U.S. Army All-American Game: Is Dorial Green-Beckham Really the No. 1 Recruit?

No recruit in the country garnered as much attention during the summer of 2011 as WR Dorial Green-Beckham out of Missouri’s Hillcrest High School. 

Green-Beckham is only a high school senior but he’s already starting to grow into an absolute man-child, and his physical abilities are simply far too advanced for the high school game at this point in his development.

Because of his imposing 6’6’’, 225-pound frame, D.G.B. has already started evoking comparisons to the likes of physically freakish NFL receivers like Calvin Johnson and Andre Johnson, and when you pair the type of athleticism that he possesses with that type of body, you create a truly rare receiver recruit.

Green-Beckham holds scholarship offers from every major school in the country, including Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, LSU, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas and USC.

There’s a reason that every school in the country wants a piece of this special specimen, and it’s because they all know that he has a chance to be the next great one.

A.J. Green, Julio Jones, Justin Blackmon, Calvin Johnson—if Green-Beckham can live up his potential—he could have a comparable impact to any of those four recent star receivers.

There’s no doubt that Dorial Green-Beckham is worth the hype, but it’s fair to ask if he’s truly the No. 1 overall prospect of the 2012 class, which is what he’s been being sold as for so long.

The 2012 group is full of future college stars, some of which were on display last night at the Under Armour All-American game in St. Petersburg, and some of which, like Green-Beckham, will be on display in Saturday’s U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

A few of the stars from last night include RB Johnathan Gray, who is headed to Texas, DE Mario Edwards, who is headed to Florida State, DE Noah Spence, who is headed to Ohio State, DT Eddie Goldman, OT D.J. Humphries and DE Darius Hamilton.

All are five-star caliber prospects and all can definitely make a case as to why they deserve to be rated as the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2012 class.

Still, when it comes to potential and future impact, there’s simply no recruit that can compare to Dorial Green-Beckham.

Size, speed, hands, hops, route-running ability, intangibles, he’s got all the traits you’re looking for in a future star receiver.

Since he’s so physically superior to most of the players he squares off against in high school, it’s hard to judge Green-Beckham based off of the few grainy highlights we get to see of him, but when you look at him as a receiver, he’s just the absolute complete package as far as skills are concerned.

In this spread offense era of college football, you want to have as many offensive playmakers as possible, and D.G.B. is definitely the type of difference-maker that can help an offense overwhelm a defense.

You can’t build them any better than Dorial Green-Beckham, and if he lives up to his enormous hype and potential, he’s going to make the fans of some school very happy for the next few years.