3 Texas high school football teams nationally ranked entering 2024

DeSoto is top team in SBLive/Sports Illustrated Preseason Power 25 from Lone Star State; 3 more make honorable mention

Duncanville (Texas) coach Reginald Sample holds up the UIL 6A Division I 2023 state championship trophy. / Photo by Tommy Hays

Texas high school football is typically home to many of the country's top teams and players each year, and 2024 is no exception.

Three schools from the Lone Star State appeared in the SBLive/SI Power 25 Preseason national high school football rankings, released Tuesday: No. 5 DeSoto, No. 9 Duncanville and No. 11 North Shore.

North Crowley, Southlake Carroll and Austin Westlake debuted on the bubble just outside of the top 25.

Texas' three schools are second-most of any state to Florida's four.

At the end of the 2023 season, DeSoto finished the No. 2 team in the country and No. 1 in Texas after going 15-0, beating Duncanville 49-35 and winning a repeat 6A Division II UIL state title in dominant fashion.

To put the Panthers' dominance into perspective, at the time, Duncanville had won 47 straight district games in a row and hadn't lost a game at all since the 2021 state title.

The much-awaited 6A District 11 rematch is slated for Oct. 11.

DeSoto graduated quarterback DJ Bailey and some 10 starters, but coach Claude Mathis returns the bulk of his core.

That includes wideout Daylon Singleton, 4-star Texas A&M commit Deondrae Riden at running back, TCU-bound defensive end Keylan Abrams and hulking 6-foot-7 offensive tackle Byron Washington — and has welcomed several high-impact transfers.

>> SBLive 2023 All-Texas high school football teams, awards

Duncanville loses a comparable number of starters, and returns Oregon-bound Dakorien Moore, the nation's No. 1 receiver and Alabama-committed QB Keelon Russell, among others.

The Panthers' district loss to DeSoto proved to ultimately be a blip on its parallel repeat state championship run in 6A Division I.

They faced North Shore for the fifth time in six years on the stage — a perennial Houston vs. Dallas-area superstar prize fight — and won 49-33.

North Shore swept its way to a 6A District 21 title, finished 15-1 in 2023 and returns 14 starters, headlined by Ohio State commit Devin Sanchez, the nation's top rated cornerback, and dynamic fourth-year starting QB Kaleb Bailey.

Dive into the rest of the preseason national rankings here:

>> SBLive/SI Top 25 preseason high school football rankings

-- Andy Buhler | andy@scorebooklive.com | @sblivetx