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football Edit

Rivals Recap: Star-studded weekend

Four games in the northeast featured some big-time college prospects. It started
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on Friday night when Potomac (Md.) Bullis School fell to Woodberry
Forest (Va.) Woodberry Forest School 66-65 in overtime. That same night, Wayne
(N.J.) De Paul Catholic lost to Montvale (N.J.) St. Joseph's 20-7, their second
loss in a row. The first of two games on Saturday was a very entertaining 59-47
Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy win over Oradell (N.J.) Bergen Catholic. In the
last game of the weekend Baltimore (Md.) Gilman School went to Paramus (N.J.)
Paramus Catholic and won 41-17.
I was impressed with...
Any fan, scout or reporter will have a hard time seeing as many quality
quarterbacks as we did over the weekend. On Friday night Rivals100 Maryland
commit Dwayne Haskins Jr. and junior Lindell Stone filled up
the stat sheet for Bullis and Woodberry Forest. The two combined for 12
touchdown passes and over 700 passing yards. Haskins also ran for 74 yards and
one touchdown. He has continued to grow and improve his timing, consistency and
toughness. Stone has fully recovered from a broken collarbone last season and
returned to form.
In the first game on Saturday, Ole Miss commit Shea Patterson, the nation's top player, and Tennessee commit Jarrett Guarantano, the fifth rated dual-threat quarterback, put on an exciting
show of toughness and athleticism. Patterson battled cramps while scrambling all
over the field to find open receivers. He ended the day with over 200 yards
passing and three total touchdowns while completing 50-percent of his passes.
Guarantano went 30-of-38 and amassed about 450 total yards and scored five total
touchdowns.
Junior Kasim Hill led Gilman to an impressive defeat of
Paramus Catholic. He did a good job of keeping Gilman on schedule and making big
plays when they needed it. Hill's 77-yard run early in the game helped jumpstart
the Gilman offense and it was smooth sailing from there. Sophomore's Shelton Applewhite from De Paul and Allan Walters from Paramus Catholic
have bright futures and are certainly important prospects to track through their
development.
Five-star tight end Isaac Nauta wasn't a major forced offensively for
IMG on Saturday but he was very good as a defensive end. He was very effective
at the point of attack and held up well against the run. Nauta also did not
allow runs to get outside of him and, when the play went away from him, he did a
good job of chasing the play down.
Paramus Catholic outside linebacker Drew Singleton played like a madman
on Saturday. The 2017 Rivals250 prospect made stops in the backfield and from
sideline-to-sideline. On one play Singleton missed a tackle near the line of
scrimmage but he got up and chase the runner 30 yards to make the tackle. At one
point Singleton had to leave the game for what looked like an injury but he
returned and continued his great play.
Nobody doubts five-star Rashan Gary is one of the top players in the
country but he wasn't as effective as he could have been on Saturday. The
Paramus Catholic defensive lineman made plays when Gilman went his way but
Gilman did a very good job of scheming away from him. Gary made a very
impressive play when Gilman tried to run an option towards him but Gary stopped
the quarterback and forced a field goal. He made the most of his opportunities
but they were not plentiful.
Listed at just 5-foot-9, 157-pounds, 2017 Rivals250 wide receiver Emmanuel Greene is absolutely electric. He had three catches for 83 yards and two
touchdowns. One of those touchdown catches was a 70-yard bomb from Patterson.
Greene also had a touchdown on a kickoff return. Bergen Catholic tried a pooch
kick but Greene picked it up on the bounce and went 68 yards for the touchdown.
 
I was surprised by...
Most schools are recruiting Damani Neal as a safety but the Bullis
junior went off on offense. He was Haskins' main target and pulled in an
eye-popping 15 catches for 163 yards and four touchdowns. Neal, at 5-foot-10,
183-pounds was virtually unguardable on crossing patterns and came up with some
very important catches in a tight game.
After a one point loss to Lakewood (Ohio) St. Edward in their first game of the
season, Gilman has really turned it on offensively. In their past three games
they've averaged about 40 points. Korey Stevens and Dorian Maddox been major contributors and Hill has done a very good job directing
traffic. Not to be overlooked, the Gilman offensive line, featuring four-star
Michigan commit Devery Hamilton and three-star Stephen Spanellis, has really been able to open up gapping holes for the Gilman
running backs.
After getting trounced from Olney (Md.) Good Counsel a week ago, many expected
De Paul to bounce back in a big way against St. Joseph's Regional but that
didn't happen. St. Joseph's really dominated most of the game and their
offensive line set the tempo. The few bright spots were the individual
accomplishments of Michael Dwumfour and Quayshon Alexander.
Five-star Ohio State running back commit Kareem Walker had an up and
down game but had a bad fumble deep in DePaul's territory that led to a St.
Joseph's touchdown. He did get some time at cornerback and made some pretty
athletic plays.
Other thoughts...
If
you didn't already know, IMG Academy is absolutely loaded with top-tier talent.
Other than Patterson and Nauta, five-stars Rahshaun Smith and Shavar Manuel play for the Ascenders. Four-stars Saivion Smith, Drake Davis, Tyler Gerald and many others are seniors. In the junior
class, five-star Josh Kaindoh is the headliner followed by four-stars
Greene, Jordan Anthony, Robert Hainsey, Cesar Ruiz,
Elvis Hines and many more.
Gilman is a very talented team but their younger players may turn out to be
better than the juniors and seniors. The headliner in the sophomore class is
Taron Vincent but Evan Gregory, Ja'Mion Franklin and
Thomas Booker will get a lot of attention. Freshmen Shane Lee
and Zach Dixon could be big time players.
Paramus Catholic has been known for their defensive linemen over the past couple
years but transfer Parris Heath could end up being a cornerstone left
tackle. He is every bit the 6-foot-4, 295-pounds he is listed and moves very
StanfordClick well. Down the road some school will be glad they took Heath.Here to view this Link. offensive line commit Clark YarbroughClick well. Down the road some school will be glad they took Heath.Here to view this Link. has come a long way
since his sophomore year. He is still very athletic for a big guy but he has
added a lot of lean weight and gotten much stronger. Yarbrough did a good job of
handling anything the Bullis defensive linemen threw at him and he laid some big
hits when pulling.
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