West Catholic Scouting Report (vs. Zeeland West)

I love Thursday games, and I'm extremely happy to have seen West Catholic play this season. Even though they're D5, West Catholic has countless (mostly D3) college prospects. On top of that, I get the feeling I'll see this team again at Ford Field in about a month. They're a powerhouse in D5 and fell just short against an excellent D3 squad. Still, this game was a ton of fun, and I got good notes from several players. Here are my evaluations from yesterday's game!    #11   Aaron was my #1 player to watch during this game. After all, I just ranked him as an elite Division 2 prospect. Obviously, I'm pretty high on Aaron, and he was mostly impressive yesterday night.   I loved Aaron's play speed and explosiveness on both sides of the ball. Defensively (on and off-ball OLB), Aaron exploded off the ball and made quite a few tackles. During a few instances, Aaron almost converted TFLs coming in from the backside, which is very impressive against a very fast Zeeland West offense.   Offensively, West Catholic made a point to get the ball into Aaron's hands. The good- Aaron was just as explosive. He made a few great catches, did his best to earn yardage in space, and got a lot of opportunities. In addition, he blocks with a ton of physicality. The bad - 2 fumbles, both of which were very avoidable. It all came down to focus, and his body playing faster than his mind.   I have Aaron's testing statistics, and they're great. He's also a proven athlete at offseason camps. He's able to make plays, but he'll have to find a way to focus harder. I know what it's like- I played College Rugby and had my fair share of dropped passes. It's difficult, but I improved my catch rate with a lot of intentional practice. Aaron can do the same.     #7   Connor started at Safety last night and did pretty well in his role.   The best aspect of Connor's game is undoubtedly his physicality. When he gets an opportunity to hit, he takes it. He laid big hit after big hit and played with a ton of passion. Also, Connor had a few solid pass defenses, including a near-interception as he closed in on a TE stick route.   I also see a few areas in which Connor can improve.   First, yes, he's very physical, but that sometimes comes to his detriment. On nearly every tackle opportunity, Connor laid into the ballcarrier with his shoulder instead of wrapping up. Did it work? Yes. Will it work against an RB with better contact balance? Heck no. Secondly, Connor's play speed on running downs could be improved. There were several occasions where Connor waited for the ball carrier to come to him instead of attacking.   Connor seems extremely competitive and passionate. I have zero doubt of his love for football, and he's definitely a Saturday player in the future. However, in order to start anywhere at the next level, there are a few things to clean up. He's a great player, and I firmly believe he's one of the top Safeties in D5.     #71   I just wrote and published an evaluation of Jacob last night, but I'll add a little more here.   Jacob is a great football player, and undoubtedly one of the best in D5. Though, he has a few steps until he's a super highly-touted prospect. I like his hands, his footwork is ok, while his aggression needs some work. I still definitely think he'll get GLIAC attention this Spring.   Here's my more detailed evaluation that I published last night   "I JUST watched Jacob play a few hours ago, and I am extremely comfortable with where I have him ranked. In short, Jacob has elite size and fine fundamentals, but there's a ton to improve upon.   In the run game, Jacob does his job. He can reach block, down block, make it to the second level, etc. Same with pass blocking- he does his job. I am extremely confident that Jacob knows what he's doing, but he doesn't always know how to do it in a detailed manner.   For instance, I watched a late-game pass rep where Jacob did an excellent job getting his hands on the defender and locking out. By all accounts, Jacob did his job- until the defender cut inside and earned a critical late-game sack. On that play, Jacob let his pad level get way too high, and he completely stopped moving his feet. He could have completely eliminated the DE from the play, but instead, he didn't play through the whistle.   Lastly, Jacob could improve with his all-around athleticism. Better footwork would help, too.   Great size, good high school player, and someone who'll probably have an opportunity to play excellent D2 football."    <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prepredzone.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/IMG_6949.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-1540611" style="width:614px;height:auto" /></figure>    #40   This'll be a shorter evaluation, but I did watch Jael for a couple defensive series.   I'll be honest: I wasn't too impressed, but I am impressed with him being a 2027 prospect starting for a state-championship-level team. Jael made a few good run fits and was in on a number of tackles. There were a few great late-game tackles from Jael.   Generally, he was a step too slow and a little too weak to stop Zeeland West's Wing-T offense. Zeeland's linemen worked up field extremely quickly, and Jael usually wasn't able to react fast enough. Again- he's a 2027 prospect and has a TON of time to develop. I'm not worried about his upside one bit- he's obviously a committed athlete. I hope to write many more evaluations of Jael in the future!     #3   I didn't hone in on Jack for many plays, but I did see a lot of great stuff in passing.   First and foremost, Jack fits the X receiver role well. He's able to be that physical deep threat, and he flashes his hands and great concentration on a few catches. On top of that, he looks athletic and runs great routes. I am not at all surprised that he's got an offer from Hope, and Jack has a tremendous opportunity to ball out there or wherever he decides to play college ball.     #20   Last but certainly not least, we have RB1 [player_tooltip player_id='1298692' first='David' last='Britenfeld'].   Listen, I definitely see why David won the RB job. His best traits come with his physicality. There were a few nasty stiff arms and other uses of good contact balance. On top of that, he follows his blocks and runs nearly perfectly within the structure of the offense. David consistently broke tackles and earned extra yardage but didn't have that elite athleticism needed to break those for TDs.   Nitpicks aside, David is an excellent running back and among the best I know of in Division 5.

I love Thursday games, and I'm extremely happy to have seen West Catholic play this season. Even though they're D5, West Catholic has countless (mostly D3) college prospects. On top of that, I get the feeling I'll see this team again at Ford Field in about a month. They're a powerhouse in D5 and fell just short against an excellent D3 squad. Still, this game was a ton of fun, and I got good notes from several players. Here are my evaluations from yesterday's game!