Scouting Report – Del City

On Friday night, Carl Albert defeated Del City 21-14 in a heated rivalry matchup that came down to the wire. In this matchup, many players big and small stood out to us and earned some recognition and praise. Here are the players from Del City that had big nights in week two. [player_tooltip player_id="38497" first="Donovan" last="Stephens"] and [player_tooltip player_id="38498" first="Rejhan" last="Tatum"] - <strong>Linebacker - Class of 2021</strong> Our main goal here at Prep RedZone is to give as much exposure and recognition to the players who deserve it as possible, so it’s not often that we’ll group players together like this, but at this point, I feel like most of the pieces I’ve put out have mentioned one of these guys at least once. However, it would be a crime if I left these two players off the list because they are so dang good. It is not often that Carl Albert struggles to run the ball and that is just what happened on Friday night in large part thanks to these two. Tatum and Stephens were all over the field Friday night stuffing ball carriers at the line of scrimmage no matter who the ball carrier was. They were not perfect as Carl Albert had a few rushing touchdowns, but they played one of the best teams in the state about as good as you possibly can. [player_tooltip player_id="38597" first="Jahkobie" last="Smith"] - <strong>Athlete - Class of 2021</strong> [player_tooltip player_id="38597" first="Jahkobie" last="Smith"] is a guy you love to cheer for because he is a true team player. Last season, Smith played primarily at defensive back for the Eagles but stepped up and took over as their QB this season after the departure of Quinlan Ganther because that is where his team needed him most. Though he is not the most refined passer in the state, Jahkobie is an electric playmaker out of the backfield. He had over 150 yards rushing and a touchdown on the ground in this matchup and came through in the clutch with big plays on multiple occasions including a 55-yard run to set them up in the RedZone for a chance to tie the game with under a minute to go. Unfortunately, they could not convert, but Smith has established early on this season that he is a force to be reckoned with on this Del City offense. [player_tooltip player_id="38562" first="Lajuan" last="Brown"] - <strong>Running Back - Class of 2021</strong> Unlike Smith, LJ Brown was an established runner in this offense coming into 2020 and a prospect that we really liked when we evaluated him this summer, and he did not disappoint in this matchup. LJ ran for over 100 yards on the night and ran one in from 25 yards out to give the Eagles the lead at the beginning of the second half. LJ is an explosive runner when he can get into the open field and he did that quite often against Carl Albert. LJ is one of the most under-recruited players in the state right now but if he keeps putting up performances like this colleges won’t be able to keep passing him up. [player_tooltip player_id="51879" first="Davion" last="Mukes"] - <strong>Athlete - Class of 2021</strong> Mukes was another player that I did not know a lot about that was fun to watch throughout the game on Friday. Mukes did not have a dominant night in the box score but what stood out to us was his versatility. Mukes lined up all over the field in this game. Del City had him at Fullback, Tight End, and at Linebacker against Carl Albert. If there’s one thing that college coaches love it is versatility. They love getting players that can contribute from multiple positions and sides of the ball. Watch for Mukes’ impact and role on this team grow as the season progresses. [player_tooltip player_id="51882" first="Virgil" last="Yates"] - <strong>Running Back - Class of 2022</strong> Yates had a similar night to Mukes in that he didn’t have an explosive performance. However, I really liked what I saw out of him when he got his chances. He only received a few carries Friday night, but on the carries he had, he showed encouraging burst and vision. While he has quite the challenge ahead of him to earn significant playing time on offense with Smith and Brown leading one of the better rushing attacks in 6A-II, Yates at least showed on Friday night that he is more than capable of producing for this offense when he is called upon. [player_tooltip player_id="51884" first="Ja’Kheo" last="Mitchell"] - <strong>Athlete - Class of 2022</strong> [player_tooltip player_id="51884" first="Ja’Kheo" last="Mitchell"] had a bit of a breakout game against Carl Albert in week two and I’m glad I was there to see it. On offense, Mitchell was without a doubt [player_tooltip player_id="38597" first="Jahkobie" last="Smith"]’s top target as he finished the night with 5 catches for 40 yards, which doesn’t seem like much until you look at the box score and see how few times Del City actually threw the ball in this game. On defense, Mitchell played all over the secondary and gave [player_tooltip player_id="38534" first="Ben" last="Harris"] some trouble throughout this game and even picked off the Carl Albert QB in the second quarter to swing momentum Del City’s way going into halftime. While this team is full of veteran multi-year starters, it also has quite the collection of younger players who are starting to emerge as playmakers such as Mithcell who should start to rise up recruiting boards. &nbsp;