Stock Up Showcase Tight End Accolades

Will Helms December 18, 2024 @ 05:22 AM

<p>Our Prep Redzone Carolinas Stock Up Showcase was a huge success. Over the next few days we'll have scouting reports on every player in attendance. First, I wanted to break down some of the top performers in a different way.</p>   <p>The tight end group in attendance on Sunday was small but talented. To break them down, I'm giving each of the guys in attendance specific accolades to help differentiate their skill sets.</p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Top Stock Up Showcase Tight Ends</h2>   <h3 class="wp-block-heading">Most Surprising: [player_tooltip player_id='1576586' first='River' last='Thayne'], Carolina Forest</h3>   <p>I try to watch some film before these showcases to get to know the participants in that setting before seeing them live in a different setting. On film, Thayne has some nice catch-and-runs, mostly on simple seam or leak routes. Other than that, he's primarily a blocker.</p>   <p>As the shortest and biggest of the tight end group that played out. But he also showed natural route-running ability and soft hands, two things I didn't necessarily expect to see. Thayne was not only one of the best tight ends, but one of the best overall pass catchers in attendance. He's probably not going to be a guy who catches 50 passes a year in college. However, it's a lot easier to see the field early when a guy can block and run a full route tree.</p>   <h3 class="wp-block-heading">Highest Upside: [player_tooltip player_id='668611' first='Drew' last='Easter'], Southeast Alamance</h3>   <p>This isn't a joke, one of my top priorities heading into Sunday's Stock Up Showcase was to finally figure out whether to rank Easter as an edge rusher or a tight end. Currently, I have Easter as an edge rusher, but he performed well at tight end. His athleticism is evident at both positions. His 82-inch wingspan was tied for the longest of anyone in attendance (regardless of position) and his vertical allows him to high-point the ball like few others.</p>   <p>He did that several times, but every time I watched him accelerate off the line, I thought about how his highest upside might be as an edge rusher. He's young, which gives him time to play both ways until the offers start flowing in on one side or the other. For now, he still has plenty of room to grow, which is exciting to think about.</p>   <h3 class="wp-block-heading">Most Versatile: [player_tooltip player_id='402485' first='Cameron' last='James'], Clover</h3>   <p>James won in a variety of ways on Sunday. His broad jump was among the best in attendance and that translated to drills as well. He won both inside and outside and at all three levels of the field, from slants to nines and corners. He has a natural feel for pass catching, which makes sense as he often splits out wide and plays as a receiver.</p>   <p>One of the best overall route runners and pass catchers, James is also a nationally-ranked long snapper who should see the scholarship offers roll in when teams move ahead to the 2026 class in the spring.</p>   <h3 class="wp-block-heading">Most Reliable: [player_tooltip player_id='1581460' first='D'Jabrien' last='Murray'], West Carteret</h3>   <p>If the ball was in the air, there's a good chance Murray was going to come down with it. On film, he does a lot of the little things that don't show up in a combine setting, but the hands certainly translated and stood out from the first rep. As he becomes more polished as a route runner, he's going to continue to make quarterbacks happy because he's almost always open, given his ability to snag tough balls.</p>

Our Prep Redzone Carolinas Stock Up Showcase was a huge success. Over the next few days we'll have scouting reports on every player in attendance. First, I wanted to break down some of the top performers in a different way.