2023 Rankings: Detailing Louisiana’s top 10 rising juniors

Even with a fantastic 2022 class still at the forefront, the 2023 group on their heels has always piqued interests. A rare, if not unparalleled, crop of young quarterbacks by Louisiana’s standards has been the focal points. But as [player_tooltip player_id="138484" first="Arch" last="Manning"], [player_tooltip player_id="138485" first="Eli" last="Holstein"] and their fellow passers’ peers at other positions have had more opportunities to showcase their own potential and more time to develop, the class as a whole is becoming increasingly intriguing across the board. Here’s a deeper dive into the top 10 prospects leading the charge. <strong>No. 1 — [player_tooltip player_id="138484" first="Arch" last="Manning"] — 6-3, 190 QB — Newman</strong> The heir to the Manning throne has loomed large on everyone’s radar since the moment fans and media realized the son of Cooper, nephew of Peyton and Eli and grandson of Arch was even nearing high school age. And even with all that pressure, including a nationally televised game as a sophomore, the young passer has lived up to early expectations — including back-to-back all-state selections as an underclassman — and handled the attention with poise and focus on football and his family and friends. Arch possesses the arm talent and understanding of the game one would expect in his family, as well as an athleticism, mobility and ability to throw on the run that have led to more comparisons locally to his grandfather’s career with the New Orleans Saints than to his uncles’ more pocket-standing NFL careers. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">[player_tooltip player_id="138484" first="Arch" last="Manning"] showing the mobility. <a href="https://t.co/6EqvjgD5ky">pic.twitter.com/6EqvjgD5ky</a></p> — Jerit Roser (@JeritRoser) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeritRoser/status/1337590713966530562?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <strong>No. 2 — [player_tooltip player_id="138438" first="Shelton" last="Sampson"] Jr. — 6-4, 185 WR — Catholic (Baton Rouge)</strong> The big, baby-faced pass-catcher burst onto national radars with back-to-back 4.39- and 4.35-second 40-yard dash runs at his high school team’s Cur Dog Combine event. Mississippi State, Virginia, Southern Miss, Tulane and Florida State all offered within a matter of days, hometown LSU two weeks and long list of other prominent programs such as Georgia, Florida, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Nebraska, Arizona State from there. The statistical production didn’t necessarily match the intriguing potential much of a sophomore year for a long list of reasons: a COVID-shortened schedule, limited action to heal up a nagging minor injury, an offense that ran on nearly 70 percent of its snaps and a midseason injury to a senior quarterback that abruptly handed the keys full-time to a freshman. But Sampson showed flashes of his big-play potential in the regular season with an average of 18.7 yards on his nine receptions and a 24-yard touchdown run, and by the time the Bears were hitting their playoff stride, Sampson began racking up highlights left and right with nine catches for 213 yards and four scores in the semifinals and state championship game alone. And he appeared to continue that momentum into the spring with dominant days on the 7-on-7 circuit. <iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PgSnyYZkb54" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <strong>No. 3 — [player_tooltip player_id="138276" first="Jaiden" last="Ausberry"] — 6-2, 200 ATH — University Lab</strong> Like his older brother, the younger Ausberry has a combination of size, speed and football IQ that could allow him to play multiple positions at a high level. But as both the young athlete and the sports itself continue to develop, the U-High star appears increasingly likely to project as a fast, versatile linebacker with good coverage skills. He clocked 4.6-second 40-yard dashes at a school combine event last summer, but appeared potentially even a bit faster on the field this fall and 7-on-7 circuit this spring, where he also moved really well in space, blanketed even the quickest running backs and showed good instincts and ball skills to break on and deflect or intercept passes. <iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yvvHqBAQbMQ" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <strong>No. 4 — [player_tooltip player_id="138485" first="Eli" last="Holstein"] — 6-3, 215 QB — Zachary</strong> The son of former LSU punter Scott Holstein and younger brother of 2020 Louisiana Tech quarterback signee Caleb Holstein was another young Louisiana prospect on many radars from an early age competing with and against older athletes such as Caleb, family friend Derek Stingley Jr. and many others. That experience and his understanding of the game have helped foster a poise and confidence — at times even playful in a way reminiscent a certain recent Tigers quarterback — to which his teammates gravitate. And, from a physical tools standpoint, he has one of the state’s strongest arms to make any throw on the field, the accuracy to complete 62 percent of his passes against Class 5A competition in his first season as a varsity starter and ridiculous athleticism on display at a recent Elite 11 regional with a 4.69-second 40-yard dash and 38-inch vertical leap. <iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PTr2kTCWaxk" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <strong>No. 5 — [player_tooltip player_id="138353" first="Tackett" last="Curtis"] — 6-2, 210 LB — Many</strong> With LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Stanford, USC and dozens other programs jumping on board this spring, the nephew of Many coach Jess Curtis is running out of offers left to receive. The young standout is a solid bet as the hardest-hitting athlete in the state — an intelligent player who grew up around the program, can quickly diagnose plays and closes fast with his mid-4.5-second 40-yard dash and arrives with force. And his continued physical development has played to a strength as more of a linebacker with the ability to play in space than a safety at his best in the box and served his long-term potential and recruiting stock well. <iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4IglN2-9nVk" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <strong>No. 6 — [player_tooltip player_id="138385" first="Tyler" last="Bailey"] — 6-2, 290 DL — Ponchatoula</strong> The Green Wave big man flew largely under the radar until LSU extended a scholarship offer in March. But a quick look at his early highlights and the explosiveness and quickness with which his big body fires off the ball and maneuvers past blockers into opposing backfields leaves no question what Ed Orgeron and his staff saw. Bailey already looks dominant at his young age. And, if he continues to work and develop, he has the makings of a defensive tackle who will play the game at a high level for a long time. <strong>No. 7 — [player_tooltip player_id="138303" first="Derek" last="Williams"] Jr. — 6-2, 185 DB — Westgate</strong> The tall, wiry athlete was one of LSU’s first 2023 scholarship offers last summer, even amid the COVID-19 shutdown to in-person recruiting. Williams worked his way into Westgate’s lineup by midseason as a freshman and quickly filled a highlight reel full of interceptions and jarring hits. He showed even more versatility as a full-time starter as a sophomore playing man coverage out wide or in the slide, covering huge chunks of ground quickly over the top with his 10.7-second 100-meter speed or blitzing off the edge. Alabama, Texas, Florida, Notre Dame, Michigan, Texas A&amp;M, Auburn, Arkansas, Florida State, Louisville, Mississippi State, Colorado and UCF have been among his other offers thus far. <strong>No. 8 — [player_tooltip player_id="138304" first="Kam" last="Franklin"] — 6-3, 185 DB — Oak Grove</strong> Another early find by LSU, the young multisport athlete picked up his purple-and-gold scholarship offer in early March, and Louisiana Tech, SMU, Tennessee and Oklahoma State have been among the offers since then. Franklin played both ways as a sophomore for Oak Grove’s second straight football state championship — his long frame flying all over the field for interceptions, hard hits and touchdowns — then transitioned straight into basketball and track seasons and firmly establishing himself in Louisiana’s top tier of 2023 safeties with Williams and [player_tooltip player_id="138305" first="Kylin" last="Jackson"] in the process. <strong>No. 9 — [player_tooltip player_id="138466" first="Kaleb" last="Jackson"] — 5-11, 205 RB — Liberty Magnet</strong> The hard-working and quietly confident Baton Rouge native spoke in March grew up watching Leonard Fournette and Derrius Guice in college and himself dreaming of playing football at a major program like LSU, Alabama or Clemson. And those sorts of opportunities have started falling into place during the past month when Florida State, LSU, TCU and Baylor became the first college programs to recognize his combination of size and physicality with 100-meter speed consistently in the mid-10-second range. <iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/brzOVAZyak8" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <strong>No. 10 — [player_tooltip player_id="138439" first="Omarion" last="Miller"] — 6-2, 195 WR — North Caddo</strong> The first word that comes up when watching Miller or talking to coaches about is game tends to be "smooth." The budding star doesn’t necessarily bring sprinter speed off the line, but has good speed for his big, physical frame and a way of gliding all over the field with ease. And, whenever the ball heads his direction, he catches just about anything close. Watching his continued physical development and some of the technical strides in his game will be interesting during the next few years. Miller considered himself more of a basketball player until Mississippi State, Miami, Virginia, Louisiana Tech and others offered this spring, and LSU and others began recruiting him. So considering his high levels of athleticism and effectiveness already, and the potentially just beginning to be tapped into, "O" has the look of a prospect likely to be playing football for a long time. <iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HroMEanZ40s" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>