Community Film Room, Episode 46
In this article:
Our Winter rankings update pinpointed even more players from the 2025, 2026 and 2027 classes who have stood out in their respective positions. For a variety of reasons, our team decided that each of those new additions were worthy of…
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Continue ReadingOur Winter rankings update pinpointed even more players from the 2025, 2026 and 2027 classes who have stood out in their respective positions. 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-plus 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 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 spring rankings cycle, the ever-growing importance of the summer schedule and then the 2024 season.
In Episode 46, we’re highlighting five under-the-radar guys from around the state who have all shown they can produce.
Austin Wertz
Austin Wertz
Wertz was among the most notable positional upgrades last fall for a team that added three more wins and another four points per game over its previous season. The 5-foot-11, 210-pound guard made it work because while he isn’t the biggest lineman around, he never stops moving. The staff decided early it was going to have him pulling in either direction in all that traffic and allow his footwork to counteract any lack of size he might have against opposing linemen and linebackers.
The plan worked. Wertz graded out at 91 percent for the season, adding 40 pancake blocks and allowing only one sack. That last part was important, because when he was shifting all over creation, his teammates often were, too.
Kayshaun Schumpert Kayshaun Schumpert 5'7" | 170 lbs | RB Whitmire | 2025 State SC
Kayshaun Schumpert Kayshaun Schumpert 5'7" | 170 lbs | RB Whitmire | 2025 State SC
The number of double-wing teams seemingly decreases by the year, but Schumpert gives Whitemire more than enough reason to stick with it. After rushing for 945 yards and 10 touchdowns as a sophomore, he pushed himself to increases in yards (1,083), touchdowns (13) and yards per carry (6.7) in 2023 and needed 22 fewer carries to achieve it.
On a team that runs the ball at almost a five-to-one clip, the Wolverines do distribute those carries a good bit. But Schumpert had twice as many as anyone else on the team last fall because he’s essentially his own inside-outside threat. He can make the necessary cuts to split defensive linemen and can just as easily swing it around the edge.
Either way, when he gets in the open field, he can make that old-school offense look pretty good.
Conner went from a serviceable two-way player for Ben Lippen as a sophomore to a stellar linebacker as a junior, when he recorded 120 total tackles while adding three tackles for loss and a couple fumble recoveries. While he was solid for most of the year – he finished six games in double-digit tackle territory – he finished the season extremely strong.
Over the course of the last five games, he averaged 13.9 tackles per game, queuing up stop after stop for a team that is about to become even more defensively minded heading into next year. Conner’s range from the middle of the defense alongside fellow linebacker
Drake Porter
Drake
Porter
6’0″ | 175 lbs | LB
Ben Lippen | 2026
State
SC
puts the Falcons a little higher up the SCISA 4A ranks.
Josh Davis
Josh Davis
As Kendall Byrd Kendall Byrd 6’1″ | 160 lbs | WR AC Flora | 2026 State SC starting lighting things up on the outside for the Falcons last year, he started drawing more and more focus. And then Josh Davis started doing his thing and we saw glimpses of what the future could look like between those two and sophomore quarterback Roper Wentzky Roper Wentzky 5’11” | 155 lbs | QB AC Flora | 2026 State SC . The trio suffered more losses than they hoped, but the blue print for the next two seasons is laid out in front of them.
Davis (30 receptions 476 yards, two touchdowns) ended up being a perfect complement to the 1,000-yard Byrd. He proved he could find open space and then exploit it. In the last three games of the season alone, he turned 18 receptions into 330 yards – including a 70-yarder against Hartsville in the playoff loss and a 56-yard catch and run against Lugoff-Elgin in a region victory.
Donovan Robinson Donovan Robinson 5'10" | 145 lbs | DB Thomas Heyward | 2025 State SC
Donovan Robinson Donovan Robinson 5'10" | 145 lbs | DB Thomas Heyward | 2025 State SC
Remember that scene in Friday Night Lights where Boobie Miles’s uncle is rattling off all the stuff his nephew can do to anyone who will listen? For some reason that popped into our heads while watching Robinson’s film. Nestled amid a 2023 season in which he was taking on tight ends across the middle and covering receivers deep from his spot in the defensive backfield and even catching a couple touchdown passes on offense was the fact that it’s only part of his game.
The rising senior who picked off eight passes and recorded an eye-popping 165 tackles in 12 games last season also handled kickoffs, punts and PATs. We’re still trying to figure out if he also filled up the Gatorade cooler, walked the dog and painted the back porch.