Hudsonville Scouting Report (vs. EK)

Yesterday evening, Hudsonville spoiled East Kentwood's homecoming. It was a close game for much of the first quarter, with both teams trading scores before Hudsonville scored 14 unanswered to end the half. In the second half, it was all Hudsonville.   After watching my All-22 film and reviewing my first-half notes, I have seven players I'd love to share my evaluations of. Here are those Evals!    Bryce was the most consistent football player, regardless of team. He had a big day for Hudsonville, picking up several first downs and scoring a few goal-line TDs.   Although he had a big day, his style of running doesn't produce many explosive TDs. Bryce is a pure power rusher with excellent vision. Time and time again, Bryce patiently stayed behind his blockers, surveyed the defense, and only ran upfield when the time was right. Check out my embedded Tweet for some of those runs.   As a High School football player, Bryce's value is incredible. It's extremely rare to have a power rusher with the type of patience and vision as Bryce. This isn't someone who seems to care a whole lot about his personal stats or recruitment, and I can respect that.       I have admittedly overlooked Griffin for far too long. Griffin didn't throw as much as the opposition, but when he did throw, he was very efficient.   There was a play on the first drive where Griffin threw a very well-placed 20-yard fade. The pass was broken up by EK, but still, a near-perfect ball from Griffin. At other points, Griffin did a great job of delivering accurate throws with solid mechanics and accuracy. It's also notable that Griffin had several carries in the second half, and he ran the ball with solid vision and power.   If Griffin wants to play college ball, I think he's got a great chance to develop and play at the D3 level.     I was happy to see Carson perform extremely well. As I've said a couple of times recently, I've seen Carson make dramatic improvements to his game over the past year and a half.   I recorded Carson's 30-yard touchdown. During that play, he gained some momentum with pre-snap motion before exploding into his post route and securing the wide-open TD. Better yet, he left a very highly-touted Sophomore DB in the dust on that play.   You'll see similar plays on Carson's hudl. Explosive routes, great change of direction, and a MUCH improved player compared to previous years.   Carson is entering GLIAC prospect territory for me, but I still lean MIAA (D3) for Carson. No matter where he ends up going, I could easily see Carson continuing to improve and eventually becoming a phenomenal college football player.       I recorded 16 Hudsonville runs, and Max kept standing out in those recordings. At guard, I watched Mason pull and block with great efficiency.   Honestly, Mason isn't the most fundamentally polished guard, but dang, does he do a good job at doing his job. Play after play, I saw high effort through the whistle. Whenever he pulled (which was a lot), Mason found someone to hit, hit him hard, and commonly found MORE people to hit before the play was over. Again, he consistently did his job and a little more.   Mason could be a college prospect this Spring. I don't have his H/W, but as long as he's 6'2"+, he'll get some looks. In order for Mason to be a prospect, I'd like to see him improve his agility, footwork, and most importantly, I'd like to see better drive on blocks.     A very short evaluation- but this is mostly to say I'll have an eye on Luke moving forward.   I have one play recorded where Luke delivered a big hit on a TFL, which he was unblocked. I love the hit, and I really like the effort shown. I honestly wasn't going to comment on Luke until I saw his size and the fact he's only a sophomore. If Luke can work extremely hard this coming offseason, he could realistically develop into a GLIAC prospect.     #6   Connor's name kept popping up on tackles, and I'm not at all surprised. In fact, he's my #1 linebacker of the game.   I recorded a couple of good plays from Connor. During one play, Connor did an excellent job of working diagonally through blockers to the running back (RB only gained ~2 yards).   In general, Connor was very reactive to the run and did a great job of reading the EK offense. I watched linebackers on both teams hit the wrong hole, hesitate, get blocked, etc, but Connor was definitely the least mistake-prone in my eyes.   With slightly better reaction time and explosiveness, Connor would have made a few more plays. Regardless, Connor played well and has surely earned a rankings boost come the next update.     Another extremely high-effort player for Hudsonville. During the first half, I heard Cole's name on several tackles. During the second half, I have a more than a few recordings of him giving great effort.   Cole's highlights came from the blitz and run-stopping. Typically playing slot DB, Cole was sent on several DB blitzes and came away with a few QB pressures. Against the run, Cole had great pursuit, was in on gang tackles, and was generally played like a linebacker. I'm not sure how he did in pass coverage, but I'd say he has the explosiveness to be a solid corner.   His week 1-3 highlights show a lot of the same stuff- great blitzing, big hits, and overall great effort.

Yesterday evening, Hudsonville spoiled East Kentwood's homecoming. It was a close game for much of the first quarter, with both teams trading scores before Hudsonville scored 14 unanswered to end the half. In the second half, it was all Hudsonville.