Hudl's Top 5 High School Football Runs of 2014

These five stunning runs by remarkable high school athletes comprise the full array of excellent rushes. They range from a superb return of a squib kick to a pair of spectacular punt run-backs—not to mention a ferocious double stiff-arm touchdown and a fantastic front flip that would score a 10 from gymnastics judges.

Ross Bowers

Bothell High School's Ross Bowers looks like a prototypical pocket passer, talented enough to be recruited out of Washington state by Cal football and to make the finals of the ESPN Rise Elite 11 competition. He also benefits from both parents coaching college athletics, with his father as an assistant in James Madison University's football program and his mother a gymnastics coach at the University of Washington.  

If you like raw athleticism and body control, look no further than this play where Bowers remains in the pocket, goes through his progressions and, finding his receivers covered, rolls away from the defense and flashes to the end zone with a headlong dive. He absorbs the hit, tumbles forward and lands on his feet, proving the worth of all those hours spent trampolining.

Jordan Woodson

When these opponents deployed a squib kick against Tennessee's Mount Pleasant High, they didn't plan on Jordan Woodson picking it up. Woodson began the run back with incredible patience, waiting on his blockers and judiciously picking a lane up the field.

Even after he found a path along the near sideline, it required two incredible moves from him—first, obliterating a tackler at the opposition's 45-yard line like Bo Jackson, and then pulling off a nimble cutback move to avoid two more tackles and cruising into the end zone with a caravan of teammates.

Markell Vaugh

Markell Vaugh of Omaha North Varsity Football in Nebraska had no business returning this punt. Instead of signaling for a fair catch, Vaugh fielded the punt and did well just to advance it 15 yards to his own 40, where he appeared to be all bottled up.

Then Vaugh juked and jived until a lane opened along the sideline, and he sprinted up and across the field to eventually find the end zone. His punt return lasted a lung-busting 25 seconds.

Kimani Vidal

When Woodward Academy's Kimani Vidal took the toss right, he beat the first defender to the outside and secured the first down.

Where some running backs might have settled for that and cruised out of bounds, Vidal broke out back-to-back devastating stiff arms and then skipped out of a third tackle for the touchdown. That was truly some "dirty South" running from the Georgia kid.

Austin Fay

Representing Glenwood Varsity Football from Chatham, Illinois, Austin Fay fielded a line-drive punt and got clobbered at the 48-yard line. Then he got hooked around the neck at the 50 and driven back. He absorbed two more hits, but he still refused to go down.

Proving practically impervious to opposing defenders, Fay sprinted 45 yards upfield and broke another tackle before finally getting brought down inside the 5-yard line. 

*These plays were uploaded to Hudl.com—a leading video service for coaches, players and recruiters—and hand-picked by their staff from thousands of submissions. Hudl "helps athletes and coaches win" with video analysis tools usable on any computer or mobile device.