Top Class Of 2026 Linebackers: City Of Charlotte

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='771231' first='Dallas' last='Brannon'] - Independence</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>An All-Conference selection last season, Dallas has been an important player for one of the best teams in Charlotte. At 6'2 and 205 pounds, Dallas currently has offers from Charlotte, Miami, East Carolina, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Missouri, North Carolina, Duke, Wake Forest, Toledo, Coastal Carolina, Troy, Connecticut, James Madison, and Tennessee. When you look at the highlight film, you see why so many schools have offered Dallas. Dallas is like a heat-seeking missile whether he's diagnosing and blowing interior run plays, or reacting out of his middle-of-field zone in the passing game. He is truly a 3-down linebacker with great speed and agility in the open field. Repeatedly in his highlights, it does not take him long to see where a play is headed, get there quickly, and stonewall a running back with excellent tackling technique in the running game. Dallas plays his assigned zones very well in pass coverage and then lights up intended receivers with hard hits on a normal basis. Finally, Dallas shows good athletic ability to blitz from the linebacker position and affect the quarterback almost immediately. To sum it up, Dallas has a 4.3 GPA and is an honor roll student - I think the sky is the limit for this young man. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1321132' first='Dru' last='Drakeford'] - Palisades </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>At 6'1 and 205 pounds, Dru was an All-Conference selection last season in the So Meck Conference in Charlotte. He has been selected for both of his seasons so far at Palisades - making all-conference as a freshman is a rare feat. When you take a look at the film, the first thing I can say is that Dru is a magnet to the football - in every clip he diagnoses the play well from his inside linebacker position and ends up being the one to make the tackle, with good technique and a secure finish. I also like Dru's discipline in zone coverage - he does a good job with spot dropping and reading crossers - there is one play that is a wide receiver middle screen where the offense had a misdirection drawn up well, but Dru's eyes come off the main action and he makes a nice solo tackle on a play that could have been for the offense otherwise. Dru should have some recruiting attention for sure. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Ja'Shawn Shaw - Berry </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I enjoyed watching Ja'Shawn's film - I think about relentless energy when seeing him. At 6'0 and 200 pounds, Ja'Shawn was an All-Conference selection last season. Ja'Shawn plays some EDGE from a 3-point stance - in that role, he is really quick off the edge and has some excellent speed - there are multiple occasions where he runs down wide receiver screens to the perimeter from behind as an example. Ja'Shawn also does a good job of using his good get-off to a speed rush to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks. When Ja'Shawn is at middle linebacker, he does a good job of scraping down the line of scrimmage to make tackles in the run game. I think Ja'Shawn can grow into a leader of this Cardinals defense this season and repeat as an All-Conference player for sure. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1321142' first='Jack' last='Gullickson'] - Charlotte Christian</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I didn't know much about Jack up until this point, but he put up some impressive numbers for a good Charlotte Christian football team - he had 98 total tackles - 66 solo tackles - and 8 tackles for loss, that is some good stuff only as a sophomore. Add six sacks and five quarterback hurries on top of that, and we're going to dig into this 6'0 and 190-pound prospect. Looking at the highlights - two things really stand out. One is Jack's closing speed in the open field - he really can turn it on quickly and get the ball carrier to the ground from his middle linebacker position. It is some impressive closing speed on his highlights. The second thing is Jack's ability to blitz from depth - he has been coached well on this. His timing and pursuit angles are great whether he is blitzing up the middle or coming off the edge of the defense. This young man is definitely on my radar to watch this upcoming season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->