Best offensive players to ever come from the state of South Carolina

With all the talk about which state all-star team would beat who in regards to Georgia, Texas, California, and Florida, let’s take a look at the best players at each position from South Carolina.

To make this, the criteria were simply to have been born and graduated from high school in the state of South Carolina and have spent at least one season in the NFL. Sure, there are a lot of Clemson players on this list, but there are quite a few that either the Tigers did not recruit or did not sign.

The one thing that became apparent when researching this topic is that the state of South Carolina has produced some ridiculous players on the defensive side of the ball.

This will be a two-part series so we will publish the offense first followed by the defense the following afternoon. Here are the best offensive players to come from the state of South Carolina.

Quarterback

Woodrow Dantzer – Orangeburg, SC – Orangeburg Wilkerson HS – Clemson University

As mentioned earlier, there were not a whole lot of choices in terms of quarterbacks, but this seems to be a pretty easy choice. Woody was the first college football player in the history of the game to pass for more than 2,000 yards and rush for at least 1,000 yards in the same season.

Running Back

Stephen Davis – Spartanburg, SC – Spartanburg HS – Auburn University

Davis was the top player in the 1992 class and was awarded the USA Today offensive players of the year award and would take his talent to Auburn, Alabama and play for Terry Bowden during the three years he lettered.

He would leave Auburn after 1995 and was a fourth-round pick of the Washington Redskins. He spent a decade in the NFL playing for three teams and retired after the 2006 season.

Wide Receiver

Roddy White – James Island, SC – James Island HS – University of Alabama-Birmingham

The former Atlanta Falcons first-round pick ended his NFL career with more than 10,000 yards receiving. In high school, White as a two-time state champion wrestler for James Island and was a two-time all-state football player.

A.J. Green – Summerville, SC – Summerville HS – University of Georgia

Played for legendary high school John McKissick a Summerville HS. Chose UGA over both Clemson and South Carolina wanting to go play for Mark Richt.

While at UGA, he was a two time All American and a two-time All-SEC receiver. He has been selected to seven NFL Pro-Bowls and currently has just under 9,000 yards receiving in his NFL career.

Deandre Hopkins – Central, SC – Daniel HS – Clemson University

Played football, basketball and ran track at Daniel and led them to a state basketball championship in his senior year of high school.

Spent just three years at Clemson where he is tied for first in career receiving touchdowns with Sammy Watkins and Tee Higgins. It is widely considered to be among the top two receivers in the NFL and was recently traded from the Houston Texans to the Arizona Cardinals.

Tight End

Lamont Hall – Clover, SC – Clover HS – Clemson University

Another position that is not real deep from the state of South Carolina.

A former Tiger who spent six seasons in the NFL with several different teams. After retiring, he returned to Clemson to finish his degree in Education.

Offensive Line

Like quarterbacks and tight ends, there just have not been a lot of good offensive linemen from the state of South Carolina. There have been a few to come out of high school and make it the NFL but not many. If this list were to be re-done in a few years, you will probably see this list change a lot, especially with the instate linemen heading to Clemson.

• Brad Hopkins – Columbia, SC – Moline HS – University of Illinois

• Travelle Wharton – Greenville, SC – Simpsonville HS – University of South Carolina

• Jonathan Goodwin – Columbia, SC – Hopkins Lower Richland HS – University of Michigan

• A.J. Cann – Bamberg, SC – Bamberg HS – University of South Carolina

• Dalton Freeman – Pelion, SC – Pelion HS – Clemson University