A.J. Green: Was the Georgia Bulldogs WR This Good Coming Out of High School?

As the NFL lockout drags on, one of the bright spots for the league in 2011—perhaps the last one—is next month's NFL draft. Right now, many teams are shuffling and tweaking their draft boards and getting ready for their next round of draft meetings.

Scouts are all across the country doing their cross checks and attending pro days at schools with top prospects. One of those schools is Georgia, which hosted its pro day this week, featuring the No. 1 receiver prospect in the draft: A.J. Green.

While there has been chatter recently that Julio Jones of Alabama is gaining ground on Green as the top receiver in the draft, many still feel Green will hear his name called before Jones next month.

As the top player at his position and a "three-and-outer" at Georgia, you have to ask yourself: How good was A.J. Green coming out of high school?

The answer? Very.

I do have to add that, in high school, like many, I had Jones No. 1 and Green No. 2 as prep stars, but since they've been at Alabama and Georgia respectively, Green has been a bit more productive.

Green was a 5-star recruit in 2008 out of Summerville, S.C. He's one of the best players ever from the Palmetto State and totaled over 1,400 yards and 15 touchdowns as a senior. He was a tall and lanky kid with long, skinny arms but silky-smooth athleticism.

Green was a natural high school player who showed tremendous ball skills, concentration, catch-in-crowd ability and a large catch radius.

I had some reservations about Green's deep speed at the time, but that was because his movement skills were so effortless and smooth that it didn't seem like Green played fast.

Today, Green's release quickness off the line and separation quickness are fantastic. He proved on the regular in Athens that he can get behind a secondary with his deep speed too.

At 6'4" and 185 pounds in high school, it was easy to see that Green could tack on another 15 or 20 pounds without losing a step. Today he stands in the 6'4", 200-pound range and has been timed in the high 4.3 to low 4.4 range in the 40-yard dash.

While he's still not a thickly built receiver like Terrell Owens or Larry Fitzgerald, I've noticed that Green has developed the needed strength to fight off press corners and hold up health-wise as a pro.

As a high school senior, Green was a Gatorade National Player of the Year candidate, made numerous All-American teams and was considered one of the best receiver prospects by prep football talent evaluators in recent memory.

He was so highly regarded that he had scholarship offers from Michigan, Florida State, Notre Dame, LSU, South Carolina, Clemson and Georgia by the time he was just in 10th grade.

Yet he grew up a Georgia fan and pledged to Mark Richt two full years before he signed with the Bulldogs.

Today, Green is viewed as one of the better receiving prospects to come into the draft in recent years, and much is expected of him. The Carolina Panthers are looking at him with the No. 1 overall pick, and he is not expected to fall out of the top six selections.

He's a future NFL star that burst onto the national spotlight as a 6'4", 185-pound, tall and skinny receiver from South Carolina, yet was viewed as a five-star college recruit and future collegiate star.