Players to watch in Central and Western Virginia
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We are over the halfway point through the regular season in Virginia. While I am only a few weeks into my role with Prep Redzone, I have already had some players reach out for evaluations and I have noticed some…
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Continue ReadingWe are over the halfway point through the regular season in Virginia. While I am only a few weeks into my role with Prep Redzone, I have already had some players reach out for evaluations and I have noticed some others that I would like to feature. In this article, I am highlighting some players to note who are making impacts on their teams.
What jumps out quickly in D’rhon’s film is the physicality he plays with. Officially he is a Linebacker and a Tight End on his team, but he lines up at tight end, split end, and in the backfield for Monticello’s offense, in addition to contributing on special teams.
Overall he is a solid athlete with solid foot speed, foot quickness, and change of direction. He has good reaction, lateral agility and is a disciplined player on defense. When it comes to pass rush and evading blocks, he has a natural shoulder dip and that makes himself a small target that blockers struggle to get hands on. He is a good tackler with good finish on they play, tackling through the ball carrier.
Playing Tight End, he has good reaction to the snap out of both two and three point stances. His route running sticks out more than his blocking. He wins his routes with physicality. He has good adjustment to balls thrown above and behind his frame and has good hands and hand-eye coordination. After the catch, he runs with good physical toughness and utilizes a stiff arm in addition to lowering his shoulder to fight for extra yards.
Highlights
Roman Aronson
Roman Aronson
Roman is another player who contributes on offense, defense and special teams. Urgency and play speed are the attributes that stick out in his game. He is only a freshman and he should only continue to grow.
On defense, he plays right and left end in a 40 front. He has good reaction to the snap and upfield burst in his first steps. At this point, speed and quickness is how he beats offensive tackles, but I would expect as he continues to grow physically and hits the weight room, he will be able to add power to his game and should have a very good speed-to-power rush move by his senior year. He also has good tackling ability and finish on plays.
On offense he gets some playing time at Tight End, but is not the starter this year. He plays with good physicality and is a solid run blocker and pass catcher, and I expect he will gain more playing time at Tight End over the next three seasons.
Bodie Aronson
Bodie Aronson
Bodie is the starting center for his team, and has solid foot speed and quickness and displays good upper body strength that he utilizes to win his blocks. He snaps the ball with the QB under center and in shot gun with good accuracy and solid speed. He is a good run blocker in base and double team inline blocking, solid in zone blocking, and shows ability to get to the second level to wall off linebackers. He has solid use of hands and demonstrates ability to refit his hands when engaged on blocks and has good leg drive with solid finish. He tends to over reach in his blocks which can set him off balance. He has good pass pro, with solid set points and good strength in his hand punch with good anchor that allows him to set the depth of the pocket and halt the bull rush.
Jacob Ford
Jacob Ford
Jacob plays Full Back and Defensive Line for Rustburg. He is a willing lead blocker as a full back and is willing to take on big collisions to pave the way for his running back. He also shows ability to run short flat routes as well as deep go routes out of the back field, displaying good hands, and good physicality after the catch while fighting for extra yards.
On the defensive line, he shows good explosion out of his stance to engage offensive linemen and has good lower body strength to hold his ground and utilize his hands to gain leverage and shed the block. He tracks ball carriers with good angles and has good tackling ability to finish the play.
Mantle may be smaller in height but that does not mean he is easy to tackle. He is patient in the backfield waiting for the rush lane to open and has good burst into the hole, displacing good vision, elusiveness and quick feet to make cuts and jukes, and will lower his shoulder to fight for extra yards upon contact. His listed 4.61 40-yard speed shows when he gets past the second level as he is able to outrun defenders in the open field. He is a junior on his team and has another year to grow physically and I expect to see him to continue to be a playmaker for the Greensville County football team into next year.