Stars Of The State Week 5 – Defensive Standouts

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>ATH Ezekiel Kelly – Hickory Ridge – Sack, 7 Tackles, Interception, Return TD vs AL Brown - The Class of 2026 had one of his strongest performances of the season on defense as a defensive back. Ezekiel is also a basketball player, a reflection of his overall athleticism and speed. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>ATH [player_tooltip player_id='760719' first='Solomon' last='Ford'] – Olympic – Interception, Forced Fumble, 3 Pass Breakups In Victory - Solomon as a Class of 2025 prospect has shown to be very valuable this season on both sides of the ball for the Trojans. Olympic is a contender for their conference championship, and the ball-hawking ways of Solomon as a safety is a big reason why. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>ATH [player_tooltip player_id='1357078' first='Cameron' last='Johnson'] – Corvian – 101 Rushing Yards, 3 Touchdowns, 16 Tackles In Win - Cameron has been very impressive as a running back and a linebacker for the Cardinals. He has to be one of the most overall productive players on both sides of the ball in the Charlotte Metro area. At 6'0 and 185 pounds, it is easy to see why Cameron has offers to play college football from several schools. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>DB [player_tooltip player_id='1303827' first='Gene' last='Neely'] – Hunter Huss – 11 Tackles &amp; 99 Yard Kickoff Return vs Kings Mountain - At 5'10 and 180 pounds, Gene was named to the East/West All-Star team, a great honor for a talented defensive back. Gene excels at tackling in space and playing that rover/outside linebacker role in the Huskies' defense. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>ATH AJ Jackson – Corvian – 3 Interceptions/Pick 6. Pass TD, Rush TD, Punt Ret TD - Another incredibly productive defensive player for Corvian, Andre (AJ) excels as the Cardinals quarterback and at defensive back. The Cardinals put a lot on his shoulders, but he consistently produces game in and game out. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://twitter.com/pepman704/status/1788746584982757645","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/pepman704/status/1788746584982757645 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>DB Darian Reid – Mooresville – Interception, Forced Fumble In Victory - I have watched Darian grow from being a major player on the Blue Devils JV Team into an important piece on a defense that is poised to have Mooresville as a high seed in the upcoming state playoffs in a couple of months. The Class of 2025 prospect is a speedy and rangy free safety that does a good job of preventing opposing offenses from making big plays in the passing game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->