Five Under the Radar 2021 Eastern Pennsylvania Running Backs

As we continue to look at under the radar prospects in the class of 2021 on the eastern side of the Pennsylvania, we move to the running back position. If you haven’t had the chance already, feel free to check out yesterday’s look at <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2020/07/five-under-the-radar-2021-eastern-pennsylvania-quarterbacks/">under the radar quarterbacks</a>. <strong>Dmitri Rojas - Stroudsburg</strong> Starting off here we have Dmitri Rojas out of Stroudsburg High School. The first thing you notice with Rojas is that despite being listed at 5-foot-11 and 180-pounds, Rojas actually looks a bit bigger on film and it helps him shed would be tacklers. While he doesn’t possess game breaking speed, Rojas does have great vision, making up for any lack of speed with the ability to hit holes quicker. He has both good upper body strength, often being able to shrug off tacklers while remaining balanced on his feet. He’s not afraid to lower his shoulder easier and will go through multiple defenders on his way to a first down or touchdown. Overall, Rojas is a promising running back prospect who could get even better as he fills into his frame. At this juncture of his recruitment, it appears that Division II programs make up the most of Rojas’s potential suitors with a few FCS programs also showing interest. <strong>Zane Janiszewski - Western Wayne</strong> Janiszewski is coming off a great junior season for Western Wayne, rushing for nearly 1,900-yards and over 30 touchdowns. At 5-foot-11 and 175-pounds, Janiszewski already has quality size for a running back and should be able to get a bit bigger through his senior season and especially once he gets onto a college campus. On the field, the Western Wayne standout has good speed and vision with the ability to run both inside and outside the tackles. His rushing statistics are probably a bit inflated from playing in a run heavy offense but his 8.1 yards per attempt speaks for itself. He’s a player who could be an impact player at the Division II level where he’s receiving the most interest from so far in his recruitment. <strong>Manny Capo - Northeastern</strong> When a player puts up over 2,500 all-purpose yards, the stats speak for themselves on the caliber of a player. For the Northeastern Bobcats standout, 1,700 of those yards came on the ground and a look at his highlight tape shows how he put up that yardage. Capo shows a great ability to evade tackles and it often takes three, four, or even at times, five defenders to bring him down. He often uses every bit of his 5-foot-10, 180-pound frame to run through defenders. While he is great at breaking tackles, he’s also good at changing direction quickly allowing him to then take advantage of his open field speed. He doesn’t have tremendous speed but has above-average speed at the very least. It looks like he’s receiving interest from both FCS and Division II programs at this point. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="27414" first="Matt" last="Frauen"]- Notre Dame Green Pond</strong> The biggest running back of the five, Frauen stands at 6-foot-1, and 190-pounds. On tape, Frauen shows good burst that allows him to hit holes quickly and does show a bit of another gear when he does hit the open field. He also has good vision and is willing to run through opposing defenders. In his limited blocking highlights, he has good blocking techniques and is able to pickup blitzing linebackers well. He also showed the ability to be versatile, making plays in both the passing game and return game. When it comes to his recruitment, Frauen recently received his first scholarship offer from Division II Lake Erie College. With a strong senior season, he could possibly see his stock rise and garner some FCS interest. <strong>Honorable Mention: [player_tooltip player_id="27468" first="Isiah" last="Rico"] - Parkland</strong> Like with yesterday’s quarterbacks, our last running back on the list is a player we highlighted in three under the radar prospects out of East Penn Conference. That player is [player_tooltip player_id="27468" first="Isiah" last="Rico"] from Parkland High School in Allentown. Here’s what he had on Rico in that article; "The Parkland running back put together a tremendous 2019 season for the Trojans, rushing for 1,645-yards and 19 touchdowns over the course of 260 carries. Rico is a quality speed threat and has good vision to pair along with his abilities to run it both between the tackles and to the outside. The 5-foot-9, 200-pound tailback is currently receiving interest from multiple FCS programs including Brown, Lehigh, and Penn."