Community Film Room, Episode 36

Our Spring rankings update pinpointed even more players from the 2024, 2025 and 2026 classes. For a variety of reasons, our team decided that each of those new additions 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, the Community Film Room is back.   In each edition, 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 the start of the 2023 football season and - not long after - our next rankings update.   In Episode 36, we've got a quarterback who can beat teams with his arm or legs, two linebackers who faced each other in last year's Class A state championship game and both sides of a budding trench battle that will play out over the next two seasons.   [player_tooltip player_id='1012579' first='Sterling' last='Sanders'] DL, Blythewood   When it comes to pure size, Sanders certainly looks the part of a player who will be suiting up on Saturdays one day. But that's a ways off. The 6-foot-4, 295-pound defensive tackle has two more seasons in the high school ranks. Why a couple schools have already offered and more will is his how he manifests that size into an intimidating tackle. Sanders chews up a ton of space in the middle of the Blythewood defense, making it more difficult to run against the Bengals. On top of that, he's got no issue powering through interior linemen en route to the quarterback.    [player_tooltip player_id='997329' first='Neal' last='Martin'] LB, Johnsonville   Statistically, Martin was the (checks notes) fifth-best Johnsonville defender last season. Want to see what the fifth-best Flashes' defender did? As a junior, Martin accumulated 80-plus tackles, 15 tackles for loss, three sacks, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and an interception. The 5-foot-9, 215-pound linebacker runs a verified 4.74 and can be seen chasing guys down from behind. Martin is part of a dynamic trio of defensive stars all coming back for the Class A runners up, and we think he's got a boatload left in the tank for his senior season.    Marcus Smith QB, Lower Richland   Want to know what progress looks like inside of a season? Look no further than the Lower Richland quarterback. The first-year starting signal caller failed to complete 50 percent of his passes in each of the team's first four games (although he did throw for 232 yards in a loss to Rock Hill). For the rest of the way, Smith was well above that threshold and finished the year with a 56.2 completion percentage, as well as 12 passing touchdowns and 664 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground. He's got pretty legit top-shelf speed, which opens up doors for his passing attack.    [player_tooltip player_id='997188' first='Jake' last='Good'] LB, Christ Church   A former junior varsity quarterback, Good (pictured) forced his way onto the field at middle linebacker and immediately turned into one of the best defensive players for the would-be Class A state champs. At 6-foot and 210 pounds, Good used his athleticism to pile up 86 total tackles, six tackles for loss, four sacks, an interception and a fumble recovery. He's a diagram on proper tackling technique and packs a burst that puts his recorded 40 times to shame. He's about as strong of a candidate to reach 100 total tackles as any player in Class A ball this season.    [player_tooltip player_id='1573970' first='Josh' last='Ladd'] OL, Ridge View   We didn't wrap up with Ladd by accident. A starting tackle last season, Ladd (6-foot-2, 275 pounds) has spent the entire offseason training for a move to center. The Blazers are bringing up some new players on offense and coach Derek Howard is leaving little to chance when it comes to the teams' timing. Ladd is a proactive blocker to initiates contact well and has handled all comers attempting to blitz the edge. Now, he's going to add to his resume. His first game at center? Against Blythewood and Sanders on August 18.

Our Spring rankings update pinpointed even more players from the 2024, 2025 and 2026 classes. For a variety of reasons, our team decided that each of those new additions were worthy of a coveted spot in our rankings.