Fab 50 Breakdown: Athletes & Specialists

Ian Guerin December 21, 2021 @ 10:50 AM

The Prep Red Zone South Carolina Fab 50 was the most exclusive all-state team around this fall. It had the fewest selections, a mere fraction of the football coaches association, in fact. But what it didn’t do was ignore any position on the field. You can’t have a full team without, well, a full team. The Fab 50 included six players who couldn’t have made much more of an impact for their respective teams. In this post, we break down the specialists and athletes who were indispensable for their own squads and simultaneously made themselves impossible to ignore. [player_tooltip player_id="91237" first="Drew" last="Stevens"], K, North Augusta The Iowa signee was a bit of a machine this year - as far as high school kickers go. He was 36-of-36 on PATs, connected on nine field goals (including two of 50+ yards) and put 49 of his 55 kickoffs into the end zone. He capped off his high school career by drilling two field goals, including the game winner in the final 2 minutes, in the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Bowl. Tripp Smith, LS, Hillcrest Smith plays a position that is sort of like an official; you only notice he’s there when he screws up. In that regard, the 6-foot-1, 225-pound senior was invisible. In both his long and short snaps, Smith was next to flawless. Most of his PAT snaps appear to land on the tee, and his awareness and coverage abilities after snaps were exceptional. [player_tooltip player_id="91205" first="Devery" last="Cagle"], P, Eastside The 6-foot-1, 175-pound Cagle is a solid athlete, evidenced by the fact that he led Eastside in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns this fall. It will only aid in the pursuit of a landing spot for the state’s top punter. He averaged 43.1 yards per punt this season on 51 boots, proving to be a beacon on a struggling team. [player_tooltip player_id="163871" first="Mazeo" last="Bennett Jr"], WR/DB/PR, Greenville One of just two sophomores to make the Fab 50, Bennett showed time and again why his stock is rapidly rising. In helping Greenville to the Class 4A Lower State finals, Bennett had 661 receiving yards and five scores from his spot on the outside. On defense, he contributed a pair of interceptions and a fumble recovery. On returns, he tacked on another 357 yards and a score. [player_tooltip player_id="200708" first="Tre" last="McLeod"], RB/WR/DB/PR, Trinity Collegiate We love everything about McLeod’s game, including how valuable he was in so many different ways. The Furman commit (just the second NCAA Division-I signee in school history) rushed for 1,466 yards and 19 touchdowns and caught 16 passes for 258 yards and three touchdowns on offense and then had 82 tackles, five interceptions, a forced fumble and a sack on defense. [player_tooltip player_id="91250" first="Dylan" last="Ramirez"], QB, Broome The number of players across the state who topped 4,000 total yards this season was pretty slim. Ramirez (pictured) was one of them. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior passed for 3,396 yards and 28 touchdowns while rushing for another 759 yards and 15 touchdowns. Oh, and you can’t overlook his play at safety, where he piled up 40.5 tackles and four tackles for loss this year.