Impact Players To Watch: Week 4 Indiana

This weekend is sure to be packed with excitement, passion, and surprises.  Let’s dissect some of this weeks most important matchups, and highlight four impact players for week 4. <ul> <li>LB [player_tooltip player_id="38938" first="Micah" last="Green"]- North Central</li> </ul> When going up against Lawrence North, you better bring your defense if you would like to win.  Luckily for North Central, they are playing some great D and coming off a shutout victory. The Panthers have a number of defensive standouts from the DL to secondary, but I wanted to chose a player that I see having an impact against both the run and pass game.  This led me to a player that can flat out run and hit, Sr LB [player_tooltip player_id="38938" first="Micah" last="Green"].  What he lacks in prototypical LB size, he makes up for with the ability to play sideline to sideline and in space.  Green’s job will be especially important on the night due to [player_tooltip player_id="38897" first="Donaven" last="McCulley"]’s style of play.  Not only will Green be tasked with his usual run game assignments, he will have the responsibility of limiting McCulley’s ability to run the ball. It will be interesting to see how Green is utilized on the night, and if they use him as a spy, but regardless of role... He will always have to keep one eye on McCulley. That is not an easy task, but Green is one of the few LB’s in the state that has the athleticism to do so. <ul> <li>QB J’uan Swanson- Ben Davis</li> </ul> I hate naming a player that was just awarded a game ball for the previous weeks performance, but that shows you how important Swanson’s play will be for Ben Davis to pull off the upset over Center Grove.  The Center Grove defense is coming off back to back shutouts in which they were absolutely dominant.  With a suffocating DL, and D1 prospects at almost every position, it will take a special performance to put up a lot of points against this D.  A QB that is capable of winning with both arm and feet, can sometimes be the ultimate equalizer in matchups like this.  Swanson’s ability to turn pressure plays that would often result in sacks, into positive or explosive plays, could be the difference in this game.  I am excited to see how the Jr QB plays against this talented defense. <ul> <li>QB Gehrig Slunaker- Mount Vernon</li> </ul> You need to play mistake free football, and make some uncommon plays, in order to beat New Pal.  When you turn on the film of Mount Vernon’s Jr QB, Gehrig Slunaker, you will see why I think he could be the guy for that job.  Slunaker has a swagger that you can see through the Hudl film.  He plays a confident brand of football, has a quick release, strong arm, and has a little cowboy to him.  He plays with a confidence in his abilities, and is not afraid to take calculated chances on the field, that can often lead to big rewards.  In order for Mount Vernon to pull off the upset, this is the type of game we are going to need to see out of Slunaker.  He comes into this game 32/53 for 464 yards / 5 TD’s passing, and 47 yards 2 TD’s rushing... If Slunaker and the Mount Vernon offense can put up similar numbers and limit their mistakes, this could be one heck of a game until the very end. <ul> <li>Chase Valentine- Whiteland</li> </ul> In Whiteland's 2 victories this season- Chase Valentine has gone for over 130 yards, averaged over 7 yards per carry, and had zero turnovers.  In Whiteland's lone loss... None of those things happened.  That shows you how important the Sr RB is to his team.  When the OL is opening up holes, and Valentine is firing on all cylinders, Whiteland is a tough team to stop.  Both teams are coming into this game with 2-1 records, but it is Franklin that comes into this game as last years winner for the first time in a while.  This should be an old school / physical football game, and if Whiteland can get Valentine rolling... it will go a long ways towards getting a needed victory!