East Coast Spotlight: Rankings questions to be answered in fall

Whether there is a football season next fall and what that looks like continues to be debated and discussed at high school athletic associations across the country. If a season does take place, it will be the first time seeing the majority of the top college prospects since the end of last season. Here are six big questions we are looking to get answered in the East Coast this fall.

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There are some really talented defensive linemen on the East Coast this year and there will probably end up being some shuffling of the order at the top once this season is over. Monkell Goodwine, Payton Page, and Tywone Malone are currently the top defensive linemen in the region but all three have something to prove this season when it comes to showing their development. North Carolina commit Keeshawn Silver may get up into this group too. Goodwine and Page are working on becoming more consistent players. Malone, even though he hasn’t limited his focus to only football, could end up being the best of the bunch. Silver is pretty far from his ceiling and this season should help us understand how quickly he could make an impact at the college level.

Many defensive linemen in the region are hoping big senior seasons push them up the rankings. South Carolina native Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, Maryland commit Tommy Akingbesote, Virginia native George Wilson, and Clemson commit Zaire Patterson are just a few defensive linemen we’ll have our eye on this season after everybody missed out on their evaluation during this spring.

Tristian Leigh, Nolan Rucci, and Landon Tengwall are all ranked in the top 40 in the Rivals250 and each have a chance to earn their fifth star this season. Leigh and Rucci are quick, athletic offensive tackles with excellent pass blocking skills that are in line with the current trends at the position. Tengwall, a Penn State commit, has the strength and run blocking skills to make an early impact at the college level as long as his pass blocking abilities have progressed.

While those three are fighting for their fifth stars, players like four-star Drew Kendall and three-stars Deigo Pounds, Tennessee commit Colby Smith, and Michigan commit Tristan Bounds will be looking to prove a lot of the doubters wrong. Kendall is already ranked pretty highly but he has some critics that like to point out how he has a long way to go before being physically ready for the college game. Pounds, Smith, and Bounds each have a ton of potential at the college level and beyond but they’ll have to quiet some concerns about their physical, technical, and competitive qualities this season.

Many of the rankings questions over the last few months in the region have circled around defensive backs Donovan McMillon, Ryan Barnes, and Daymon David. Barnes, a Notre Dame commit, has the physical tools to compete with almost any receiver but there are questions about his quickness and if that will lead to him ending up as a safety at the next level. Both David and McMillan are going to be safeties in college but neither have been tested against players with elite speed or quarterbacks with top flight accuracy or arm strength. This season will give everybody a more complete look at each of their games and will help determine where they should move in the rankings.

It is a loaded year in North Carolina and the race for the top linebacker spot could end up being a very close one. North Carolina commits Raneiria Dillworth and Power Echols are the favorites to finish as the top linebacker, but Jordan Poole has piqued our interest. Dillworth and Echols are four-stars with immediate impact potential. Dillworth is a superb athlete that can make players all over the field and is very productive while Echols is a thumper at inside linebacker and plays with great instincts. Poole is similar to Dillworth in that he is a great athlete but may not be as big.

All three of these players have to answer questions about their development this season and it should end up being a close race to finish as the top linebacker in North Carolina.

There are some big-time offensive prospects in the region this year and a few have a shot to earn their fifth star or to push for a spot in the Rivals250. Quarterbacks Kyle McCord and Drake Maye have been outstanding in the past and this was going to be a big spring for them. McCord, an Ohio State commit, has been so close to five-star status for a long time and another chance to show off his progress might have sealed the deal. There could be a big boost coming for Maye if he’s able to duplicate his productivity and efficiency from last year. The North Carolina commit has a big arm and is plenty accurate, but it will be interesting to see how he does this season now that his team isn’t far and away more talented than this opponents.

A few other offensive playmakers that will be under the microscope this season are Ohio State running back commit TreVeyon Henderson, Louisville running back commit Trevion Cooley, West Virginia wide receiver commit Kaden Prather, and Penn State commit Lonnie White. All four of these players look like they could have immediate impact potential and they have been working on improving the finer points of their games this offseason. Missing out on evaluation opportunities this spring hurt them in the rankings, but they could erase all of that this fall.

Every fall there are a few players that aren’t on the national radar or are just under-recruited that suddenly become very well-known in the recruiting world. This fall there could be more of these players in the East region because the pandemic essentially canceled the spring evaluation period. Offensive tackle Ryan O’Hair is one of those players that could have seen his recruitment explode this spring. The Pennsylvania native played in a reserve role last season at 6-foot-6, 220-pounds but not he’s up to 6-foot-8, 290-pounds. Seeing some great tape from him in the early part of the season could really jumpstart his recruitment.

Running back Sieh Bangura was stuck playing behind five-star MarShawn Lloyd last season at powerhouse Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha, but he is ready to carry the load this season. Wide receiver Umari Hatcher and defensive tackle T.J. Sanders have a few Power Five offers but the recruiting spotlight could find them this season.