Maurice Jones-Drew - Early Years

Early Years

Jones-Drew was born in Oakland, California; his name at birth was Maurice Christopher Drew. He graduated from De La Salle High School in Concord, California. De La Salle owns the longest winning streak in high school football history at 151 games. The football teams he played on never lost a single game during his 3-year career. He was an elusive, high-scoring running back and return specialist on offense and a punishing linebacker on defense, he also played four official college games as a corner-back. Jones-Drew somersaulted into the national consciousness on October 6, 2001, when, as a junior, he scored all four of De La Salle's touchdowns in a 29-15 nationally-televised victory over Long Beach Poly in the first game that ever matched up the nation's No. 1 and No. 2 ranked high school football teams. On the Spartans' opening drive, Jones-Drew received a short pass in the right flat on third-and-eight from the Poly 25-yard line. He broke a tackle and then sprinted down the right sideline before launching a spectacular forward somersault into the end zone. Drew next scored on a 29-yard reception on fourth down in which he ran a circle route out of the backfield down the left sideline and hauled in an over-the-shoulder touch pass at the goal line from quarterback Matt Gutierrez. Drew’s third touchdown came in the second quarter when he burst through the line, shook off two tacklers, before hitting paydirt 17 yards later. Drew’s final score salted away the historic De La Salle victory. It was a similar effort to his third touchdown and came on a 22-yard run with just under 7 minutes remaining. Drew finished with nine carries for 86 yards and three catches for another 79 yards. During his junior season, Jones-Drew rushed for nearly 2000 yards, averaged nearly 12 yards per carry, and scored 26 touchdowns. He was rated the No. 1 all-purpose back in the nation by rivals.com. He is pictured outrunning a slew of defenders on the cover of the book When the Game Stands Tall, which chronicles the De La Salle Spartans' all-time-record 151-game winning streak.