Some states are as far as five weeks into the 2018 high school football season. So, who has looked good in the early stages? We examine the Midwest region to find several early season standouts in the 2019 class whose stock could be on the move.
BEST AVAILABLE: QB | RB | WR | TE | OT | OG | C | DE | DT | LB | CB | S | ATH
STOCK UP
After debuting comfortably within the Rivals250 when it was first released for the 2019 class over a year ago, Correll slid outside that ranking following a review of junior season film.
We did not see the Notre Dame commit this offseason, but are loving what early senior season film is showing. Correll has always played with plenty of passion, but now he is channeling it more productively and, whereas junior year film left something to be desired with his strength at the point of attack, Correll is bullying defensive linemen repeatedly as a senior. The offseason reports on Correll were coming back very positive, and we are now seeing that development as a senior.
Currently listed as an athlete prospect, McCray showed the ability to project to either wide receiver or defensive back at the next level early in his career. As he has progressed, though, the Illinois commit has settled into the wide receiver role and really started to grow as a player. He runs alongside several talented teammates at Chicago Phillips, including four-star TE/WR Jahleel Billingsley, and provides that sure-handed, possession-type receiver that becomes a quarterback’s best friend because they always know he’s going to be in the right spot. Expect McCray to move from athlete to wide receiver in the next update, and likely get a tick up in his rating.
We were hoping to get an in-person look at Fulton this offseason, but never got that chance. His junior film was really strong, but it would have been great to see him live to get a feel for how he’s put together physically and his movement skills. We may not get that chance before his high school career is up, but early senior film is again showing a prospect tailor-made for the linebacker role in the Big Ten. Fulton flies around the field, plays sideline-to-sideline and punishes ball carriers wherever he meets them. If you are wondering how he will fit in the Michigan State defenses of the future, just take a look at the success Joe Bachie is having for the Spartans.
They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but in his 19th year as head coach at TCU, Gary Patterson has all of the sudden started recruiting the Midwest, and he’s finding success in the region. Johnson is one of two Midwest commits in the Horned Frogs’ 2019 class and their first commitment out of the state of Ohio in the Rivals.com era.
Seeing Johnson live earlier this season, he is over 300 pounds but just as agile as he’s always been and showed that by catching a long touchdown pass while moonlighting as a tight end on offense. The added size and strength while staying quick and agile is the type of progress we want to see for a stock bump.
Hall has always been a big back, but he chiseled his frame in the offseason and looks like he should be lining up for a college program right now. I cannot imagine kids in Wichita see too many running backs with Hall’s physique coming at them on Friday nights.
What has caught our attention most early this season, however is that Hall looks much more explosive as a senior. That was the concern we had about him being able to play running back at the Power Five level and why he started as a two-star after junior film. Those concerns have been overcome by what we are seeing so far in the first few weeks of the season, and the Iowa State commit is headed for a ratings increase.
STOCK DOWN
There are no final determinations made about prospect rankings yet – not until we have done evaluations of the entire season – but if we are talking about prospects who did not play up to expectations when we saw them, Hill is going to be on that list.
Hill’s Booker T. Washington team was routed by Horn Lake (Miss.) High at the Battle on the Border event in Louisiana on Sept. 7 by a final of 38-7. It’s not that his team was on the losing end of the contest, but that Hill did not really do anything to make you stand up and take notice and a five-star should not be hard to find on the field. We will be back to watch Hill later this season, though, and will do a full evaluation of senior film before the next rankings update.
We did not see Dobbs all offseason because he was sidelined with a shoulder injury that required surgery, and he has come back in his first games as a senior playing a little heavier on his feet. Maybe that is to be expected coming off offseason surgery; maybe it will take him the better part of the season to get his conditioning up. But, Dobbs lacks ideal height and length for the offensive tackle position so his footwork and quickness are crucial to him being considered an elite prospect. Again, though, we will be watching throughout the season before making any final determination on his rating in the post-season update of the Rivals100.
