Repping the 843: South Carolina’s Coast A Hotbed For Linebackers
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When you look at enough players, even at one position, your eyes start to cross. But if you can keep a clear head, you can also witness a trend in action. One of them jumped out to us in early…
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Continue ReadingWhen you look at enough players, even at one position, your eyes start to cross.
But if you can keep a clear head, you can also witness a trend in action.
One of them jumped out to us in early January and we’ve now taken the better part of two months asking “Why?”
In this case, why are so many of the state’s top linebackers coming from the strip up and down the easternmost part of South Carolina? We heard all sorts of guesses and reasoning from college and high school coaches, but in short, the best answer we got was based upon competition. Players grouped together – often on the same teams or with the same school districts or regions are pushing each other to be better.
And no better place are we seeing that that at the linebacker position.
All told between the Classes of 2023, 2024 and 2025, Prep Red Zone currently has 38 linebackers ranked. Of those 38, 21 comes from the 843 area code, the area anchored by Charleston, Florence, Horry and Beaufort counties.
That’s a staggeringly high percentage of players from what amounts to a little less than one-third of the state.
The best part is that there is no clear-cut blue-print when it comes to what they have to look like.
There are big bodies, such as Summerville’s Steve Simpkins Steve Simpkins 6'2" | 210 lbs | LB Summerville | 2023 State SC (6-foot-2, 210 pounds) and Trinity Collegiate’s 6-foot-4, 185-pound James Herbert James Herbert 6'4" | 215 lbs | LB Trinity Collegiate | 2025 State SC , but also relatively smaller ones like Myrtle Beach’s Cam Ward Cam Ward 5'4" | 170 lbs | LB Myrtle Beach | 2023 State SC (5-foot-7, 170 pounds) and South Florence’s Trokel Prew Trokel Prew 5'8" | 185 lbs | LB South Florence | 2023 State SC , whose 5-foot-8, 185-pound frame looks much different on paper than in action.
And while those four aren’t necessarily leading the charge at the position, three of them are also a perfect example of the competition standpoint. Simpkins ( Jaidyn Penix Jaidyn Penix 6'0" | 205 lbs | LB Summerville | 2024 State SC ), Ward ( Ricky Escobar Ricky Escobar 5'10" | 200 lbs | LB Myrtle Beach | 2024 State SC ) and Prew ( Jaylin William Davis Jaylin William Davis 5'11" | 220 lbs | LB South Florence | 2023 State SC ) all have a positional teammate appearing the rankings. That means we’ve seen not only their individual talents, but how well they work as a unit.
The same can be said for Bluffton linebackers Jaquinn Williams Jaquinn Williams 5'11" | 190 lbs | LB Bluffton | 2023 State SC and Jeremiah Curry Jeremiah Curry 6'0" | 205 lbs | LB Bluffton | 2024 State SC and Ashley Ridge’s trio of Alex Ledford Alex Ledford 6'1" | 200 lbs | LB Ashley Ridge | 2023 State SC , Christian Garland Christian Garland 6'3" | 220 lbs | LB Ashley Ridge | 2023 State SC and TJ Wilson TJ Wilson 6'0" | 215 lbs | LB Ashley Ridge | 2023 State SC and the Loris tandem of Jordan Vancise Jordan Vancise 5'10" | 200 lbs | LB Loris | 2024 State SC and Cameron Faircloth Cameron Faircloth 6'1" | 195 lbs | LB Loris | 2023 State SC .
We haven’t even mentioned Wilson’s Joshua McPherson, yet. Take a look.
The 843 is full of highlight reels that look like this. Want to see more like this, we encourage you to seek out info on all 21.
Class of 2023
Omari Jenkins Omari Jenkins 6'2" | 225 lbs | LB Timberland | 2023 State SC , Timberland
TJ Wilson TJ Wilson 6'0" | 215 lbs | LB Ashley Ridge | 2023 State SC , Ashley Ridge
Joshua McPherson, Wilson
Roshad McAllister Roshad McAllister 6'0" | 200 lbs | LB Lamar | 2023 State SC , Lamar
Cam Ward Cam Ward 5'4" | 170 lbs | LB Myrtle Beach | 2023 State SC , Myrtle Beach
Cameron Avery Cameron Avery 6'0" | 220 lbs | LB Cane Bay | 2023 State SC , Cane Bay
Steve Simpkins Steve Simpkins 6'2" | 210 lbs | LB Summerville | 2023 State SC , Summerville
Cameron Faircloth Cameron Faircloth 6'1" | 195 lbs | LB Loris | 2023 State SC , Loris
Jaylin William Davis Jaylin William Davis 5'11" | 220 lbs | LB South Florence | 2023 State SC , South Florence
Trokel Prew Trokel Prew 5'8" | 185 lbs | LB South Florence | 2023 State SC , South Florence
Jaquinn Williams Jaquinn Williams 5'11" | 190 lbs | LB Bluffton | 2023 State SC , Bluffton
Alex Ledford Alex Ledford 6'1" | 200 lbs | LB Ashley Ridge | 2023 State SC , Ashley Ridge
Christian Garland Christian Garland 6'3" | 220 lbs | LB Ashley Ridge | 2023 State SC , Ashley Ridge
Class of 2024
Terry Grant Terry Grant 6'0" | 210 lbs | LB West Ashley | 2024 State SC , West Ashley
Kayden Gaddist Kayden Gaddist 5'10" | 205 lbs | LB Summerville | 2024 State SC , Hanahan
Jeremiah Curry Jeremiah Curry 6'0" | 205 lbs | LB Bluffton | 2024 State SC , Bluffton
Jordan Vancise Jordan Vancise 5'10" | 200 lbs | LB Loris | 2024 State SC , Loris
Ricky Escobar Ricky Escobar 5'10" | 200 lbs | LB Myrtle Beach | 2024 State SC , Myrtle Beach
Ben Thompson Ben Thompson 5'10" | 195 lbs | LB Green Sea Floyds | 2024 State SC , Green Sea Floyds
Jaidyn Penix Jaidyn Penix 6'0" | 205 lbs | LB Summerville | 2024 State SC , Summerville
Class of 2025
James Herbert James Herbert 6'4" | 215 lbs | LB Trinity Collegiate | 2025 State SC , Trinity Collegiate