2023 Dakotas Rankings August Update: The Preview
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DAKOTAS– We unleash The Preview of our recent August 2022 Update of our Dakotas 2023 rankings. We will break down several items from what the biggest difference is with this rankings update, movers inside the Top 10, we have a…
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Continue ReadingDAKOTAS– We unleash The Preview of our recent August 2022 Update of our Dakotas 2023 rankings. We will break down several items from what the biggest difference is with this rankings update, movers inside the Top 10, we have a new OL1 in 2023, and many more superlatives from this 2023 rankings update! Enjoy.
What is Different with this 2023 Rankings Update?
Besides the changes on the site end of our rankings, this batch of 2023 class rankings will see the biggest change as far as the rankings go. With prospect camp season now well over and we are now into the meat and grind of the start of the 2022 season, the rankings will look different. The biggest question to be answered is, What did I do to achieve a higher or lower rank than the last update? My answer to that comes from prospect camps. The biggest reason I love evaluating college-level prospect camps so much as it really paints a clear picture of a particular prospect of their dedication to playing at the next level. If our staff saw you at a ton of camps this summer, we likely saw you working your tail off to get noticed, and a handful of those prospects will see their stock rising in this most recent update. We understand that not every prospect can get out to every camp possible in the Dakotas, but getting a live evaluation of a prospect holds more weight than us watching your junior tapes, etc. To prospects that did not attend a prospect camp this summer and didn’t have an offer prior will likely hurt your stock rankings-wise from our end and the college coaches. This 2023 class of rankings is indeed not the final list, of course, but every year by this time of year for our rankings release for seniors, it paints a pretty clear picture of which prospects have the potential to play Division I, Division II, Division III, NAIA, and JUCO levels. Here is a quick breakdown of how we evaluate based on the rankings:
1-25: Division I level prospect. Since we have been doing this in the Dakotas since 2020, we have found approximately 25 prospects will play FBS or FCS football. through South Dakota and North Dakota. For those prospects that are in this range that have committed to the Division II level, such as Sioux Falls Lincoln OL Elliott Renville Elliott Renville 6'4" | 285 lbs | OL SF Lincoln | 2023 State , we considered players like Elliott to be the steals of the class, which certainly falls true with the number of coaches I have spoken with about Elliott’s next level talent.
26-100: Division II level prospect. We have scanned the analytics here as well since 2020 and have found that the Dakotas are a heavy hitter for prospects going to the NSIC, RMAC, and others. It varies significantly yearly, but we have seen anywhere from 50 to 75 prospects per year thus far commit or have the skills in our eyes to play football at the Division II level. Same rule app
100-250: Division III, NAIA, JUCO prospect. Any prospect that falls outside the top 100 likely has the skillsets to become a great prospect at either of these three levels listed. Again, the Dakotas is a hotbed for these levels of talent, as programs such as Dakota Wesleyan alone signed 20+ South Dakota prospects in their most recent 2022 class, and plenty of other programs such as Dakota State and others in the Northstar Conference have posted a high number of Dakotas prospects committing to play at the next level.
Watch List: When we put a prospect on our watch list, it means we need to see more tape on you to give out an honest evaluation. There are prospects that post their tape late after we do our rankings or don’t update their tape from when we last updated our rankings, and those prospects will fall into that watch list category. To us, it’s all about the tape you put out there for us to see and what we can catch from prospect camps and in-game evaluations live and from streaming throughout the year.
Regardless of where a prospect ends up, getting to the next level to play college football is an exceptional goal, and we at Prep Redzone Dakotas will cover any prospect at any level; as to us, no prospect is off-limits as far as the exposure we can give them.
Will we miss some spots? Of course, we are not perfect, but I assure you our staff and I worked hard to have the “best of the best” and only prospect football rankings possible in the Dakotas. We also will miss some spots when a prospect is not active on social media. We recommend posting your offers, as we have found the dominoes will fall to more college football opportunities by doing so, but we never will second-guess a prospect if he doesn’t feel comfortable doing so or being active on social media.
Movers Inside the Top 10:
From our last 2023 update, only one prospect moved inside the Top 10: Tea Area’s Reis Kirschenman Reis Kirschenman 6'4" | 245 lbs | DL Tea Area | 2023 State , who moved into the #7 spot. Reis had an excellent summer from the multiple camps I got to watch him at, and watching him grow with his size and still keep his excellent motor and skillsets spoke volumes from watching a ton of his junior tape and the in-person evaluations I got from him at Augustana and NDSU this summer at prospect camps.
A New #1 Offensive Linemen:
New Pierre (SD) and North Dakota commit OL Jason Maciejcazak takes over as OL1 in the Dakotas. You do not see many 6’4 320 pounds prospects that can move like Jason can on both sides of the ball, and his physicality is top-notch in the 2023 class no matter where you get to line him up. I have to say, I am very excited to see Jason in a new uniform this season for the Pierre Governors and see if he and OL Christian Busch Christian Busch 6'4" | 250 lbs | OL Pierre | 2023 State can punch the Governor’s ticket in the trenches for a 6th straight state championship. Those two up front will give Washington commit QB Lincoln Kienholz Lincoln Kienholz 6'3" | 185 lbs | QB Pierre | 2023 State and 2024 RB Trey Lewis Trey Lewis LB Pierre TF Riggs | 2024 State SD plenty of cushion up front and plenty of lanes for Trey and others to push thru for the Governors as they start their quest for six straight at home this season against a tough Aberdeen Central team with weapons like RB Karson Carda Karson Carda 6'0" | 210 lbs | RB Aberdeen Central | 2023 State , DL Brian Johnson Brian Johnson 6'2" | 240 lbs | DL Aberdeen Central | 2023 State , and DB Aiden Heimann Aiden Heimann 5'11" | 155 lbs | DB Aberdeen Central | 2023 State just to name a few for the Eagles.
Notable New Additions to the Top 50:
New Additions to the Top 50:
William Papeke, DL, Rapid City Central
Checks in at #11 overall. Up 40 spots from #51. Will was a DL prospect I got a strong grasp of his college football potential at the South Dakota State prospect camp in the summer of 2021, camping with the Jackrabbits. After loading up on NSIC offers, Will got back to Brookings this summer and showed the Jackrabbits coaching staff exactly what we saw over a year ago, as he committed to play football for the Jackrabbits in 2023.
Damon Wilkinson Damon Wilkinson 6'9" | 260 lbs | DL De Smet | 2023 State , DL, De Smet
Checks in at #21 overall. Up 33 spots from #54.
Jayden Speraw Jayden Speraw 6'1" | 170 lbs | QB Minot | 2023 State , QB, Minot
Checks in at #30 overall. Up 28 spots from #58.
Nate Andresen Nate Andresen 6'4" | 195 lbs | WR Brandon Valley | 2023 State , WR, Brandon Valley
Checks in at #32 overall. Nate was on our watch list (due to late tape being posted) but is one of the BIGGEST stockrisers on our 2023 rankings.
Jaxon Kellogg Jaxon Kellogg 6'3" | 215 lbs | LB Bismarck Legacy | 2023 State , LB, Bismarck Legacy
Checks in at #36 overall. Jaxon is a new addition to our rankings. How did he do it? He showed some excellent skill sets, to say the least, during my time up at the Minot State prospect camp this summer.
Austin McNulty Austin McNulty DL Tri Valley | 2023 State , DL, Tri Valley
Checks in at #44 overall. Austin made a significant amount of noise from prospect camps this summer, and is a great reason why those camps we mentioned above are so crucial.
Jackson Isakson Jackson Isakson K Aberdeen Roncalli | 2023 State , K, Aberdeen Roncalli
Checks in at #42. Up 38 spots from #80.
TJ Salmen TJ Salmen 6'7" | 200 lbs | TE Hitchcock-Tulare | 2023 State , TE, Hitchcock-Tulare
Checks at #43 overall. Up 24 spots from #67. The NSIC got their wake-up call this summer on this 6’7 TE/DE from Hitchcock-Tulare from his excellent showings at multiple prospect camps this summer.
Gabriel Lindeman Gabriel Lindeman 6'3" | 240 lbs | ATH Dell Rapids St Mary | 2023 State , ATH, Dell Rapids St. Mary
Checks in #45 overall. Up 15 spots from #60.
Reed Rus Reed Rus 6'4" | 195 lbs | LB Mount Vernon-Plankition | 2023 State , LB, Mount Vernon-Plankinton
Checks in #46 overall. Up 18 spots from #64.
Sam Siegfried Sam Siegfried 6'4" | 225 lbs | TE SF Jefferson | 2023 State , TE, Sioux Falls Jefferson
Checks in at #48 overall. Sam moved up 51 spots from #99 as yet again, another prospect that showed off his craft at prospect camps, especially at the Augustana Prospect Camp, where he has now committed to play defensive end for the Vikings next season.
Cedar Amiotte Cedar Amiotte ATH Wall | 2023 State , ATH, Wall
Checks in at #50 overall. Up 74 spots from #124. Cedar got an exciting RMAC offer from camping at Chardon State over the summer. We obviously had caught on to Cedar’s ability last season by being mentioned a Big Dog of the Week a handful of times, but with seeing more and more tape on this kid coming in, I could see Cedar climbing up even slightly more after the 2022 season.
Exciting New Additions Added to the Top 100:
Find out which prospects that were added to our Top 100 really turned the corner this summer at prospect camps and on their recent tape to push their way from new additions inside our Top 100 prospects in the Dakotas.
Julian Scott Julian Scott 5'11" | WR Rapid City Stevens | 2023 State , WR, Rapid City Stevens (SD)
Vegas George Vegas George 6'3" | 220 lbs | DL Bismarck Legacy | 2023 State , DL, Bismarck Legacy (ND)
Kadyn Turnbow, DL, Minot (ND)
Jack Detert Jack Detert 6'3" | 225 lbs | LB Harrisburg | 2023 State , LB, Harrisburg (SD)
Jackson Hoffman, TE, Brookings (SD)
Sam Fischer Sam Fischer 5'10" | 180 lbs | RB Rapid City Christian | 2023 State , RB, Rapid City Christian (SD)
Lincon Wiseman Lincon Wiseman RB Mandan | 2023 State , RB, Mandan (ND)
Chase DeRouchey Chase DeRouchey 6'1" | 260 lbs | DL Potter County | 2023 State , DL, Potter County (SD)
Ethan Bergstrom Ethan Bergstrom WR Mayport-CG | 2023 State , WR, Mayport-CG (ND)
Deegan Houska Deegan Houska 5'10" | 170 lbs | DB Pierre | 2023 State , DB, Pierre (SD)
Prospects from 250-100 That Will Rise with an Outstanding 2022 Season:
I was told at a young age that you have to go with your gut on what your instincts are telling you. These 15 prospects that are ranked inside our Top 250 to 100 are prospects I think will probably be stockrisers when we unveil our last update to our 2023 rankings coming after the 2022 season ends or will be ones we will be kicking ourselves in the rear end that we didn’t have them ranked higher on this August 2022 update.
Andrew Arth Andrew Arth RB Wyndmere-Lidgerwood | 2023 State , RB, Wyndmere-Lidgerwood (ND)
Trey Knox Trey Knox 6'4" | 165 lbs | QB Miller-Highmore-Harrold | 2023 State , QB, Miller-Highmore-Harrold (SD)
Riley Fliehe Riley Fliehe LB Hitchcock-Tulare | 2023 State , LB, Hitchcock-Tulare (SD)
Jaxon Fairchild, WR, Rapid City Central (SD)
Caiden Mason Caiden Mason OL Harrisburg | 2023 State , OL, Harrisburg (SD)
Race Wilson, RB, West Fargo Sheyenne (ND)
Kyan Barth Kyan Barth QB Bismarck Century | 2023 State , QB, Bismarck Century (ND)
Hunter Abraham Hunter Abraham 6'0" | 150 lbs | LB Garretson | 2023 State , LB/RB, Garretson (SD)
Trey Huber Trey Huber ATH Clark-Willow Lake | 2023 State , ATH, Clark-Willow Lake (SD)
John O’Neill John O’Neill OL Fargo Davies | 2023 State , OL, Fargo Davies (ND)
Nate Norby Nate Norby 6'5" | 220 lbs | ATH Trenton | 2023 State , ATH, Trenton (ND)
Elijah Hayes Elijah Hayes 5'10" | 220 lbs | ATH Fargo Davies | 2023 State , LB, Fargo Davies (ND)
Landon Docken Landon Docken K Fargo South | 2023 State , Kicker, Fargo South (ND)
Kelby Hett Kelby Hett QB Harding County-Bison | 2023 State , QB, Harding County-Bison (SD)
Keaton Rohlfs Keaton Rohlfs ATH Redfield | 2023 State , WR, Redfield (SD)
Bodell Davidson Bodell Davidson LB Britton-Hecla | 2023 State , LB, Britton-Hecla (SD)