318 HotBoyz 7v7: Six Shreveport breakout prospects to watch

Seven-on-seven season is starting to heat up like the weather outside, and several teams around Louisiana’s rapidly expanded field are starting to hit the stride of their respective schedules. Prep Redzone Louisiana reached out to coaches and managers around the state for a few of their top players to watch in the first month or so of action. Here are a handful of under-the-radar prospects from the 318 HotBoyz, one of the state’s newer organizations based out of Shreveport to help provide more opportunities for student-athletes in the northwest region of state. <strong>Greg Manning — 5-9, 160 RB — Benton (2024)</strong> Manning may be one of his area’s busiest student-athletes of late, as he rolled right from a fall as one of the state’s top sophomore running backs into a winter as one of its top basketball players and now a spring of 7-on-7 continued work on his game as a pass-catching threat. He was already a well-rounded threat with more than 1,000 yards as a sophomore and should continue gaining notoriety as a junior. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="285202" first="Chaz" last="Whitaker"] — 5-9, 160 RB — Calvary Baptist (2024)</strong> The HotBoyz have another of those standout sophomore running backs on their roster in the speedy Calvary Baptist running back with the 4.5-second 40-yard dash. Whitaker hits a gear in space that makes some of his film, even against larger schools, start to look like a cheat code. He gets the opportunity to work on his route-running and pass-catching this spring and continue developing his all-around game to take on a bigger role this fall with a new quarterback succeeding graduating star [player_tooltip player_id="127701" first="Landry" last="Lyddy"]. <strong>Kenyon Terrell — 5-11, 150 QB — Captain Shreve (2023)</strong> The junior quarterback had the arm and poise to allow the Gators to utilize talented skill players such as Alabama signee [player_tooltip player_id="136478" first="Kendrick" last="Law"] and breakout wide receiver [player_tooltip player_id="136526" first="Braylon" last="Finney"] this fall to a memorable 9-1 regular season and No. 2 seed in the Class 5A playoff bracket. Terrell completed 125 of his 239 passes (52.3%) for 2,072 yards (16.6 yards per completion, 8.7 yards per attempt) and 21 touchdowns, including some 35- or 40-yard strikes downfield. He also rushed 105 times for 413 yards and nine scores on the ground. He’s getting extensive reps this spring to continue sharpening his skills in preparation for senior year helping lead the successors to the big shoes left by the aforementioned Law, Finney and other graduating standouts. <strong>Chris Montgomery — 5-11, 170 DB — Airline (2023)</strong> The junior defensive back lists a 4.59-second 40-yard dash and 4.6-second shuttle to go with some nicely read and timed takeaways on his fall film to help secure District 1-5A honorable mention recognition in an area of the state that often prides itself on its quarterback production. <strong>Jalen Lewis — 5-10, 165 WR — Haughton (2024)</strong> The big-play sophomore hauled in 29 catches this fall for 394 yards and four scores — three short-to-intermediate passes over the middle on which he flashed enough speed to find a seam and go 75, 68 and 39 yards, and one over-the-middle catch in tight coverage inside the 10-yard line. On the 68-yarder in particular, Lewis showed impressive awareness, focus and balance on the fly, as he navigated traffic, made somewhat of a spinning reception between two defenders, battled through an attempted tackle and accelerated away for the points and the highlight. <strong>Gage Haley — 5-9, 140 ATH — Parkway (2024)</strong> For all Manning's bouncing back and forth between football and basketball, Haley lists baseball, track and wrestling in addition to wide receiver and safety on the football field. His 7-on-7 coaches like what they've seen from him on the offensive side thus far this spring.