Prep Redzone Dakotas Showcase: The Gunslingers Who Stood Out

Slack certainly showed on Sunday why he’s one of my favorite quarterbacks in the Class of 2023 across the Dakotas. This young man so polished and continues to show his excellent mechanics from the SDSU prospect camp I attended to last Sunday in Fargo. He showed excellent arm strength and was super instinctive on where he was going with the football. Not to mention has strong footwork with great mobility to along with it.

I have been fortunate enough to watch my fair share of Slack’s film over the last year and time and time again he shows such a multitude of skillsets that next-level coaches are going to love. He has such a calming demeanor in the pocket even with their is rising pressure coming his way. Slack has a really fluid quick release that can fit the football in some really tight windows with excellent precision. He is in my eyes what I call a firepopper, as his ability to make really quick reads allows him to just fire the football with good arm strength right where it needs to be for his receivers. Plus, there is no questions regarding this young man’s work ethic, as I have yet to find a quarterback in the Midwest like Lucas Slack Lucas Slack 6'1" | 190 lbs | QB Brandon Valley | 2023 State that is an All-State wrestler too. He also is great student with a 3.5 GPA and is a sound college football prospect to watch in 2022.

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Wulf was another member of the 1st team All-Camp team. From the start of warmups, I saw Braeden’s athletic ability come out as he showed great hip extension and tested as the fastest quarterback at the Prep Redzone Dakotas showcase running in the 4.8s. His reps in 1on1s showed great balance and a precise accuracy from his release.

Braeden’s 2021 tape shows a similar versatile skillset that we saw last Sunday. He shows off that great speed out the gates and is instinctive when running the football and carries great stamina to finish his runs strong. His touch and precision on his deep throws are really good. I think he can develop this offseason on his shorter touch throws as they show slightly less touch from my eyes. When Braeden is able to step up and throw, that’s when his throw power really shows it’s strength. Wulf is a tough tackle especially when he escapes to the outside as an ankle tackle is not going to bring this 6’1 195 QB prospect to the turf. Going back to his precision, he shows a lot of it on his short throws making it easy for the receiver/running back to catch it on the go and bolt. I’m excited to watch Braeden’s senior season unfold in 2022 as I believe he has college football in his future.

We have talked a lot about touch throws so far in this article, and there wasn’t a better touch thrower of the football on Sunday than Hillsboro-Central Valley’s Riley Olsen Riley Olsen 5'10" | 190 lbs | QB Hillsboro/Central Valley | 2023 State . Olsen also showed great footwork prior to unloading the football with that strong touch right in the wheelhouse to where his receivers in 1on1s could get it.

Olsen is another quarterback on this list that has that ability to put the ball in small windows only where his Burros wide receiver can get it. Even when this young man has a lack of balance, he can still make those same quality touch throws we spoke about earlier. Riley is an outstanding seller on the run option and has good speed between the tackles that can bolt from those inside lanes to get into open space. He also has good mobility to buy him more time to find an opening in his receiving core.

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Andrew karls Andrew karls 6'2" | 180 lbs | QB Apollo | 2022 | Quarterback | St. Cloud Apollo (MN) | 2022

Andrew was a local prospect I have watched my fair share amounts of film on in Minnesota and he was another member of our All-Camp team as a under the radar QB prospect out of St. Cloud. Andrew showed off so much arm strength from my eyes could see and showed off some twitchy feet on his way to a 4.41 shuttle time. He showed some of the fastest feet in nearly all of the testing drills amongst quarterbacks alone.

Now rolling is Andrew’s senior season tape, which shows off that mega arm strength we saw at camp along with so many other great skillsets. His abilty to make strong throws with extending the play is fun to watch from this Eagles senior. He’s an instinctive runner to watch out for as if he doesn’t have the read he wants to pass, he wastes no time advancing the play into using his legs. Not only is he a solid quarterback, but he’s fun to watch at defensive back too. He has a quick trigger to react to where the football is and with that big motor of his, has no issue moving up a level of the field to make a play on the ball carrier. He has a strong backpedal and brings great vision to the Apollo secondary as well. Karls also can cover a huge window with his solid range and speed. Somehow with all those excellent skill sets, Karls does not have an offer as of yet. If I am a small school program looking for an athlete in the 320 area code, I would certainly make a call to this young man.

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Brouwer was another Sioux Falls area QB prospect I was intrigued to see in person at the Prep Redzone Dakotas Showcase. Jackson showed why he made our All-Camp Team by throwing the football with good poise and attention to detail. He showed good arm strength in 1on1s and made some really impressive throws with small windows of opportunity.

Brouwer was a QB last season that had to learn really quick in the Sioux Falls Roosevelt offense. After the Roughriders lost their top two QBs (and two of the best in the 2023 class) in Taylen Ashley Taylen Ashley 6'0" | 175 lbs | QB Sioux Falls Jefferson | 2023 State to Sioux Falls Jefferson, and Bennett Dannenbring Bennett Dannenbring 6'2" | 195 lbs | QB SF O'Gorman | 2023 State to Sioux Falls O’Gorman, Brouwer had to be the guy at QB1. Watching his film, Jackson shows really strong confidence in the pocket. His skillset from throwing the football on the run is really solid, and will only get better with two more years as QB1 and a lot more reps with developing better touch on shorter throws. Brouwer shows a fearless demeanor fitting the football over the middle of the field. As a junior, I can’t wait to see more use of Brouwer’s arm strength as his sophomore tape shows a lot of opportunity to succeed being behind one of the strongest offensive line unit in the state, which unfortunately has graduated most of their top linemen in Joseph Cotton Joseph Cotton 6'6" | 300 lbs | OL SF Roosevelt | 2022 State , Nick Bunkers Nick Bunkers 6'1" | 280 lbs | OL SF Roosevelt | 2022 State and more. A bright future for this young man that will likely be a college football prospect in the coming years.