Midwest Spotlight: Five biggest questions heading in to rankings week
The 2020 high school football season was delayed, shortened or outright postponed, depending on what part of the country you lived in. Any game action is an opportunity to re-evaluate prospects, however, and there was still plenty to see in the classes of 2021 and 2022. The updated Rivals rankings of those two classes will start next week. Here are some of the questions we looked to get answered in the Midwest region going into those rankings meetings.
MORE: Five players close to 5th star | Top 10 players in Big Ten | Grading Big Ten QB situations
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CLASS OF 2021 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
CLASS OF 2022 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
COVERAGE: Rivals Transfer Tracker | Rivals Camp Series
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1. Who will make the biggest moves after their senior seasons?
In the Midwest, Illinois was the only state that did not have any players competing, but some counties and cities also postponed high school football until the spring. For the rest who did play, however, it was an opportunity to generate more college attention and/or show they deserved a ratings bump. Without much of an off-season we were seeing the vast majority of these prospects for the first time since junior season. Among those who are looking at bumps when the 2021 rankings are updated next week are Ohio State offensive tackle commit Zenuae Michalski, Iowa wide receiver commit Keagan Johnson and Wisconsin defensive end commit Darryl Peterson.
2. Are there more Midwest five-stars in 2022?
The last time the Midwest produced more than three five-stars was 2017, a group that included recent NFL Draft picks Jedrick Wills, Donovan Peoples-Jones and A.J. Epenesa. The class of 2022 has already seen three players earn five-star status: Ohio linebacker C.J. Hicks, St. Louis wide receiver Luther Burden and Michigan cornerback Will Johnson.
Having three of just 14 total five-stars is a strong ratio for the Midwest region, and several more players are knocking on that five-star door. Ohio State commits Gabe Powers and Dasan McCullough both rank among the top 21 players in the current Rivals250, while prospects like St. Louis athlete Kevin Coleman and Indiana defensive end Caden Curry posted strong junior campaigns to make their cases for five-star status.
3. What to do with Michigan State commit Rayshaun Benny?
One of the most difficult questions we faced going into the rankings meetings for the 2021 class was what to do with Oak Park, Mich., four-star Rayshaun Benny. There is no doubt the 6-foot-5, 270-pound prospect is talented, but there has been a lot of back-and-forth about whether he projects better as an offensive lineman or defensive lineman at the college level. Benny has been clear that he prefers defense, and he committed to Michigan State earlier this month to play defensive line.
Ultimately, we rate prospects where we feel they are most likely to play in college, and our previous evaluations have graded Benny out higher on offense than defense. He missed a good portion of his senior season, though, rehabilitating from a knee injury suffered in the summer and there was not much film to evaluate prior to going into our rankings meetings. The state of Michigan has now put high school sports on a three-week hiatus right when Oak Park was starting to click. The re-evaluation of Benny, then, may have to wait until our January update.
4. How did Midwest transplants fare?
There were several high-profile prospects who started their prep careers in the Midwest, but will be finishing them outside the region. Four-star offensive tackle JC Latham was one of the first to leave. The current Alabama commit is originally from Waukesha, Wisc., where he was regarded as a big-time defensive end prospect while playing at Catholic Memorial High School. Between his sophomore and junior seasons, though, Latham transferred down to IMG Academy in Florida and has developed into one of the 2021 class’ best offensive linemen.
Four-star Michigan quarterback commit J.J. McCarthy joined Latham at IMG this past off-season in anticipation of football being canceled or postponed (it was moved to next spring) in his home-state of Illinois. Auburn offensive guard commit Jaeden Roberts, meanwhile, started his career at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Kansas City, but moved with his family down to Houston prior to his junior year.
5. Which 2022 prospect will make the highest debut?
Even with less football being played across the country this fall, there should have been a higher number of junior prospects emerging since there were no college camps over the summer and limited chances for players to showcase their abilities. In the Midwest there were more than 60 prospects who received Rivals Ratings for the first time this month. While many debuted as 5.7 three-stars, only one earned four-stars right off the bat and that was Missouri defensive end DJ Wesolak. We will see if he cracks the Rivals250 for the 2022 class when that ranking is updated in two weeks.