Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay downplays his 2003 Class AAAA player-of-the-year status, recently calling it a "team award" when asked about how he beat out the likes of Calvin Johnson to get it.

It's true that McVay played on the better team, but he certainly helped make it that way. Marist in 2003 won the state title, only the second in a long history of outstanding Marist teams. McVay rushed for 109 yards in the championship game, a 21-6 victory over Statesboro.

On the season, he rushed for 1,128 yards and passed for 1,107. McVay had rushed and passed for more than 1,000 yards in both his junior and senior seasons. He also played defensive back.

Though not a major college prospect, certainly not at Johnson's level, McVay could make an impact on a game in more ways as a triple-option quarterback whose mind was a weapon. He is the grandson of former San Francisco 49ers GM John McVay.

"He was like a coach on the field," Marist coach Alan Chadwick told Andy Benoit of SI.com shortly after the Rams hired McVay this year. "He saw things that a lot of players don't see. He felt things a lot of players don't feel. And he was able to adapt and make things happen on his own."

McVay chose to play receiver in college at Miami of Ohio, turning down offers to be an option quarterback at Rice, Air Force and Navy. He never fully recovered from broken ankle as a redshirt freshman, but he did OK as a coach. At age 31, he's now the youngest head man in the NFL.

Here are GHSF Daily's choices as the best players in the history of the current Region 7-AAAA schools.

*Blessed Trinity: Conor Davis (2014)

*Chestatee: Chase Vasser (2008)

*Marist: Sean McVay (2003)

*West Hall: Martrez Milner (2001)

*White County: Jesse Dorsey (1972)