Team Preview – South Mecklenburg Sabres

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>As we get closer to the start of the season, we will be taking a look at team previews from across the Charlotte Metro Area. We have a lot of talented players here in the city, and every year there are new faces that will become the star of their teams on Friday Nights. We'll take a look at them, as well as the overall team prospects for the upcoming year!</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The South Mecklenburg Sabres are coming off of a 9-3 breakthrough season under Head Coach Joe Evans, who has built this program from the ground up in a pretty short time. In 2019 this program went winless, so to see the turnaround has been impressive. Coach Evans preaches the weight room, and their improvement from 0 wins, to 4-3 in the Covid Spring Season, to a 2nd round playoff appearance has Sabre fans excited for the future. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Sabres sent off 12 players to play on the next level out of the 2022 class, and some big-time talent will need to be replaced, and there is plenty of opportunity for a lot of new names to step up and become known to all of us. However, there are still a few talented players coming back to this squad, and we'll take a look at them here. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Starting with the quarterback, and I'm sure Coach Evans is glad to have Cam Reese back once again for his senior year. Cam did a great job leading an offense which featured a big time lead running back in Jacob Newman, however, Reese stepped up with some big throws in big games last season, and this year he may get even more of a chance to throw as the Sabres figure out who will step into Newman's large shoes to fill at running back. Reese at 6'0 and 170 pounds, picked up his first offer from Hampden-Sydney College and is a dual-threat player that can put the ball in tight spaces with some very good accuracy. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>He will have some good targets to throw to, as at first look this offense's strength is in Reese and its receivers. Michael Nesbit is the leader of that bunch and at 6'4 and 185 pounds, he is a returning all-conference player. If you guessed at that height he is a jump-ball player, you would absolutely be correct. Nesbit stars on the basketball court as well, and he is a tough matchup on those fades down in the red zone for touchdowns, but he can run away from you as well on the deep ball so he's a legitimate #1 - defenses will have to scheme for all season long. The problem is, South has a couple of other guys that can make plays if you tilt the coverage too much his way. Tiquez Mallette has been a good slot receiver and has excellent agility and quickness in his routes. He isn't scared to go over the middle to make tough catches and displays strong hands in those 1-on-1 contested situations. WR Chris Brown will also see a bigger role in the offense - the thing I love about him is he is a willing blocker on outside runs and the screen game, and his teammates will love him for that. He also shows good route running and ability on in-breaking routes especially in his film. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Defensively the Sabres have some standouts returning that will help keep them in games all season long. I featured a couple of these guys in previous articles in discussing Under The Radar players. Junior Mpiana is a good-looking LB/EDGE prospect at 6'3 and 215 pounds. Trenton Santiago at 6'3 and 230 pounds plays more like a traditional 3-down linebacker, but these two will make the Sabre defense tough to run against - I have seen Santiago since he was a freshman, and his relentless motor will be tough for offenses to scheme against. Benji Tidwell is a team leader that just picked up his first offer to play on the next level - he's one of those guys that will lead this team by example and plays physical and tough at all times. You can never have enough of those guys for sure. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This year I am excited to see the new faces that will step up and fill the roles of a lot of great seniors in the 2022 class. The Sabres have enough coming back along with Coach Evans to compete for the So Meck 7 conference title and return to the playoffs once again. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->