Jordan’s Notebook: 24′ OL Breakdowns
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Over the next few months, we’re going to be diving into positional breakdowns to highlight every single student athlete on our radar to help get their name out there to the College Coaches that subscribe to our service. We’ve added…
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Continue ReadingOver the next few months, we’re going to be diving into positional breakdowns to highlight every single student athlete on our radar to help get their name out there to the College Coaches that subscribe to our service. We’ve added over 200+ prospects to our class of 24′ rankings. If you feel like you should be ranked fill out our FREE Prospect Player Index which not only gets you on our radar but also college coaches’ radar’s as they can contact you straight off your account. Enough said, we’re diving into our positional rankings breakdowns with offensive lineman. Let’s dive into it.
Manuel Garcia-Rivera Manuel Garcia-Rivera 6'4" | 320 lbs | OL Riverside Brookfield | 2024 IL Twitter
Mr. Garcia-Rivera is a name that was on my radar heading into this fall season where he took his snaps on Varsity. When working in-line, he can work down the line of scrimmage on down blocks to wash the defensive lineman down. He can also get to 2nd level blocks where he showcased the ability to make good initial contact on the linebacker. Here, he stays under control to cut off linebacker flow and hinders the defender from making a play on the ball. When he’s blocking out in space, this young man shows glimpses of his agility to get out of his stance and pick up the corner when a receiver screen is called – this is a trait to keep an eye on moving forward. In pass protection, he showcased the ability to anchor against the bull rush. When he anchors he uses his punch to latch on quickly getting inside hand placement, this enables him to tie up and neutralize the pass rush. In his film, there are clips that showcase just that and he has a few clips after he anchors with the play ending with him putting the defender into the ground. Currently holds no offers. Highlights
MJ Hansen MJ Hansen 6'4" | 280 lbs | OL Burlington Central | 2024 State IL Twitter
Mr. Hansen is a name that was on my radar heading into this fall season and one that took his snaps on Varsity showcasing what he can do. His foot quicks enable him to slide out to the corner cutting off the speed rusher while he maintains a solid base/leverage. He can also step through the line of scrimmage to make the block at the 2nd level. This young man can drive the defender down the line of scrimmage on down blocks where he washes the defensive lineman down. He also can get to 2nd level blocks where he showcased the ability to make good initial contact on the linebacker cutting off linebacker flow. When he’s pulling, he gets quick out of his stance and is able to make the kickout block on the defensive end creating a hole off his block. In pass protection, he uses his foot quicks to get out of his stance and set to block where he can pick up the speed/edge rusher. He does so by utilizing his quick punch to get inside hand placement on the defender. When going up against an inside pass rush move, he can latch on quickly with his quick punch and ride the defender down the line of scrimmage. There’s one play in his highlights where he’s working laterally in pass protection as his quarterback is surveying the field, his quarterback signals that he’s going to scramble as there’s nothing open downfield and he was running out of room to make a play as the sideline was closing in on him. Upon doing so, this young man moves into open space along the sideline where he was able to run through not one but two defenders opening a lane along the sideline for his quarterback to gain yards on the play. This type of awareness is one to keep an eye on moving forward. Currently holds no offers. Highlights
Danny Zarco Danny Zarco 6'5" | 305 lbs | OL Lyons Township | 2024 IL Twitter
Mr. Zarco was a name that came onto my radar right before the fall season started as he took his snaps on JV. He showcased glimpses of his foot quicks to slide out to the corner to cut off the speed/edge rusher. There’s a clip in his highlights where right out of his stance he slides out quickly and is able to get hands on as he brings the edge rusher into the ground showcasing his high potential in this area. He also had a clip showcasing his ability to anchor as well. Here, he was able to tie up and neutralize the pass rush as he absorbed the bull rush at the point of attack. Both of these traits are ones to keep an eye on as he progresses in his development. When he’s blocking in-line, he showcased glimpses of being able to jolt the defensive lineman and drive the defender down the line of scrimmage to wash them down. He also gave us an insight into his ability to get to 2nd level blocks to cut off linebacker flow. This young man showcased glimpses of being able to jolt the defender when he punches aggressively on the JV level both in pass protection and when he’s in-line blocking. His foundational skill set is well established as he looks to take his first snaps on Varsity. Again, this analysis is off his JV highlight and we still need to see how his skill set is going to transition to Varsity this upcoming fall. That being said, keep an eye on this young man as he has high potential heading into his Junior Season Campaign. Currently holds no offers. Highlights
Brett Larson Brett Larson 6'3" | 270 lbs | OL Kaneland | 2024 IL Twitter
Mr. Larson is a name that was on my radar heading into this fall season and one that took his snaps on Varsity. When he’s working in-line, he’s quick to engage the defender out of his stance and showcased glimpses of his punch as well as his leg drive to finish plays by gaining movement off the line of scrimmage as a run blocker. When he’s blocking out in space he can get out of his stance to pick up the outside linebacker/defensive back on receiver screens. In terms of pulling, he can kickout the contain defender to open up running lanes off his block and he can also get through the line of scrimmage to get to the 2nd level. Once he gets to the 2nd level he stays under control to cut off linebacker flow and hinders the defender from making a play on the ball. In pass protection, he’s aggressive with his hands as he utilized his initial punch on the defender while he slides out. This young man is capable of redirecting his body to either pick up the blitz as well as double with the center. This is seen in his highlights where he’ll slide to double with the center if nobody is in his gap responsibility. Upon doing so, he can drive the defender into the dirt as he finishes the block. His use of active hands in each situation, run blocking and pass protection, are ones to keep an eye on moving forward in his development as he also showcased the ability to punch without losing balance and can replace his hand onto the defender to control the rep. Currently holds no offers. Highlights
Jackson Nekolny Jackson Nekolny 6'2" | 255 lbs | OL Batavia | 2024 IL Twitter
Mr. Nekolny is a name that came onto my radar towards the end of the fall season and one that took his snaps on Varsity to showcase what he can do. When working in-line, this young man can engage the blocker with his quick punch and leg drive where he can finish the play by gaining momentum off the line of scrimmage as a drive run blocker. He can also double with the center before working up to the 2nd level to cut off the linebacker flow hindering the defender to make the play. We also get an insight into his power/strength on straight ahead run block where he uses his quick punch to gain inside hand placement and leg drive to jolt the defender backward. There’s only one play in his highlights showcasing his pulling ability. Here, he gets out his stance and is able to kick out the contain defender which opens up a lane off his block. This young man also gives us an insight into his foot quicks which he uses to set up his blocks quickly. He does so by setting with a good base which helps him block with leverage. In pass protection, there are glimpses of him being able to anchor and absorb the contact at the line of scrimmage. There’s one clip in his highlights where once he absorbs the bull rush as he anchors he’s able to toss the pass rusher aside taking the defender out of the play. Currently holds no offers. Highlights
Patrick Brock Patrick Brock 6'4" | 230 lbs | OL Mt. Zion | 2024 IL Twitter
Mr. Brock is a newer name that came onto my radar towards the end of the fall season and one that took his snaps on Varsity. When he’s working in-line, he can maintain contact and keep his legs churning to tie up his man until the ball carrier can get by. His quickness off the ball helps him make down blocks which are seen throughout his film. He does so by having the ability to deliver a good initial blow on the defender and uses that to drive the defensive lineman down the line of scrimmage. This young man finishes plays where the plays through the whistle. There’s one play in particular that comes to mind. In this play, this young man drive blocks the defender 5+ yards downfield before throwing the defender back and then peels back towards the play to pick up another block on a defender while his teammate is running by. When he’s pulling, he can kickout the defensive end. There’s a clip in his film where he gets out of his stance quickly to pull and runs the defensive end over on the kickout block giving an insight into his aggressiveness. This young man also has the foot quicks to help him get set up to block quickly. Here, he gets set with a good base to help him block with leverage. Currently holds no offers. Highlights
Dominic McKibbin Dominic McKibbin 6'4" | 240 lbs | OL Bloomington Central Catholic | 2024 IL Twitter
Mr. Mckibbin is a newer name to me that didn’t come onto my radar until the end of the fall season and one that took his snaps on Varsity showcasing what he can do. When he’s working in-line, he provided an insight into his strength to drive the defender down the line of scrimmage to create a hoe for his ball carrier. This young man can jolt the defender back showcasing his power on drive blocks as well. This is seen in his highlights where he drive blocks on defender downfield before picking up a second defender as he’s constantly looking for work through the whistle. In pass protection, he showcased glimpses of being able to anchor. In his clip, he absorbs contact on the bull rush at the line of scrimmage and is able to put the defender into the ground taking his rushing threat away on that play. He also provided insight into his ability to slide out to pick up the speed/edge rusher where he’s able to latch onto the defender once he’s out of his stance. His consistency in this area is spotty at times but with further development look for his consistency to increase in this area. Currently holds no offers. Highlights
Jace Pankey Jace Pankey 6'4" | 275 lbs | OL Iroquois West | 2024 State IL Twitter
Mr. Pankey is a newer name to me this fall season and one that took his snaps on Varsity showcasing what he can do. When working in-line, he showcased the ability to jolt the defender and drive the defender back 5+ yards downfield through the whistle. This is seen in the first few clip in his highlights where he uses his initial punch to gain inside hand placement. He potentially could truly become a strong physical blocker at the point of attack as he plays from a strong base with balance and power upon contact. A trait to keep an eye on is his initial quickness from his stance into the defenders as he can shoot his hands quickly. This is a high potential young man that has showcased a mean streak of mauling defenders early on in his career. Iroquois West has done a great job of producing quality young men and had two D1 caliber offensive linemen on their team last fall ( Clayton Leonard Clayton Leonard 6'5" | 265 lbs | OL Iroquois West | 2022 State IL and Cannon Leonard Cannon Leonard 6'9" | 265 lbs | OL Iroquois West | 2023 State IL ). What I’m most interested to see out of this young man is how consistent he can keep up with that mean streak mentality he brings in the run game. I’m going out on a limb here and making it known that this young man is one you should NOT overlook as he could very well end up being a name on the rise after his Junior Season. Currently holds no offers. Highlights
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