Five Midwest prospects who have impressed on film
In the absence of in-person evaluations, the Rivals analyst team has been going back through video from the 2019 high school football season. Today, Midwest Analyst Josh Helmholdt looks at five prospects who have impressed him on film that he has not yet seen in-person.
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Allen and his safety teammate Rod Moore have blown up with offers in the last two months, and both are now among the most heavily-recruited prospects in Ohio’s 2021 class. Allen had a very productive junior season, recording more than 1,000 receiving yards and scoring 15 touchdowns.
He is an easy-mover who glides across the field and always has great field awareness, which allows him to make the tough catches few others can. I spoke with Allen last week and Michigan, Pittsburgh and Virginia were starting to emerge from his list of offers, but he is still pretty early in a process that really did not get going until last month.
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The recent Iowa Hawkeyes commit is one of the most intriguing prospects in the Midwest for me during the 2021 cycle. DeJean lead his team to a state title by passing for more than 3,500 yards and rushing for over 1,300 yards, but he will likely play on defense for the Hawkeyes. He checks boxes up and down the attribute chart from size to speed to football IQ.
Then, he averaged over 25 points per game on the basketball court this past season, where one of his most-played highlights was going coast-to-coast and dunking over a defender. DeJean is certainly a unique athlete and we are just starting to get an understanding of the breadth of his talent.
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The Commonwealth of Kentucky returned to my coverage area in February, and I have been going back through the film of several top Bluegrass State prospects in the 2021 class. Dunn’s film particularly stood out to me, and I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing him live later this off-season.
We list Dunn as an athlete prospect because he stands out on both sides of the ball, but his size and skill set could be really special in the defensive backfield. Dunn has an extensive offer list of more than two dozen schools, and was able to get in visits to Louisville and Ohio State this month before the dead period was re-instituted.
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Looking for the next Midwest prospect who is about to see his recruitment take off? It could be Johnson. College coaches love cornerbacks who play with length at the position, and Johnson fits that mold. But, he also has the fluidity to stay with receivers through their routes and a nose for the football.
Johnson did not pick up his first scholarship offer until Jan. 29, and he only landed his first Power Five offer earlier this month from Northwestern. That offer list feels light considering the potential we see on film, and once college coaches get back on the road I expect Johnson’s offer list to swell.
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Jones is probably the biggest enigma in the Midwest’s 2021 class. He rarely talks publicly about his recruitment, has a scant social media presence and even the extent of his offer list is unknown because he does not post his offers like most prospects. Jones reportedly does hold offers from in-state programs Indiana and Purdue, as well as Michigan and Ohio State.
His father played for Notre Dame in the 1990s, and the Fighting Irish are reportedly involved too. What is known about Jones is what we see on film. He is a long, athletic, disruptive defensive end prospect who also had a stand out season on the basketball court this winter.