The My7on7 2020 Showcase Tournament: Five Takeaways
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EDEN PRAIRIE- This weekend on the beautiful fields of Eden Prairie High School, there was live football in action starting on Saturday morning and ending Saturday afternoon. My 7on7, who we talked about a few weeks ago held a football tournament from 4th graders-high school. Nate from Prep Redzone Minnesota focused on covering the high school games and came away with these five takeaways.
The Underdogs: St. Cloud Cathedral
The Crusaders made the trip of just over an hour and made it worth their while, being runner up in the high school division. This roster led by QB Jack Pelzel Jack Pelzel 6'2" | QB St. Cloud Cathedral | 2021 State MN (#210 in 2021), WR Zach Plante (2022), and plenty of other Crusaders, fought off a roster that consisted of kids from Buffalo, St. Michael-Albertville, and other programs from the west and southwest metro to get to the championship game. They fell short to Eric Harrison and TJ Dean’s “Hitmen”, but made a surprising splash that nobody in the tournament expected. With a healthy Jack Pelzel Jack Pelzel 6'2" | QB St. Cloud Cathedral | 2021 State MN , this team will show some improvement from their 1-9 record based on what I saw on Saturday.
Junior Tape from Pelzel
The New and Scrappy: SMB Wolfpack
Jalen Suggs Jalen Suggs 6'4" | QB SMB | 2020 State MN , Kaden Johnson Kaden Johnson 6'4" | LB SMB | 2020 State MN , Craig McDonald Craig McDonald DB SMB | 2020 State MN , and the rest of the Class of 2020 from the Wolfpack are now a distant memory from their state runner up run last season. Insert brand new Class of 2022 QB Charlie Johnson Charlie Johnson 6'3" | 180 lbs | QB SMB | 2022 State MN , who had very limited reps behind the greatness of Suggs play as QB1. Johnson did look poised on Saturday and I believe has the potential to be a lot better than those might think. He’ll have some Prep Redzone Minnesota ranked prospects to throw to in Trent Finney Trent Finney TE SMB | 2021 State MN and Savion Robinson Savion Robinson 6'0" | WR SMB | 2021 State MN who both have consistent hands and both run very good routes as both have gathered Division II and Division III offers from programs around the Midwest.
This new roster also has some scrappiness to it, as their game had to end early against the Hitmen, as there were multiple “hits” in the touch football game known as 7on7 that lead to multiple bench-clearing scraps that gave the Hitmen the automatic victory over the Wolfpack this weekend. This won’t be the last time you hear about the new SMB Wolfpack this week, as I will be in St. Paul this Wednesday to do a team preview on their upcoming season.
Tyler Schuster Tyler Schuster 6'2" | QB Blaine | 2021 State MN Needs to Be On Your Radar Right Now
Blaine QB Tyler Schuster Tyler Schuster 6'2" | QB Blaine | 2021 State MN threw the football absolutely outstanding this weekend and proved why he deserved a bump in our most recent 2021 rankings up 11 spots from #65 to #54. Schuster has such a big arm but yet can make almost any throw you need him to make. He also had the luxury of throwing Dorian Singer some his last touchdowns we’ll ever see in Minnesota, that’s of course unless he ends up with the Gophers! How Schuster only holds two NSIC offers to this point is baffling to me as this 6’2 QB needs to be on more college radars after what I saw this weekend as he also runs in the 4.6’s as far as his 40-yard dash so he has some good speed too.
Don’t Let the Size Fool You
Hopkins LB RJ Chakolis RJ Chakolis 5'11" | LB Hopkins | 2021 State MN may be slightly undersized, but the kid has a motor that every program in America should want. Chakolis tallied two interceptions on the day for the Hitmen and on film, causes all sorts of havoc in the backfield. Chakolis runs a 4.6 40 yard dash, but on film appears much faster as if you leave the 5’10 215 linebackers unblocked you might as well just take a knee, cause it’s going to be a tackle for a loss anyway. He also is a state champion wrestler, that holds three football offers from Valparaiso (IN), Mary, and Minnesota Duluth with others like Northern Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and plenty more Division I programs.
Prospect Spotlight on Chakolis
Your Champions of the My 7on7 Tournament: The Hitmen
The Hitmen, combined by Team Moneyshow (Eric Harrison) and TNT Academy (TJ Dean) had to beat the Crusaders twice on Saturday to win the championship game in the end. Because of their win, their roster will get all the love. If I missed anyone please let me know!
Dorian Singer, ATH, Pinnacle (AZ) (2021)
The connection from Schuster to Singer was clutch all day for the Hitmen. Our #10 prospect in 2021 played his last game in Minnesota on Saturday and he didn’t let up a bit in his final showings with muliple touchdowns for the Hitmen.
Micha Vayee Micha Vayee 6'0" | 180 lbs | DB Maple Grove | 2022 State MN , CB, Maple Grove (2022)
Dylan Fischer Dylan Fischer 6'2" | 215 lbs | DL Burnsville | 2022 State MN , LB, Burnsville (2022)
Jordon McClom, FS/CB, Providence Academy (2022)
Cade Conzemius Cade Conzemius 5'10" | 165 lbs | WR Minnetonka | 2022 State MN , WR, Minnetonka (2022)
Parker Skelton Parker Skelton DB Benilde-St. Margaret's | 2021 State MN , CB, Benilde-St. Margaret’s (2021)
Nick Fazi Nick Fazi 6'1" | 180 lbs | QB Eden Prairie | 2023 State MN , QB, Eden Prairie (2023)