The Pro Football Hall of Fame ceremonies were just a few weeks ago, and while guys like Peyton Manning and Charles Woodson got most of the attention, one of the most underrated running backs in the history of the sport went in too.
That would be Edgerrin James. James is actually one of the top 15 rushers in the history of the NFL, with seven 1,000 yard seasons, yet rarely gets mentioned among the all-time greats in the sport.
(He was also the backbone of the resurgence of Miami football in the late 1990's, but that's another conversation for another day)
Anyway, I bring all this up to say that Edge was wildly underrated, and it appears as though his son Eden is following in his footsteps. A lightly recruited running back in the class of 2022 (we'll get to that in a minute) Eden BALLED out this weekend, facing one of the best teams in the state of Florida.
The younger James finished with 287 yards rushing with two touchdowns, as his high school Treasure Coast in Port Saint Lucie, Florida, upset American Heritage of Plantation, Florida. American Heritage was the No. 7 ranked team coming into the season according to MaxPreps coming into the season and is the reigning 5A state champion in Florida. They had six players drafted in the most recent NFL Draft, and prominent alums include Rams running back Sony Michel and Patrick Surtain Jr.
Instead, it was James who was the best player on the field.
Unfortunately, it appears as though there are limited highlights of the game (at least as of right now), outside of a few posts on Instagram . Still, it's clear the kid is a baller, running all over a defense that has a bunch of future Power 5 players.
If you see the caption in the video, it's clear that the younger James hasn't picked up much interest from colleges. Only Miami and Indiana have show interest among Power 5's so far, according to an interview the James family did with 247 Sports.
However, apparently that is by design, according to the elder James. Here is what he said to 247 Sports' Andrew Ivins:
"I'm the least concerned about him getting into school. We know that he's going to get into school," the elder James explained. "I don't want him to get pulled this way or that way. These kids are being distracted too much. And that's a problem. A lot of them set themselves up for disappointment. So, my thing is just work and perform. He's going to be one of the smartest football players to play the game because I have already taught him everything about the game and he plays the position I play. The football part is easy. We just want him to make the smartest decision all around."
Again though, it seems like that will change after Friday's performance.
Highlights are limited, but here are a few from last season.
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