Before he was shattering rookie records for the Detroit Lions or bullying defenders in the Big Ten, Sam LaPorta was just a skinny kid from a small town in Southern Illinois who couldn't get a Power Five coach to return his calls. Seriously. If you look at the Sam LaPorta high school career in hindsight, it feels like a glitch in the recruiting matrix. How does a guy who finished his career with the second-most receiving touchdowns in Illinois state history end up as a three-star recruit with basically zero big-time offers until the eleventh hour?
Highland, Illinois, isn’t exactly a massive recruiting hotbed. It's a town of about 10,000 people where high school football is the biggest thing going on a Friday night. But even by small-town standards, what LaPorta did at Highland High School was absurd. He wasn't even a tight end back then. He was a lanky, 6-foot-4 wide receiver and safety who treated the IHSA record books like a personal checklist.
The Numbers That Should Have Been Impossible
Most people know LaPorta as the Iowa tight end who became Jared Goff's favorite target. But at Highland, he was a pure wideout who specialized in making every defensive back in the area look silly. Honestly, his stat line looks like something you’d see in a video game.
During his three years on varsity, LaPorta racked up 3,793 receiving yards and 50 touchdowns. Just think about that for a second. Fifty touchdowns. In the history of Illinois high school football—a state that has produced some serious NFL talent—only one person has ever caught more touchdown passes. That kind of production usually gets you five stars and a personal visit from Nick Saban. For Sam? It got him an offer from Bowling Green.
Breakout Seasons at Highland
- Junior Year (2017): This was the year people started to notice. He caught 67 passes for 1,387 yards and 20 touchdowns. He was basically the entire offense.
- Senior Year (2018): He somehow got better. 68 receptions, 1,457 yards, and 19 more touchdowns.
- The Defensive Side: We don't talk about this enough, but he was a first-team All-Area safety too. He had 150 return yards on interceptions his junior year and 138 more as a senior. He was just a better athlete than everyone else on the field.
The craziest part? He wasn't even just a football player. He was a Class 3A All-State basketball player, too. You can still see those basketball roots in his game today—the way he boxes out defenders and high-points the ball in the red zone.
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Why Did Everyone Miss on Him?
It’s the question every scout in the Midwest probably hates answering. Basically, LaPorta fell into that "tweener" trap. He was a wide receiver in high school, but he didn't have the blazing 4.3 speed that the elite programs wanted for that position. At the same time, he was only about 200 or 210 pounds at the time—way too light to play tight end in the Big Ten.
Recruiters are often obsessed with "measurable" potential rather than actual production. They saw a kid playing against smaller schools in Southern Illinois and wondered if those 3,700 yards were just a product of the competition.
The 11th-Hour Save by Iowa
Honestly, Sam LaPorta was basically a Bowling Green Falcon. He had the gear. He had the relationship with the coaches. He was ready to go. Then, on December 13, 2018—literally five days before the early signing period—the University of Iowa finally called.
Kirk Ferentz and his staff are famous for finding these "diamonds in the rough," but even they were late to the party. They told him straight up: "You’re not a wide receiver here. You're a tight end."
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It wasn't an easy sell. Sam’s mom, Staci, has mentioned in interviews that the last-second offer actually kind of annoyed Sam at first. He didn't have a relationship with the Iowa coaches. He felt like an afterthought. But the "Tight End U" reputation is hard to ignore. After a whirlwind official visit where he hung out with future NFL players, he drove back to Highland, played a basketball game against Centralia the next day, and then committed to the Hawkeyes.
The Highland Legacy
If you go to Highland today, you’ll see kids wearing No. 87 Lions jerseys everywhere. He’s the hometown hero who actually comes back. In July 2025, he was back at Highland High School running a youth camp, standing on the same turf where he used to torch cornerbacks for 60-yard scores.
What’s interesting is how his high school experience shaped his NFL success. At Highland, he wasn't asked to block much. He was the "go-to" guy. When he got to Iowa, he had to learn the gritty, unglamorous part of the position. That mix of wide receiver ball skills and the "Iowa-style" blocking toughness is exactly why he’s a Pro Bowler today.
What Most People Get Wrong About His High School Days
A lot of folks assume he was always this massive, physically dominant force. He wasn't. He was a skinny, wiry kid who worked his way into a 245-pound frame. He was also a three-year Academic All-State selection. The guy was as smart in the classroom as he was on the field.
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Advice for young athletes looking at the Sam LaPorta story:
- Multi-sport participation matters. His basketball background is cited by NFL scouts as a reason for his elite body control.
- Production over hype. Don't worry about being a "two-star" or "three-star" recruit. Fifty touchdowns is fifty touchdowns. The right eyes will eventually find you.
- Be ready to pivot. He could have insisted on playing wide receiver at a smaller school. Instead, he embraced a position change that led him to the first round of the NFL draft.
The story of Sam LaPorta at Highland High School is a reminder that the recruiting services don't always get it right. Sometimes, the best tight end in the NFL is just a wide receiver from a small town waiting for a single Power Five offer.
If you're tracking his current career, keep an eye on how the Lions use him in "jump ball" situations—it's the exact same way the Bulldogs used him back in 2018. The stage is bigger, but the player is very much the same.
Next Steps for Fans:
- Check out the IHSA record books to see where Sam still stands in the top three for career receiving yardage.
- Watch his senior year highlights on Hudl to see him playing safety—it explains a lot about his physicality as a blocker now.
- If you're in Southern Illinois, visit Highland's trophy case; his All-State honors are still the gold standard for the program.