A Pro Football Hall of Famer, a Super Bowl MVP and a 10,000-yard NFL rusher are among the players selected to the AJC Super 11 team of the 1990s.
The AJC Super 11 team, the newspaper’s annual preseason list of its top high school football players in the state, made its debut in the summer of 1985. The players on the all-decade team were among the 99 players chosen to the Super 11 team from 1990-99 and – more important for this project -- their high school, college and professional accomplishments were all a part of the selection process.
Champ Bailey was selected to the AJC Super 11 team in 1995 and eventually finished his career at Charlton County High School with nearly 6,000 all-purpose yards as a running back, quarterback and return man. Bailey was named the nation’s top defensive player in his final season at the University of Georgia in 1998 and was selected seventh overall in the 1999 NFL draft.
Bailey played 15 seasons in the NFL and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2019.
Hines Ward (1993) was an all-state quarterback at Forest Park High School and had nearly 4,000 yards rushing, passing and receiving in four seasons at Georgia. A third-round pick by Pittsburgh in the 1998 NFL draft, Ward finished his 13-year career as the franchise leader in receptions and yards receiving and was named MVP of the Steelers’ 21-10 victory over Seattle that capped the 2005 season.
Jamal Lewis (1996) had a school-record 4,879 rushing yards in three seasons at Frederick Douglass High School in Atlanta. Lewis added 2,677 yards in three seasons at Tennessee, including the Volunteers’ championship season of 1998.
Selected fifth overall in the 2000 NFL draft, Lewis rushed for 2,066 yards in 2003 (currently the third most in a season in league history) and 10,607 yards in nine NFL seasons.
Here’s the complete list of the players selected on the AJC Super 11 team of the 1990s.
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