Southeast Spotlight: Five players who need a fall football season
The coronavirus pandemic eliminated most of the off-season football opportunities for high school athletes, and now it is threatening to wipe out the senior season for the class of 2021. The loss of a final high school season would impact the development of every prospect in the class, but some will be hurt more than others.
Here are five prospects from the Southeast region who need to play their senior seasons.
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MIDWEST SPOTLIGHT: Five who need fall football seasons
CLASS OF 2021 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
CLASS OF 2022: Top 100
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Cameron Garnett is a young man out in eastern Georgia that is on a lot of radars. Auburn, Georgia and South Carolina all checked on him last fall and had plans on seeing him live this spring to evaluate in person. Garnett is a versatile athlete that could play running back or inside linebacker on the next level. He has picked up an offer from Florida Atlantic, but for his recruitment to go to that next level, he needs this fall to showcase his talent once more to Power Five programs across the country.
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After a strong start at the beginning of the 2019 season, Armani Goodwin went down with an ACL injury. He was ready to bounce back this spring and showcase his talents and show he is healthy and stronger than ever, but the virus has put his return to live action on hold.
The Auburn commit recently was timed in the 40 yard dash in under 4.5 seconds, so it looks like the knee has healed, the burst is back, and Goodwin is one we will watch closely this season as we get the first true evaluation of him in close to a year.
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Marlen Sewell picked up early offers from Duke, Maryland and Troy, but last season, he played a lot of high safety and was not able to be evaluated the way schools had hoped. He was on his way to having a big spring, now working out at cornerback, but due to the coronavirus, he was not able to workout in front of college coaches. His senior film will be huge as far as his recruitment goes. Many schools like him, and have inquired about him, but all want to see him more at the cornerback position.
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Jaquez Smith was a freshman that drew a lot of attention from many schools, and the athlete ended up picking up offers from Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee very early in the process. His junior season did not go as well as he had hoped and his recruitment has slowed down some.
Kentucky is still involved, Pittsburgh has been in communication and Indiana recently offered, but Smith is hoping for a big senior season to push his recruitment back where he wants it. He transferred to Westlake High in Atlanta and is set to play wide receiver there.
Khristian Zachary had a big first couple of months of 2020. He picked up numerous Power Five offers in January and February after a strong showing in an underclassman all-star game in December. Schools still wanted to see more and evaluate him in person this spring. That didn’t happen.
Zachary left a private school mid-season to transfer to Carrollton (Ga.), so he did not finish out the season. He missed the spring evaluation period and he was not able to participate in any camps, so this fall will be big for him on multiple levels. Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri and a few others are still on Zachary’s list.