Eight Players who had Incredible 2024 Varsity Debuts

Hundreds of athletes across Michigan had their Varsity Football debuts last week. Out of those hundreds of players, a select few were able to perform well beyond all expectations. Here are eight players who are brand-new to varsity, who were already on my radar and even outperformed my expectations.   '25 QB | Finn Rouland | Seaholm | <a href="https://x.com/finn_rouland">@finn_rouland</a>   I don't have any film from Finn, but I know he had a very successful outing last Thursday. He had one TD pass and one TD run in the blowout win over Troy Athens. It still looks like his counterpart [player_tooltip player_id='1298714' first='Patrick' last='Hughes'] earned some reps, but it seems like Finn got the initial starting nod. I'm very interested to watch some tape once it's made available and I'm extremely interested to see how Seaholm fares as a whole this season. My guess is that Finn leads the Maples to a 7-2 or 6-3 record, in addition to solid playoff seeding.   '27 QB | [player_tooltip player_id='1298640' first='David' last='Krall'] | Walled Lake Western | <a href="https://x.com/DavidKrall5">@DavidKrall5</a>   All eyes were on the other sideline for their new starting QB, but it was David who stole the show. The sophomore totaled 145 passing yards and 2TDs against what is usually a great Waterford Mott defense. His tape also shows solid variety- some screens, play-action, rollouts, etc. It's apparent that David still has some things to work on (consistent mechanics, overall arm strength, accuracy). Either way, it looks like Western has their QB of the future and I'd predict David will be a future GLIAC player at the absolute least. It's also notable that I got to see David throw back in July, and I was quite impressed with what I saw. Look out for David this season!    '25 QB | [player_tooltip player_id='913846' first='Brayden' last='Daniels'] | Rockford | <a href="https://x.com/BraydenQB11">@BraydenQB11</a>   No highlights from the Cass Tech game just yet, but I know that Brayden had a productive day. I don't care if it's your home stadium- going into that environment against a top-ranked team and leading your offense to a victory takes some guts. Better yet, it was Brayden's first varsity start. Like the Rockford QBs of the past, I'd assume Brayden knows the offense incredibly well, is an incredibly calm player, and has that clutch gene. You know that Rockford is destined to be a good-seeded playoff team, and I'm especially interested to see how Brayden fares once Rockford inevitably goes up against another top-ranked program.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/Patrick_Nothaft/status/1829309948322287661 </div></figure>   '25 WR | [player_tooltip player_id='1467713' first='Michael' last='DeKuiper'] | Rockford | <a href="https://x.com/MichaelDekuiper">@MichaelDekuiper</a>   He seems to be more of a basketball guy, but that doesn't stop Mikey from performing exceptionally well on the football field. According to Tyler Graham, Michael is an exceptional route-runner. I see a ton of good players run very poor routes, so I love that Michael is keen on the little things. It also seems that he's a threat after the catch, as a little evident from the tweet embedded below. If Michael keeps the productive performances coming and has good athletic metrics, he could be a late-bloomer D2 prospect for football. He won't be ranked quite yet, but know that I'll have an eye on him moving forward.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/Patrick_Nothaft/status/1829309948322287661 </div></figure>   '27 ATH | Cam Payne | Byron Center | <a href="https://x.com/Cam_payne22">@Cam_payne22</a>   Cam is a true all-around athlete who's had an immediate impact. He showed off some explosive play ability with a long touchdown and notched eight tackles on the defensive side of the ball. He doesn't have any tape from Week 1, but last season's tape shows great effort and physicality at the JV level. 2024 seems like it's going to be a breakout year for Cam in addition to his "rookie" season. I know that Cam is a pretty great baseball prospect, but now I'm looking at him closely as a football prospect. With his size (5'11" 190), Cam could be an incredible running back prospect or a solid linebacker prospect.   '26 ATH | [player_tooltip player_id='1538489' first='Jamauri' last='Foster'] | River Rouge | <a href="https://x.com/JamauriFoster26">@JamauriFoster26</a>   <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>16 - 138 - 3TDs</li> </ul>   Man... I can't wait to see a proper highlight tape of Jamuari! He's another prospect without a week 1 highlight tape, but River Rouge Football tweeted that Jamuari had 138yds and 3TDs. All of Jamuari's TDs seemed to come from close range, but I'm happy to see that he's earned consistent touches which means plenty of opportunity. All I can really get from the tweet below is that Jamuari seems pretty explosive and athletic, which is par for the course when it comes to River Rouge football. Needless to say, I'll be keeping an eye on Jamuari this season.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/JamauriFoster26/status/1829646388713435543 </div></figure>   '27 QB | Cole Heys | AA Pioneer | No X found   <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>FIRST GAME - 17/21 - 250yds - 3TDs</li> </ul>   Cole's Week 1 stats are highly impressive. Sure, it was against a team that isn't particularly strong, but you still have to love the production from your sophomore QB. I regret that I don't have a whole lot more to say without tape, but just know that I see Cole and I'll be interested to see how him and Pioneer fare for the rest of the season.   '27 QB | [player_tooltip player_id='1291356' first='Charlie' last='King'] | GR Christian | <a href="https://x.com/CharlieKing_7">@CharlieKing</a>   I am VERY impressed with Charlie's first start as the official full-time QB1. Against a very strong defense, Charlie threw for just under 300 yards and 2TDs, in addition to 75 rushing yards. His first highlight (shown below) shows an absolute dime deep downfield. Sure, it's a tad overthrown, but I've seen very good quarterbacks have much worse placement with that same throw. Through the rest of his tape, Charlie stood strong in the pocket and delivered a number of good quick-game throws. It seems that Grand Rapids Christian finally has a great quarterback, and I'm highly confident that Charlie is going to perform well for a very long time.

Hundreds of athletes across Michigan had their Varsity Football debuts last week. Out of those hundreds of players, a select few were able to perform well beyond all expectations. Here are eight players who are brand-new to varsity, who were already on my radar and even outperformed my expectations.