Community Film Room, Episode 27

Our January rankings update pinpointed 508 worthy players across four classes. For a variety of evidence, our team decided that each of those 500-plus were worthy of a coveted spot in our rankings.   But we'd be naive to think we've evaluated everyone or didn't miss a few along the way.    PRZ South Carolina is constantly looking at as many of the 10,000 prep football players in the SCHSL and SCISA ranks as possible. Now, a little over a year from its inception, the Community Film Room is back.   Each week, we'll break down five currently unranked players from across the state to let you see what we're seeing. The series will lead right into the next rankings update in May and beyond.   In Episode 27, we've got a big lineman from the Midlands, a quarterback who led his team to the playoffs, a tailback coming off a 1,000-yard season, a linebacker who led his team in tackles and a two-way standout who might just blow up on offense in 2023.   [player_tooltip player_id='502413' first='Tavien' last='Orellana'] QB, Philip Simmons   The 5-foot-11, 165-pound Orellana enters the spring as the team's starter, and while he'll get a good push from rising sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='617720' first='Max' last='Stafford'], Orellana's strengths are right there in the open. In throwing for 1,472 yards and 17 touchdowns last year, the rising junior throws a great mid-range ball and has no issue working the sidelines to his advantage. He was accurate, completing 61 percent of his passes, and his interception rate (one per every 20 passes) was more than respectable given his relative youth last season.    Antonio Hopkins RB/LB, Chester   For two seasons, Chester fans have seen Hopkins work his tail off at linebacker. He put up 86 total tackles and 15 tackles for loss as a junior after going for 120.5 and 17 as a sophomore. This coming season, though, Hopkins could hit the next level. You see, he's also likely to see a serious increase in carries at tailback following some graduations. We really like his potential on offense after seeing a great burst out of the backfield and plenty of broken tackles along the way. He averaged nearly 9 yards per carry last year despite putting so much emphasis on the other side of the ball.    Elijah Williams OL, Irmo   The Yellow Jackets' offense is built so much around moving the quarterback that the left tackle spot has no choice but to be solid. Enter Williams, a 6-foot-5, 270-pound rising senior who took the task in stride. Despite his size, he isn't relying solely upon it to do the job. Williams rotates extremely well and makes sure his feet are positioned to be the aggressor on pass and run blocking alike. He's got plenty of highlights of spinning some pretty good defensive ends around and knocking them out of the play.    David Matthews LB, Ridge View   Ridge View is about to lose two of its top tacklers. But not it's best one. Matthews (pictured) led the way for the Blazers in 2022 with 70 total stops (52 solo), to go along with seven tackles for loss, three sacks and a couple of hurries. Matthews isn't overly big - he's 5-foot-10 and in the 195-pound range. But what he exhibits is a patience and knowledge of the game to make sure he's in the right spot when he needs to be. He's routinely letting the opening moments of offensive plays take shape and then blowing them up not long after. If he continues on his trajectory, he's an easy pick to hit triple digits in tackles next fall.    John Peeples RB, Sumter   The book on Sumter during the Mark Barnes era has been brute force, and the Gamecocks found their next delivery method in Peeples. The 2025 tailback racked up 1,202 yards and 20 touchdowns while rushing the ball a staggering 217 times. Of course, that meant his YPC wasn't really high (5.5), but he did have seven 100-yard rushing games, five of which came against Class 5A foes. Peeples' up-the-gut style also meant that he was usually charged with breaking tackles in traffic. There's no reason to believe he couldn't hit 250 carries next season, either.

Our January rankings update pinpointed 508 worthy players across four classes. For a variety of evidence, our team decided that each of those 500-plus were worthy of a coveted spot in our rankings.