2023 Rankings – Newcomers

<em><strong>Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy!</strong></em> As the month of June comes to an end this week, we wrap up all of our prospect rankings with an update of the 2023 class. All of the updates began with a new Top 50 in the <a href="https://prepredzone.com/oklahoma/rankings/2025-rankings/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>2025 Rankings</strong></a> and the 2024 class followed and you can check out that <a href="https://prepredzone.com/oklahoma/rankings/2024-rankings/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>2024 Top 75 Right Here!</strong></a> Finally, we look at the upcoming senior class as we turn our attention to the 2023 class, which has become incredibly deep. Our latest update features the Top 175 prospects in the 2023 class. You can check out that complete <a href="https://prepredzone.com/oklahoma/rankings/2023-rankings/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Top 175 Right Here!</strong></a> Throughout the week, we’ll take a look at different position groups, along with several other ranking breakdowns. In this post, we take a look at five prospects who are not only new to the 2024 rankings, but are some of the higher ranked guys in the recent update. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="344120" first="Dale" last="Miller"] - Defensive Back - Deer Creek</strong></span> <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>(Ranked #11 Overall - #2 DB)</strong></span> Our first newcomer is definitely an interesting prospect to watch and there’s a ton of mystery there, which makes us more excited to see him and Deer Creek in person. [player_tooltip player_id="344120" first="Dale" last="Miller"] comes to Deer Creek after being a standout at Hoover in Alabama. He was supposed to attend the IMG Academy in Florida for his senior season but after that did not happen, he enrolled at Deer Creek. For what it’s worth, we’re making this evaluation solely off his film from his sophomore and junior years at Hoover as we have not seen him in person. On film, Miller is an excellent cover corner who has really good instincts and knows how to make a play on the ball. That was definitely something that jumped off the page at us when we watched him but we definitely want to see more moving forward. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="370214" first="Landon" last="Zaldivar"] - Offensive Lineman - Jenks</strong></span> <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>(Ranked #28 Overall - #4 OL)</strong></span> Jenks has had a great run in the last decade or so of just producing big and aggressive offensive linemen. Leading the way for the Trojans on their offensive line will be [player_tooltip player_id="370214" first="Landon" last="Zaldivar"] at one of the tackle positions. Zaldivar is already committed to Memphis and his recruitment has absolutely blown up in the last six months or so after his junior tape continued to make the rounds and he went on more visits. This is yet another big Jenks prospect that will be able to anchor an offensive line that is not going to be shy about what they want to do on offense. They will be running the football with two of the best running backs in the state in [player_tooltip player_id="47955" first="Jaiden" last="Carroll"] and [player_tooltip player_id="157457" first="Jalyn" last="Stanford"]. That helped lead them to a state championship a year ago and with Zaldivar and the running backs returning, that should be the focus again this fall. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="370215" first="Cooper" last="Lai"] - Athlete - Cascia Hall</strong></span> <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>(Ranked #33 Overall - #5 ATH)</strong></span> A prospect that has absolutely exploded over the last month in the state’s 2023 class is Cascia Hall athlete [player_tooltip player_id="370215" first="Cooper" last="Lai"]. The Cascia star has been on our radar for a while now after starting for Cascia at quarterback and at safety. He was also one of the top safeties on the Sooner7 7v7 team this offseason. Lai is an outstanding athlete that translates to safety at the next level. But one story of him at quarterback that shows what type of player he is. We watched him at the Rejoice team camp shred a defense, make a run to the pylon and leap over two defenders and into the end zone. It was June 1st and he was playing like the gold ball was up for grabs. It was one play in a team camp but ever since we’ve been sold on Lai as one of the better prospects in the class. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="370216" first="Jamison" last="Mejia"] - Offensive Lineman - Broken Arrow</strong></span> <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>(Ranked #60 Overall - #9 OL)</strong></span> Another offensive lineman on this newcomer list is Broken Arrow lineman [player_tooltip player_id="370216" first="Jamison" last="Mejia"]. We first got a chance to see Mejia while he was training with the "Trench Mafia" on a Saturday morning in March. Mejia is definitely a thinner offensive tackle but the height is there and he will have time to fill out his frame and become a more physically dominating blocker. He uses his athleticism and strength to make up for being a little thin right now for a tackle and it hasn’t hurt him yet. We’re definitely buying stock now on Mejia because we can see him continuing to add muscle and weight and then get in the right college program. Once that happens, combined with the skills that he has, Mejia could end up being one of the better prospects in this class. He’s already a top ten OL but the sky is the limit for him. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="292484" first="Jake" last="Tucker"] - Linebacker - Tuttle</strong></span> <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>(Ranked #64 Overall - #5 LB)</strong></span> Our final prospect on the newcomer list first popped onto our radar this spring. Tuttle linebacker [player_tooltip player_id="292484" first="Jake" last="Tucker"] was one of the athletes featured in our "Friday Film Review" series and we immediately bought in on the linebacker from Tuttle. He also participated in our camp in late April and once again impressed by being one of the top performers at the linebacker position. Anyone who watches Tuttle knows that Tuttle plays defense and Tucker is a great representative of that culture. The linebacker class in the 2023 class is incredibly deep with so many prospects that are all around the same level and Tucker is part of that group. Right now, he’s a top five linebacker in the class but we’re telling you right now, the gap between #5 and #10 at the position is not that big.