2026 Rankings Update: Athletes Showing New Wrinkles

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Just when you thought you knew the athletes in the Prep RedZone Class of 2026 rankings, they evolved before our very eyes.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Top-flight defensive backs looking like seasoned quarterbacks and receivers. Mildly used offensive players of the past putting up monster numbers. Huge debuts with new teams. And a few more established two-way standouts proving they're not even close to done.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Indeed, the players below collectively found ways to impress us even more.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/position-ranking-table {"name":"acf/position-ranking-table","data":{"class":"2026","_class":"field_65cfb7374abb9","position":"2411","_position":"field_65cfbfcb19ad6","national_rankings":"0","_national_rankings":"field_660c1d73c0e49","state":"2451","_state":"field_65cfb88a603fe"},"mode":"edit","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-66d1d16a62e89"} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>BREAKING DOWN THE TOP FIVE</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='568697' first='Stone' last='Furrey'] Chapin</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The jury is still out if we move Furrey to receiver. But it's a point of contention after his debut with Chapin last week (seven receptions, 124 yards, two touchdowns). The Eagles throw a the ball a lot, sure, and he won't be the only outside target on this team. But mixing him in other ways appears like a solid bet as the season goes on and the competition level and meaning of games increases.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='473016' first='AJ' last='Grate'] Waccamaw&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For the last calendar years, Warriors coach Amondre Johnson has been telling us all about the Grate twins (more on Andre below). After some ups and downs, we're seeing how much of this team starts with them. For AJ, his junior year started with a team-high five tackles on defense and four carries for 39 yards in a shutout win over county rival Carvers Bay.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1025815' first='Caleb' last='Geronomi'] White Knoll</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We already knew Geronomi as one of the top defensive backs in the class before the offensive staff started putting him into action, as well. He kicked things off by leading White Knoll with four catches for 57 yards in the Week 0 win at Camden. The more comfortable he gets with quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='346199' first='Landon' last='Sharpe'] the better for him and the team as a whole.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='816740' first='Marcus' last='Cann'] Bamberg-Ehrhardt</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cann is already well on his way to exceeding last year's total offense numbers after rushing for 78 yards and two touchdowns and hauling in another 65 receiving yards in last week's victory. He's also started on defense, will see significant time on special teams and is a name to know for this year and next as he continues to make big play after big play.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='212416' first='J'Zavien' last='Currence'] South Pointe</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Currence was asked to scoot over to the quarterback position for the first few weeks of 2024 while [player_tooltip player_id='473002' first='Cameron' last='McMillon'] continues his recover from offseason surgery and like most of us, Spartanburg probably thought that mean a heavy dose of Wildcat snaps. Fat chance. Currence proved yet again that he's even better than we already thought.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/hudl {"name":"acf/hudl","data":{"embed_code":"u003ciframe src='https://www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/17811426/66ccdd63f042b4e386d55a7a' width='640' height='360' frameborder='0' allowfullscreenu003eu003c/iframeu003e","_embed_code":"field_62daf7995fd8c"},"mode":"edit","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-66d1d16a63036"} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>RISING STARS</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='473013' first='Carter' last='Coleman'] Blythewood</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blythewood wants the ball in Coleman's hands, and they'll go from there. In the season opener, Coleman took advantage. Here's his stat line: Five receptions for 105 yards and a touchdown; one carry for 10 yards; two kickoff returns for 100 yards and a touchdown (84 yarder); three punt returns for 28 yards. All in all, a pretty good opening stanza.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1165144' first='Tony' last='O'Banner'] Thomas Heyward&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>O'Banner started off his junior season with yet another multi-score game. The run-first quarterback reached the end zone two more time, giving him his 64th and 65th career touchdowns. This is year four on the varsity for him, and he's got another to go. Triple digits feel inevitable, and it might just happen before his senior year even begins.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='816754' first='Tyree' last='Cauthen'] Myrtle Beach</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>While he didn't catch a pass last week in the win over Lake City, we're not ready to shut the door on him as a receiver just yet while the Seahawks continue to tinker with finding the right pieces. In the meantime, he picked off a pass and had three tackles from his spot at safety.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='473025' first='Andre' last='Grate'] Waccamaw</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Most nights, Grate is going to be spared of too much time on defense now that he's starting just about every offensive snap behind center and responsible for a lot of movement in traffic. In that aforementioned win over Carvers Bay, he threw for a touchdown and ran for another 52 yards and another score.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='402489' first='Davon' last='Toney'] Gray Collegiate</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Toney has settled in nicely at linebacker for the Eagles, and while that's where he'll probably be labeled in the future for our rankings purposes, we're going to give it one more cycle because he's doing so much on every special teams unit. He may occasionally step in on offense, too. No matter the positioning label, he's trending upward.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1165165' first='Jaylen' last='Singletary'] Hampton County&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Singletary was asked to wait his turn some last season to contribute on offense like he already did on defense. Well, he's not waiting any more. With 10 carries, he put up 225 yards and two touchdowns. It was more rushing yards than he had all of last year. Not enough? It was his 19th career varsity game and he added his ninth career interception.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1165163' first='Zamaurious' last='Robertson'] Dillon</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As much as [player_tooltip player_id='346196' first='Jamarion' last='Fling'] is going to do for the Wildcats this year, it's evident that Robertson's already large role is going to expand, too. He scored the team's first touchdowns on 2024 last week against Scotland County, caught 12 passes for 136 yards and even picked off a pass while playing defense.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='816737' first='Cam'Ron' last='Frazier'] Silver Bluff</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Frazier's long-term individual stock probably ticked upward a little bit when he transferred over to Silver Bluff from Aiken over the summer. And Week 0 showed he was going to be an instant part of the game plan. He caught four shorts passes and was able to break free for touchdowns on two of them.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/hudl {"name":"acf/hudl","data":{"embed_code":"u003ciframe src='https://www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/22884916/66cc99d4e569e645b419d5c9' width='640' height='360' frameborder='0' allowfullscreenu003eu003c/iframeu003e","_embed_code":"field_62daf7995fd8c"},"mode":"edit","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-66d1d16a63063"} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>DARK HORSE CANDIDATES</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1394996' first='Damias' last='Seegars'] Andrew Jackson</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Seegars isn't so much a dark horse candidate to have a big year as he is simply a player who hasn't had that opportunity to be a focal point just yet. That all changes during his junior season. He'll get more than the 52 carries he used to rush for 472 yards and seven scores last fall. Let's also not forget that he had 36 tackles and two picks as a sophomore.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1394990' first='Ladamien' last='Belton'] Crestwood</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>All signs point to Belton getting hit touches in 2024. He had 18 carries - two-thirds of the total team rushes - for 70 yards in the narrow win against Manning last Friday. He also returned a couple kickoffs. This is a team still trying to make up for mass graduations, but putting the ball in his 20 times in game one is a positive sign for him and the Knights.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1126113' first='Jordan' last='Avinger'] Orangeburg-Wilkinson</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>After moving over from nearby Bethune-Bowman, Avinger meshed into his new digs and became one of the the guys. In the Week 0 win over Anderson, he had nine carries for 110 yards and two touchdowns and three tackles on defense.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/hudl {"name":"acf/hudl","data":{"embed_code":"u003ciframe src='https://www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/17918057/66c953a23128927d006fda87' width='640' height='360' frameborder='0' allowfullscreenu003eu003c/iframeu003e","_embed_code":"field_62daf7995fd8c"},"mode":"edit","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-66d1d16a630a4"} /-->