back. The versatile Murphy was both a wideout and a cornerback.
Kirk, two years older than Murphy, spent his college days at Texas A&M. After graduating high school, Murphy took his talents to Washington.
The two were reunited at the NFL level when the Cardinals drafted Murph 33rd overall in 2019 – one year after they spent the No. 47 selection on Kirk. The two played in The Desert together for three years before Kirk left to join the Jaguars in 2022 free agency.
Stefon Diggs And Kendall Fuller
Coaches at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Olney, Maryland really had it easy with these two on the field.
Diggs was one of the nation’s top wide receiver prospects during his final year of high school football. Fuller, two years younger than Diggs, won the U.S. Army All-American Defensive Player of the Year and also starred at track and field.
Diggs decided to stay close to home in college, having spent his college football days with the Maryland Terrapins. Fuller didn’t go too far, having taken his talents over to Virginia Tech.
Diggs has grown into one of the NFL’s best wide receivers, taking his game to a completely different level with the Buffalo Bills. Fuller has been a solid starting corner who won a Super Bowl 54 championship ring with the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2019 season.
Unfortunately, Fuller was inactive for the Chiefs’ 2019 home game against Diggs’ Minnesota Vikings. However, they did share the field in Week 3 of the 2021 season when Fuller’s Washington Commanders visited Diggs’ Bills, where Buffalo won soundly 43 to 21.
Cam Robinson And Xavier Woods
The veteran offensive lineman and the journeyman defensive back played high school football together at West Monroe High School in West Monroe, Louisiana..
Woods actually started out at West Monroe as a wide receiver before becoming a defensive back. The hulking Robinson was among the top offensive line prospects in the country during his tenure at West Monroe High, and he wound up joining the Alabama Crimson Tide program.
Robinson and Woods were both taken in the 2017 draft. The former went 34th overall to Jacksonville, and Woods went to the Dallas Cowboys in the sixth round at No. 191 overall.
Josh Palmer And Elijah Moore
Palmer was born in Brampton, Ontario, Canada but moved to the United States to continue his budding football career. Palmer attended St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, the same school that future New York Jets wideout Elijah Moore attended.
In fact, St. Thomas is one of the country’s best at pumping out NFL talents: Joey Bosa, Nick Bosa, Giovani Bernard and Asante Samuel Jr., just to name a few.
After starring at Tennessee, Palmer was drafted 77th overall by the Los Angeles Chargers in 2021 – uniting him with two other former St. Thomas graduates in Joey Bosa and Samuel Jr. That same year, Moore went 34th overall to the Jets.
Jevon Holland And Alijah Vera-Tucker
Like Josh Palmer, Holland was born in Canada before moving to the United States to pursue bigger football dreams. Needless to say, it worked out just fine.
Holland went to Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland, California, playing alongside future New York Jets standout guard Alijah Vera-Tucker. Holland was a wide receiver and a defensive back, and Vera-Tucker was both an offensive lineman and a defensive lineman.
Holland and Vera-Tucker stayed on the west coast for college, playing at Oregon at USC, respectively. Vera-Tucker was drafted 14th overall by the Jets in 2021, and Holland went drafted 36th overall to Miami.
From high school teammates to rivals in the AFC East – life’s a full circle my friends.
William Jackson III And Xavien Howard
Jackson was one of the NFL’s top corners in the 2020 season. Xavien Howard has been one of the NFL’s best since entering the league in 2016.
Seeing these two play in the NFL together would be one thing – but we feel awfully sorry for the wide receivers and quarterbacks who had to deal with these two in high school. Jackson and Howard starred together at Wheatley High School in Houston, Texas.
Several well-known athletes have actually come out of Wheatley High – including George Foreman and Lester Hayes.
Jabrill Peppers and Rashan Gary
Peppers was a running back and cornerback standout at Don Bosco Preparatory High School in Ramsey, New Jersey. He was also a star at track and field, but we obviously know which career path he decided to go down…
Peppers then transferred to Paramus Catholic High School in Paramus in Bergen County, New Jersey. That’s where he met and teamed up with future Green Bay Packers linebacker Rashan Gary – who had transferred from Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School in Union County.
In 2015, USA Today named Gary the High School Football Player of the Year – so you just knew then that his future was bright. The two men continued their journey together at the Michigan Wolverines’ program, where they both enjoyed success under Jim Harbaugh.
And both went on to become first-round picks. Peppers went 25th overall to the Cleveland Browns in 2017, and Gary went 12th overall to the Packers in 2019.
A.J. Terrell And Malik Willis
These two men attended Westlake High School in Atlanta, Georgia – same high school as Cam Newton by the way!
But for his final year of high school football, Willis transferred to Roswell High School in nearby Roswell. Willis saw limited playing time in his two years at Auburn before making the transfer to Liberty, where he broke out as an explosive dual-threat QB.
Terrell spent his college days at Clemson, winning a national championship there in 2018. He was drafted in the first round by his hometown Atlanta Falcons in 2020. Willis went in the third round to the Tennessee Titans in 2022.
Some Falcons fans hoped to see Willis fall to them in the 2022 draft, but Atlanta settled on Desmond Ridder at No. 74 overall. Maybe we’ll see him and Terrell on the same NFL team together down the road…
Foye Oluokun and Ezekiel Elliott
Oluokun and ‘Zeke’, both ‘95s, went to John Burroughs High in Ladue, Missouri.
Elliott was only, you know, the greatest athlete in John Burroughs high history. Not only was he off-the-charts good at football, but he was also a national star in track and field. ‘Zeke’ even played baseball and football there.
Oluokon played on special teams and later served as the blocking fullback for Elliott. The former, of course, made the positional switch and became a linebacker. After finishing his tenure at Yale, he was drafted in the sixth round by the Atlanta Falcons in 2018.
As for Zeke? We all know how things played out there. He was a beast as Ohio State, leading the Buckeyes to a national championship in 2014. The Dallas Cowboys drafted him fourth overall in 2016, and he has since pieced together a Hall of Fame-like career with two rushing titles on his resume.
How fun would it be to see these reunite in the NFL some day? We know Oluokon is a linebacker now, but maybe for old times’ sake, he could make the switch to fullback for Elliott? Hey, one can only dream….
