New No. 1 in final prep school rankings
The final Rivals.com Prep School rankings have been compiled with a change at the top of the heap. Chatham (Va.) Hargrave Military Academy running back Enrique Davis, who is still not committed at this time after de-committing from Auburn, checks in as the No. 1 prep player in the country. There are also plenty of other changes of note.
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"Enrique is the best player in prep football, everyone knows that," said Hargrave head football coach Robert Prunty. "He's an outstanding back. He wants to go to a running offense and it looks like Auburn is going to throw it around more so he's still checking things out. He had a great year for us."
While Auburn has seemingly lost out on Davis, they do boast the No. 2 player on the list in offensive lineman Jermaine Johnson, also from Hargrave.
"Jermaine reminds me of Jared Gaither (who plays for the Baltimore Ravens), he has that kind of potential," said Prunty. "He was easily the best offensive lineman we had here all year."
LSU-bound wideout DeAngelo Benton, who was No. 1 during the pre-season, checks in at No. 3 and is the third five-star prep player this year. Alabama-bound defensive tackle Kerry Murphy and future Virginia Tech linebacker Quillie Odom round out the top five. All five of the top prep players hail from Hargrave.
"All five of those guys are special," said Prunty. "They're all impact guys to me at the next level."
New Berlin (N.Y.) Milford Academy boasts the next two players on the list, defensive tackle Charles Deas and offensive lineman Ken Plue.
"Last year we were strong at running back, this year it was in the trenches," said head coach Bill Chaplick. "Deas could be a defensive tackle or offensive guard for Auburn and Plue will be a proto-typical Big Ten offensive tackle. He's improved his agility quite a bit since he arrived here."
Fork Union (Va.) Fork Union Military gets on the board at No. 8 with running back Eric Baker who begins his career at South Carolina.
"He's been our best player since the start," said Fork Union head coach John Shuman. "He's the first player I usually mention when asked about our players."
While much of the top 10 players are consistent with the pre-season list, there is one significant change. Hargrave wide receiver Dwight Jones dropped from No. 2 and five-star status down to No. 13. He was passed by his teammate, Andrew Harris, who simply worked hard and showed impressive potential. Harris moved from No. 14 to No. 10.
Others who moved up include Hargrave linebacker Zach Brown, who jumped from No. 23 to No. 12, Fork Union cornerback Akeem Auguste, who moved from No. 21 to No. 14 and Fork Union wide receiver Keith Stroud who jumped from No. 41 to No. 21. Brown is headed to North Carolina, Auguste will play at South Carolina and Stroud is committed to Rutgers.
And as far as debuts, no one made a bigger move into the top 50 than Milford Academy defensive end Mikhail Marinovich, who checks in at No. 17. The 6-foot-6, 210-pounder is committed to Syracuse.
Others impressive enough to debut on the list include Milford Academy defensive end Wayne Dorsey, Hargrave wide receiver Dayon Arrington, Princeton (N.J.) Hun School tight end Matt Furstenburg and Fork Union cornerback Taveion Cuffee.
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