Stars Of The State Week 3: Offensive Standouts

Another fun week of football has come and gone here in the state of North Carolina, and we had another week of some special players putting up special stats on the football field! Let's take a look at some strong performances in this week's look at the Stars of the State - Offensive Standouts!   WR [player_tooltip player_id='800901' first='Gordon' last='Sellars'] – Providence Day – 127 Receiving Yards & Touchdown in Victory - The Chargers standout wide receiver came up big in a tough game against Charlotte Catholic, where Providence Day had to come back from a halftime deficit to get into the win column.   QB [player_tooltip player_id='1302067' first='Braydon' last='Rediger'] – Marvin Ridge – 327 Passing Yards & 5 Touchdowns in Victory - Braydon was a top performer in a spring showcase I attended, and his performance helped lead his Mavericks team back from an early 28-7 deficit in the second quarter over Ardrey Kell, scoring 35 unanswered points in the victory.   WR [player_tooltip player_id='1455237' first='Alex' last='Voss'] – Marvin Ridge – 207 Receiving Yards & 4 Touchdowns in Victory - At 6'4 and 195 pounds, Alex had a huge breakout game and is firmly on my radar for inclusion in our next rankings update. Alex showed strong hands and good route running against a good Ardrey Kell opponent in his big game.   RB [player_tooltip player_id='1600186' first='Jarlon' last='Drye'] – NW Cabarrus – Over 280 Rushing Yards and 4 Touchdowns in Victory - Jarlon was very impressive as a Class of 2026 prospect - his highlight film showed excellent vision, speed in the open field, and overall agility.   WR [player_tooltip player_id='883459' first='Alex' last='Wiley IV'] – Olympic – 161 Receiving Yards and 3 Touchdowns in Victory - Alex has continued to show strong hands and an ability to win against defensive backs in one-on-one situations consistently. Alex also steps up big in situations where his offense needs a big play.   RB [player_tooltip player_id='1671873' first='Mason' last='Iovino'] – Cuthbertson – 160 Rushing Yards, 3 Total Touchdowns in Victory - The 2026 prospect is a big reason why Cuthbertson is off to another strong start this season. Per his Twitter profile, standing at 6'0 and 200 pounds, Mason is running a 4.6-second 40-yard dash. It's pretty impressive stuff.   QB [player_tooltip player_id='1616126' first='Kaden' last='Craft'] – Lake Norman – Led Team as Freshman QB to 4th quarter comeback win - A freshman dual-threat quarterback at 6'4 and 185 pounds? Yes, that gets you excited. Kaden led his Wildcats back from being down 15-3 against Asheville to a 32-15 win. He will definitely be considered for our 2028 rankings.   K [player_tooltip player_id='1277008' first='Caleb' last='Smith'] – East Gaston – Game Winning 23 Yard Field Goal vs. Stuart Cramer - A Class of 2027 prospect, Caleb is very dedicated to his craft. That dedication paid off when he nailed the field goal with 1.4 seconds left in the game. Ice water in the veins!   RB Ja'Darius McCombs – Mooresville - 200 Rushing Yards & 4 Touchdowns in Victory - The 5'9 170-pound Class of 2026 prospect had a great game in his Blue Devils' huge 66-0 win over West Rowan. I recently interviewed Ja"Darius and he is a well-spoken and humble young man who just wants to continue to get better daily.   RB [player_tooltip player_id='351894' first='Latrell' last='Carter'] – Pine Forest – 225 Rushing Yards, 6 Total Touchdowns (5 Rush) in Win - The theme for this Class of 2027 prospect was speed - Latrell did a great job of getting in and out of the hole, and just simply not getting caught from behind in the open field.   RB [player_tooltip player_id='1050682' first='Daylon' last='Fuller'] – West Cabarrus – 240 Rushing Yards & Touchdown vs. Olympic - The Class of 2025 prospect was impressive with a heavy volume of work - I thought Daylon ran very hard and didn't have a lot of wasted motion in his runs - straight north and south with good speed and acceleration.   RB [player_tooltip player_id='905224' first='Jycen' last='Anciso'] – Hough – 125 Rushing Yards & 2 Touchdowns in Victory - As usual, Jycen did a great job of running the ball behind a talented offensive line - Jycen has good production sharing the backfield with a couple of very good teammates. Jycen as a senior shows great strength running the football and has a great nose for the end zone.   QB [player_tooltip player_id='620296' first='Bryce' last='Baker'] – East Forsyth – 482 Passing Yards & 5 Touchdowns, Rush TD in Win - The specially talented North Carolina commit had this huge game against a pretty good AC Reynolds team on the road, distributing the football in an impressive fashion to a bevy of talented wide receivers.   WR [player_tooltip player_id='1148569' first='Ethan' last='Driver'] – Davie County – 268 Receiving Yards & 3 Touchdowns in Victory - I enjoyed watching Ethan's highlights of this huge statistical game for him - his yardage came on 9 catches on a wide variety of routes, showing off Ethan's excellent route running ability and strong hands overall.   WR James Gilchrist – East Forsyth – 8 Catches, 158 Yards, 3 Touchdowns in Victory - The talented senior wide receiver absolutely ate up AC Reynolds coverage, showing his excellent ability to win consistently against one-on-one coverage. Posts, comebacks, flag routes - Gilchrist showed a wide skillset of routes in this game.   RB [player_tooltip player_id='380042' first='Amareon' last='Blue'] – Jordan – 163 Rushing Yards & 3 Touchdowns in Victory - The Eastern Michigan commit showed off his skill set in this one, with excellent speed and burst with the football in his hands on a consistent basis.   QB [player_tooltip player_id='1228977' first='Chance' last='Cato'] – Olympic – 237 Passing Yards & 3 Touchdowns in Victory - I thought Chance threw the ball decisively and on time consistently throughout this game. His ball placement was excellent on a variety of throws, and he showed some dual-threat ability on a couple of runs as well.   QB [player_tooltip player_id='1616211' first='Draeton' last='Nance'] – Davie County – Freshman in 1st Start Threw for 434 Yards and 5 Touchdowns Breaking School Record in Victory - This was super impressive to me. At 6'0 and 180 pounds, Draeton delivered the football in good spots for his receivers to make plays after the catch. And it was a varied approach, all over the football field which makes this performance even better in my opinion.   OL Kevin Caldwell – Independence – Good Looking Film, Tough & Strong Center – WON! - Kevin is the heartbeat of the Patriots' offensive line, and he uses his size well to gain leverage in the run game, and his lower-body strength allows him to drive nose tackles and defensive tackles off the line of scrimmage consistently.

Another fun week of football has come and gone here in the state of North Carolina, and we had another week of some special players putting up special stats on the football field! Let's take a look at some strong performances in this week's look at the Stars of the State - Offensive Standouts!