New 2028 Prospects Emerge At SportzFarm Tournament
In this article:
The annual SportzFarm All-Star Tournament held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, was a great event for me to finally get out to. The weather on the opening day of the tournament was less than ideal, but despite the driving rain…
Access all of Prep Redzone Next and Prep Redzone
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingThe annual SportzFarm All-Star Tournament held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, was a great event for me to finally get out to. The weather on the opening day of the tournament was less than ideal, but despite the driving rain and wind, the football talent was there. For the majority of prospects on the six eighth-grade teams, this was the second or third time I had seen them live. However, as always, I saw some new guys that can play. Here’s just one new 2028 prospect–out of many–from each team that impressed me.
Strong Island Power United
An active linebacker with good height and long arms for his frame. Played middle linebacker for the Long Island-based team, but looks more like a future outside linebacker. Instinctively twitchy, he moved suddenly and quickly.
Highlights
SportzFarm
To help paint a picture of my logjam of going through prospects, I saw Zoa play in December at AYF Nationals, but still haven’t finished going through all of those notes either. So technically he’s not “new”, but it took me a minute to put it together. The North Carolina prospect linked up with a bunch of talented players from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and beyond. Incredible length as a defensive end. May be a better tight end or wide receiver down the line. Time will tell, but he’s got potential.
Highlights
Irvington Golden Knights
Spring football is often a good place to find some new players and/or see players stepping up to play different positions out of need. That was the case with Yirenkyi, who tells me he traditionally plays wide receiver and multiples positions in the secondary, but was playing quarterback at the tournament. Operating out of the Wishbone in some difficult conditions, he wasn’t asked to do anything too taxing.
Highlights
Born Winners
Another prospect that wasn’t technically new to me, but I had not seen him play in person before this past weekend and wanted to see him in eprson. The Born Winners spring team featured a nice combination of players from throughout south and central jersey, with Forte Jr. being one of the bigger ones on the team. He did a nice job at right guard.
Highlights
South Jersey Vikings
The South Jersey Vikings got a ton of contribution from Granzow, out of Mays Landing, New Jersey. The 5-foot-11, 150-pounder was the guy to know for a feisty squad. Honestly speaking, I could quickly see that the Vikings didn’t have the horses in the stable needed to win this tournament–yet this team pushed the NYC Elite to a triple overtime game. In my eyes, Granzow was the most complete athlete on the team, recording a number of tackles and an interception on defense and a few big plays on offense, too. He left it all on the field.
NYC Elite
Call it geography, but I saw a lot of similar traits in Reeves that I saw on TV in some former New York Giant running backs. In no way am I saying he’s on that level right now or even ever going to be that level, but the 5-foot-7, 170-pound back has a relatable skill set to 2012 first-round pick David Wilson and 2019 first-round pick, Saquan Barkley. Vision, compact build and loose gate, leading to quick gains on the ground.