2022 Ranking: Newcomers

<em><strong>Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy!</strong></em> Here in the month of June we’re updating all of our prospect rankings as the 2021 season gets closer and closer. For the 2022 class, we went from a Top 100 to a Top 150 as this class continues to get deeper and deeper. The margin between the ranked players is very close and this class has a chance to be fairly deep from top to bottom. The guys in the Top 10 are some of the best in recent memory, especially in that Top 5. You can check out the <a href="https://prepredzone.com/oklahoma/rankings/2022-rankings/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Top 150 Right Here</strong></a>. Throughout the week, we’ll be adding some analysis on the players that have stood out in the 2022 class with positional breakdowns, newcomers and even prospects on the border of being ranked this time around. Go back and check out our updated rankings for the 2023 and 2024 classes. For now, we take a look at five prospects who are not only newcomers but have jumped up into the Top 50. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="38722" first="David" last="Rowaiye"] - Southeast</strong></span> We write about it all the time whenever we do the ranking updates but anytime we update the rankings, we always see a prospect that not only should have been ranked, but ranked pretty high. That was the case in January when we updated the 2022 rankings and then shortly after that, we learned of [player_tooltip player_id="38722" first="David" last="Rowaiye"] out of Southeast in Oklahoma City. Immediately after seeing what he brought to the table, we put him near the top of the list for the next ranking update, circled him with a note "DO NOT FORGET". Full disclosure, it’s easy for a guy to get lost in the shuffle at Southeast as they haven’t been very competitive for over a decade. However, Rowaiye has the potential to break that stereotype and become their biggest recruit since Gerald McCoy back in the mid-2000’s. Rowaiye is not McCoy but he’s an outstanding athlete with a very high ceiling as a pass rusher. He’s going to command double teams this fall otherwise opposing quarterbacks are going to have problems. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135491" first="Davis" last="Dotson"] - Berryhill</strong></span> We go from one side of the line of scrimmage to the other side with Berryhill offensive lineman [player_tooltip player_id="135491" first="Davis" last="Dotson"]. Berryhill had a very weird 2020 season and if you asked any of their coaches and players, I’m sure they would say the same thing. Things just never really got going for the Chiefs as they had to be start and stop constantly due to Covid and that led to a rare off-year for the Chiefs. However, one of the bright spots from last season was the emergence of offensive lineman [player_tooltip player_id="135491" first="Davis" last="Dotson"], who is an absolute monster of a prospect. Visually, it’s always fun to watch a player of Dotson’s size playing 3A football or lower because it looks like a college athlete playing with JV high school kids. He towers over most opponents and he uses that size and strength to his advantage. The one thing that could help him become an even higher-ranked recruit is to improve his quickness and overall speed in his footwork. Most of his opponents will be smaller and will depend on speed. If Dotson gets quicker, that eliminates that possibility. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="114810" first="Eli" last="McWilliams"] - Tahlequah</strong></span> Similar to Rowaiye at Southeast, another defensive playmaker that emerged right after our ranking update was Tahlequah linebacker [player_tooltip player_id="114810" first="Eli" last="McWilliams"]. The Tahlequah tackling machine picked up an offer from Tulsa shortly after our ranking update and fast forward to today and we’ve got him as one of the better linebackers in the state and he’s recently committed to the Golden Hurricane. McWilliams chose Tulsa over offers from Power 5 programs but TU was the first to offer and they’ve landed a good one in McWilliams. The Tahlequah standout is an outstanding linebacker and can fly all over the field. With another strong season this fall, it wouldn’t be surprising to see McWilliams make another jump up the rankings and become one of the top linebackers in this class. And if Tulsa keeps him committed and he signs with them in December, they’ll be getting an absolute steal, keeping him away from Power 5 programs and close to home. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="108886" first="Gavin" last="Frakes"] - Norman North</strong></span> Norman North has had a nice run of quarterbacks in the last five to ten years and this fall will be no different as they’ll have one of the top guys at the position yet again. [player_tooltip player_id="108886" first="Gavin" last="Frakes"] is ready to emerge and break out as one of the top quarterbacks in Oklahoma, regardless of class. Norman North as a whole is primed for a breakout season with some of the talented playmakers they return in 2021. Frakes will be able to benefit the most from that as he’ll have weapons to distribute the ball to and a strong offensive line in front of him. We saw Frakes plenty of times this offseason while he was playing for Sooner 7. There are no questions about his size as he looks like a quarterback that will end up at the next level. He has a very strong and accurate arm which checks off more boxes. Now it’s time for him to go out and do it at the highest level in the state with 6A-1. Don’t be surprised if he puts up big numbers and has Norman North making a deep run into the playoffs. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="125508" first="Jordan" last="Drew"] - Booker T Washington</strong></span> Similar to Frakes at Norman North, we’ve seen a lot of [player_tooltip player_id="125508" first="Jordan" last="Drew"] this offseason while covering Sooner 7 throughout the spring. Drew was one of the breakout stars this offseason as he was a very consistent playmaker during 7v7 tournaments. After seeing him perform week after week, we went back and checked out some of his tape from his junior season. He was without a doubt a breakout star for the Hornets as they kept losing player after player to injury. Whether it was on offense or defense, Drew became a playmaker for the Hornets. He beat countless opponents on simple go routes, making it easy for quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="69271" first="Lathan" last="Boone"] to loft it to the end zone and Drew would run under it for the score. Drew also brought a very physical presence to the defensive side of the ball and the jury is still out on what the natural position is for Drew at the next level. However, right now, we like him more at the wide receiver position based off last year and this offseason.