Cushing Team Camp Report

<em><strong>Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy!</strong></em> It’s team camp season and we’re out in full swing all over Oklahoma, checking out some of the state’s best teams and their players. Be sure to check back every day as we’ll have more camp reports coming out. In the next few days, we’ll attend camps at Noble and Owasso. Both are packed with great teams and prospects, those reports will be absolutely loaded. On Thursday, before all the storms rolled in, we checked out the action at Cushing. It was a good opportunity to see some small schools in action. Two things stood out to us while we were there. We feel good about Cushing being our number one 4A team in our <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/05/way-too-early-rankings/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Way Too Early Rankings</strong></a>. Also, Cashion looks like they’ll be up for the task in defending their Class A championship. Here are some of the players from those squads that stood out to us today. <span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>CUSHING</strong></span> <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="54349" first="Blaze" last="Berlowitz"] - 2023 Quarterback</strong></span> We’re starting with the player that impressed us the most while we were out at Cushing on Thursday morning. We already had a high opinion of Cushing 2023 quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="54349" first="Blaze" last="Berlowitz"] after seeing what he was able to do as a sophomore in 2020. However, watching him up close on Thursday, it looks like he’s gained a few inches since last season and he looks the part at the quarterback position. Berlowitz made some of the more impressive throws that we saw all morning. He also showed his ability to move around the pocket and still throw down field with accuracy. It also helps that Berlowitz might have one of the best wide receiver groups in the state as he has several playmakers to get the ball to. But take all of that away and Berlowitz still has the arm talent and the ability to be arguably the best quarterback in 4A football this fall. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="149336" first="Brody" last="Berlowitz"] - 2023 Wide Receiver</strong></span> We mentioned the receiver group that Berlowitz will be throwing the ball to and here’s a potential breakout player at the position. And the QB-WR connection should be easy for these twin brothers. Coming into the team camp, we knew about fellow 2023 WR’s [player_tooltip player_id="38715" first="Camden" last="Crooks"] and [player_tooltip player_id="98177" first="Lane" last="Yaunt"]. Crooks has been a star since his freshman season and that wasn’t different on Thursday. He made some spectacular plays. Yaunt was held out due to a hamstring injury he suffered during track. That opened the door for Berlowitz to be the big target for his twin brother this morning. It gives Cushing yet another weapon in an offense that will still look to be balanced but has the chance to be one of the best passing offenses in the state. And when you look around 4A football, not many teams really throw the ball in a way that we might see Cushing do it this fall. Don’t be surprised if the twin connection between the Burlowitz boys becomes a nightmare for opposing defenses. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="149337" first="Riley" last="Matheson"] - 2023 Running Back/Linebacker</strong></span> Yet another 2023 prospect that could be blossoming into a star over the next two years is [player_tooltip player_id="149337" first="Riley" last="Matheson"]. Cushing had a great two-way player last year in [player_tooltip player_id="105135" first="Hayden" last="Fry"]. On offense, he was a bowling ball running back and on defense he had well over 100 tackles. With Fry graduating, that opened up an opportunity and Matheson looks like he’s grabbing that role. On Thursday, we got a chance to see him lining up on offense and defense and after seeing what he was able to do in a limited setting, we don’t think Cushing will have much of a drop off in that department. On defense, Matheson is at his best as he can roam and track a play so well and when he gets to the opposing player, he has bad intentions. On offense, he’s your typical linebacker playing running back. He’ll put up some big numbers over the next two years running the ball, but his future is on defense. <span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>CASHION</strong></span> <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="52273" first="Ben" last="Harman"] - 2022 Quarterback</strong></span> The defending Class A champions do have to reload after losing some big pieces to graduation. However, they do return their quarterback in 2022 QB [player_tooltip player_id="52273" first="Ben" last="Harman"]. He’ll be a three-year starter this fall for the Wildcats and we were very interested to see his progression from the end of last season. Again, all of our analysis is based on a limited sample size in a team camp setting, however, we think Harman has taken that next step. It doesn’t look like anything surprises him anymore and he’s become a master of this Cashion offense. They had a great balance between the passing game and running game in 2020 but I wouldn’t be surprised if Harman takes more of a command in the offense and they throw the ball more in 2021. He certainly has the skillset and I believe he has the trust of the coaches that he isn’t going to make many mistakes, if any. Cashion will once again have one of the better offenses in the state, regardless of class. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="53320" first="Landon" last="Lagasse"] - 2022 Wide Receiver</strong></span> We got to Cushing expecting for the Cashion QB-WR connection to be Harman to 2022 WR Mason Maning. However, Manning was held out due to injury and that opened things for [player_tooltip player_id="53320" first="Landon" last="Lagasse"] to be Cashion’s biggest playmaker at the position. Time after time, Lagasse simply beat his defender at the line of scrimmage and streaked by him for a Harman deep ball that ended in a Cashion touchdown. It looked like he picked up right where he left off last year. In the biggest game in Class A, Cashion beat Pawhuska in the semifinals and the go-ahead touchdown that would end up being the game-winner was Lagasse on a deep ball, like he did time after time on Thursday. With Harman mastering the offense and slinging it all over the yard, Lagasse will certainly benefit this fall and battle with Manning to be the top guy at the WR position. It’ll be a good battle for Cashion fans because either way, they’ll be putting up big numbers.