10 high school football players to watch in Week 1: Baylor, Texas commits face-off

Texas high school football is back, and programs in the Dallas-area will begin taking the field this week.

Here are 10 Dallas-area players to watch during Week 1 of the 2024 Texas high school football season.

Riley Pettijohn, McKinney, LB

McKinney at Frisco Emerson, 7 p.m. Thursday at the Ford Center at The Star

The five-star Ohio State pledge is the No. 2-ranked linebacker in Texas and had an extraordinary 125 tackles as a junior to go with eight sacks. He will be facing an Emerson team that averaged 51.9 points per game — best among area 5A schools — and 450.8 yards of total offense during a run to the Class 5A Division II state semifinals.

Edward Griffin, Coppell, QB

Sachse at Coppell, 7 p.m. Friday

The Baylor pledge threw for 288 yards and five touchdowns in last year’s 44-41 win over Sachse, and he had four touchdown passes in the second half. This could be another high-scoring affair, as Sachse ranked fifth among area 6A teams in passing (271.6 yards per game) and returns five-star Texas pledge Kaliq Lockett, the nation’s No. 3-ranked wide receiver who had five catches for 154 yards and a touchdown against Coppell last year.

Javian Osborne, Forney, RB

Lake Highlands at Forney, 7 p.m. Friday at City Bank Stadium

The four-star junior is rated the fourth-best running back in the nation in the Class of 2026 after he ran for 2,204 yards and 38 touchdowns as Forney reached its first state semifinal since 2002. Forney has moved up to Class 6A in realignment, and its first game in the new classification will be against a Lake Highlands team that is coming off a 9-3 season — the third time in four years that it has won at least nine games.

Bryson Jones, Frisco Lone Star, WR

Argyle at Frisco Lone Star, 7 p.m. Friday at the Ford Center at The Star

Lone Star four-star running back Davian Groce gets a ton of attention, and rightfully so after he had a combined 1,796 yards and 22 touchdowns rushing and receiving as a sophomore last year. But Jones, a four-star Texas Tech pledge, is rated the 12th-best wide receiver in Texas and had 64 catches for 1,092 yards and 15 touchdowns in an offense that ranked fourth among area 5A teams in passing yards per game (244.8).

Taz Williams Jr., Red Oak, WR

Red Oak at Colleyville Heritage, 7 p.m. Friday at Mustang-Panther Stadium

The four-star Baylor pledge had six 100-yard games en route to amassing 80 catches for 1,251 yards and 14 touchdowns. There should be plenty of fireworks in the passing game, as Colleyville Heritage ranked second in passing yards per game and Red Oak was third among area 5A teams last year.

Gracen Harris, Ennis, WR

Ennis at Waxahachie, 7 p.m. Friday

Going into the 103rd meeting between these teams, the all-time series is tied 50-50-2 in the “Battle of 287.” Harris, an Oklahoma pledge who is the fifth-ranked wide receiver in the Dallas area, will try to help Ennis end a two-game losing streak in the series.

Kevin Sperry, Denton Guyer, QB

Aledo at Denton Guyer, 7:30 p.m. Friday at C.H. Collins Complex

The four-star Oklahoma pledge makes his Guyer debut after transferring from Carl Albert (Okla.), where he accounted for 42 touchdowns for Oklahoma’s Class 5A state champion. He will face an Aledo team that has won back-to-back Class 5A Division I state titles and beat Guyer 48-45 last year on a field goal on the last play of the game.

Jamarion Phillips, South Oak Cliff, LB

South Oak Cliff at Galena Park North Shore, 7:30 p.m. Friday

Phillips had 95 tackles, 22 tackles for loss and 14 sacks as a sophomore and has picked up offers from Ohio State, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas A&M, among others. He will look to slow down a prolific North Shore offense led by star quarterback Kaleb Bailey, who accounted for 52 touchdowns and 4,244 yards of total offense for last year’s Class 6A Division I state runner-up.

Chris Jimerson Jr., North Crowley, QB

North Crowley vs. Lancaster, 2 p.m. Saturday at the Ford Center at The Star

The North Texas pledge is one of the state’s most dangerous dual-threat quarterbacks, as he showed last year when he threw for 3,092 yards and 40 touchdowns and ran for 1,105 yards and 12 touchdowns to lead North Crowley to its first state semifinal since 2003. Jimerson accounted for at least three touchdowns in 11 of North Crowley’s 15 games, and he had one game with seven touchdown passes and two other games in which he accounted for six touchdowns.

Deondrae “Tiger” Riden Jr., DeSoto, RB

Creekside (Ga.) at DeSoto, 5 p.m. Saturday

The four-star Texas A&M pledge has had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons despite missing five games and getting only 137 carries last season during an injury plagued junior year. He is healthy now and makes DeSoto’s offense even more explosive than a year ago, when it averaged 53.4 points and 516.2 yards of total offense while winning its second straight Class 6A Division II state title.

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