RCS Midseason Report: Ranking the five biggest surprises
RCS DALLAS CONTENT: Survey on Texas schools | Prospects that earned their stripes in Dallas | Five teams that should be pleased | Thoughts from the sideline | The Spiegelman Awards | Prospects now on the radar | Prospects make commitment predictions
The Rivals 3 Stripe Camp Series presented by adidas has reached its midway point so there’s no better time to take a look back at some of the standouts from across the country. Today we take a look at five of the biggest surprise performances so far.
Armella has just wrapped up his freshman season but already the 2022 offensive tackle is making a huge statement on the national scene and he did just that at the Rivals 3 Stripe Camp presented by adidas in Miami. A Florida State legacy, Armella led an impressive group of older offensive lineman by not only winning the position MVP award but establishing himself as one of the best 2022 offensive linemen in the country. He doesn’t shy away from playing with toughness and a nasty streak and that’s impressive since he’s so young. Auburn, Florida State, Michigan, Oregon and many others have already offered.
Herard showed up at the Rivals adizero Combine in Miami without an invite to camp the following day but following a solid showing during testing he was invited back for Sunday’s camp. Then Herard went and earned defensive back MVPs with a solid performance there. The Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Stranahan standout has not been ranked yet and he entered the camp weekend with only an offer from Toledo but he has since landed Rutgers, Columbia, Cornell and Dartmouth. It would be no surprise if Herard, who transferred to Stranahan from Everglades, keeps landing offers through the offseason.
Kimber has easily been one of the best defensive backs during the first half of the camp series as he had a phenomenal showing at the Dallas stop by knocking away numerous passes and generally being a complete nuisance for any receiver during one-on-one routes. Currently a three-star prospect, Kimber could easily make the case for a bump in the next rankings after his Rivals Camp Series performance. Colleges are taking notice, too, since the Mansfield (Texas) Timberview standout has been loading up on major offers recently and has been busy on visits.
At the New Orleans stop, the defensive line group was loaded with high-profile names like McKinnley Jackson, Jaquelin Roy, Patrick Jenkins and others but it was Mims who shined the most. The Memphis (Tenn.) Kirby defensive end has tremendous size and length at 6-foot-5 and 255 pounds and he dominated throughout the entire event. It’s stunning that Mims only has offers from Arkansas State, Memphis, Ole Miss and Western Kentucky so far. After his performance at the Rivals 3 Stripe Camp, he could see his offer list multiply in the coming months.
Robinson was a late addition to the Los Angeles stop but he showed up that Sunday and completely dominated in every way - from the drills to the one-on-ones and everything in between. The four-star from Tucson (Ariz.) Salpointe was already highly-rated but Robinson had one of the best days for a running back at that event alongside five-star Kendall Milton and Robinson was arguably the best pass-catching running back at the event. There has to be a discussion about moving Robinson, who had not shown up to many events leading up to this offseason, even higher in the rankings because he proved that day to be extra special.
