Star Power: Upstate Matchups Packed With Ranked Players

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blame it on the schedule.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Week 2 in the Upstate offers the rare chance to see an immense amount of talent on the same field in a couple of different matchups on Friday night. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Chief among those is Greenville at Byrnes. The Red Raiders will roll into Nixon Field with seven players in the current PRZ rankings. Byrnes will counter with five.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>What's even harder to believe is how many guys occupy the same positions. Greenville's got an all-everything athlete in ATH [player_tooltip player_id='163871' first='Mazeo' last='Bennett Jr'], who will touch the ball a lot from several different positions, including WR, RB, and returner. Byrnes' two guys ranked at ATH, brothers [player_tooltip player_id='272705' first='Armoni' last='Weaver'] and [player_tooltip player_id='272708' first='Chamarryus' last='Bomar'], both do all of that, and Bomar plays a little QB, and BOTH line up at DB. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Speaking of DBs, Greenville has two of the state's best in [player_tooltip player_id='390438' first='Ramani' last='Bruton'] and [player_tooltip player_id='276660' first='Christian' last='Henderson']. Henderson was injured in this game a year ago, missed the rest of the season, and is back with a vengance, helping to lead a Red Raiders' secondary that returns everybody. One of those guys back is Bruton, along with his six interceptions from last season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Massive OL [player_tooltip player_id='448975' first='Blake' last='Franks'] leads a Greenville line that returns five Division1-caliber guys. He's big, fast, and physical, and will be a problem. [player_tooltip player_id='209617' first='Jayden' last='Wilson-Abrams'] and [player_tooltip player_id='242787' first='Bruce' last='Knauber'] help anchor one of the Upstate's best defensive lines, controlling the defensive front for the Red Raiders. They're both already well into double-digit tackles, both have four tackles for loss, and they've got a pair of combined sacks. Punter [player_tooltip player_id='208343' first='Thomas' last='Guererro'] helps Greenville shine on special teams.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='267455' first='Knai' last='Cook'] is a multi-position threat on the offensive side for Byrnes, [player_tooltip player_id='267454' first='Chris' last='Foster'] is terror on the defensive line with eight tackles already this season, and [player_tooltip player_id='809749' first='RJ' last='Livingston'] provides some punch out of the backfield, catches the ball well, but has been mostly utilized at LB, with 10 tackles so far for the Rebels.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A few miles up I-85, South Pointe visits Gaffney in a game with eight players featured in the rankings, with four on each side.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Both senior QBs are guys to watch. Gaffney's [player_tooltip player_id='119009' first='Riley' last='Staton'] has thrown for 378 yards and four TDs this season, and that includes a game that was shortened to eight-minute running clock quarters in the second half. He's got a big arm, and is capable of providing an offensive spark for the Indians. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>South Pointe's [player_tooltip player_id='771038' first='Malachi' last='Marshall'] is a dual-threat guy, and he's got just under 300 yards of total offense and three TDs to his credit so far on the season. That's coming off a junior campaign in which Marshall threw for more than 2,100 yards.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>South Pointe's other standouts include a pair of defensive terrors and an athlete who lines up all over the field. [player_tooltip player_id='139304' first='Chris' last='Dixon'] is a standout at DL for the Stallions, with 73 tackles, six tackles for loss, and 3.5 sacks a year ago. On the back end, [player_tooltip player_id='589016' first='Zantwan' last='Nelson'] is a lock-down DB for South Pointe, and if his stats this year don't bear that out, that's because he had six interceptions last year and teams are actively avoiding him. And sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='212416' first='J'Zavien' last='Currence'] is just kind of all over the place. He's playing a little bit of offense this season, with two catches already, but his natural place is in the secondary. He's a big defender at 6-foot-1, he covers a lot of ground quickly, and he seems to instinctively know where the ball is going.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gaffney has two ranked defenders who play side-by-side. Junior LBs [player_tooltip player_id='605523' first='Clay' last='Cook'] and [player_tooltip player_id='605522' first='Andrew' last='Ruppe'] were first and second on the team in tackles a year ago, and they're off to a good start again this season. On the offensive side of the ball, sophomore RB [player_tooltip player_id='473029' first='Jaiden' last='McDowell'] has started the season showing exactly why he's regarded as one of the best backs in the Upstate. He rushed for a hard-fought 142 yards and three TDs on 20 carries in a tough loss to Crest, then turned in 90 yards and three more scores on just five carries in a blowout win over Union County.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->