Community Film Room, Episode 67

Our Winter rankings update pinpointed even more players from the 2026, 2027 and 2028 classes who have stood out in their respective positions. For a variety of reasons, our team decided that each of those new additions were worthy of a coveted spot in our rankings.   But we'd be naive to think we've evaluated everyone or didn't miss a few along the way.    The changing of the guard happens year after year, and, as such, PRZ South Carolina is constantly looking at as many of the 10,000-plus prep football players in the SCHSL and SCISA ranks as possible.   Now, the Community Film Room is back.   In each edition, we'll break down five unranked players from across the state to let you see what we're seeing. The series will lead right into the the start of the spring rankings cycle, the ever-growing importance of the summer program schedules and then the 2025 season.   In Episode 67, we're tackling (figuratively, of course), a two-way standout, a young tailback who could blow up any minute, a quarterback who has helped turned his program around, a big defensive lineman from one of Class 4A's top programs and an incoming quarterback who has already proven himself elsewhere.    Chandler was asked to be a coach on the field on both sides of the ball as a junior. He started at quarterback, and while the War Eagles weren't always productive in putting up big point totals, he gave opposing defenses different looks from start to finish. He could wing it around from time to time, and his most potent plays may have been the designed runs.   Defensively, he was just as vital. His 58 tackles, four tackles for loss, two interceptions and eight pass break-ups kept some would-be lopsided games much closer, and he's a big reason Wagener-Salley has a realistic hope of returning to the playoffs in 2025.       By the end of the 2024 season Hanahan had established not only its quarterback of the future, but that player's backfield mate, too. Waring got his first varsity carries along fellow freshman [player_tooltip player_id='1615084' first='Tripp' last='Gallus'] in October, with one of his first runs being a 24-yard touchdown. And a month later - to open the playoffs, no less - he put up 121 yards and another score against Silver Bluff.    Waring was still a bit on the light side, but he showed quickly he could break tackles and exhibit a nice burst. His first cut is electric and often put him the right pocket of space. As he adds weight, he might just develop into the Hawks' next dynamic tailback.      Johnson helped propel the Hornets to their most wins in a single season in 11 years when he threw for 1,461 yards and 16 touchdowns as a junior. He completed 60.5 percent of his passes and only threw five interceptions in 147 attempts. Now, tack on 1,490 rushing yards and 14 scores over the course of his last two years, and it starts to make sense why Ware Shoals is trending upward for 2025.   Most of Johnson's best plays running or passing came while moving him out of the pocket. He was dangerous at both, which put defenses into much more reactive situations than they'd like to be. If the Hornets start hot this fall, Johnson will have a lot to do with it.      Right, left or center, McKinnis helps the Yellow Jackets' three-man line get pressure on just about everyone. North Augusta went 12-2 with those two losses coming by one point to Class 5A Lexington and a touchdown to eventual 4A state champ South Florence. And McKinnis was a huge part of a defense that allowed a paltry 15 points per game.   His job is to wreck something happening on the other side of the offense line, and his production value (officially 66 tackles, six sacks and eight tackles for loss) shows he does that very well. His weight room numbers were already solid, and the final high school version of McKinnis could be scary good. That's saying something considering he was already an all-region first-team selection last fall.       Slydell will be a first-year quarterback in the Palmetto State this fall, but thanks to our partners in North Carolina, we know all about him. He was ranked as the No. 11 overall quarterback there before making the decision to transfer to Dorman for his senior year. He definitely won't be green to the position.   In three years at Asheville (30 games), Slydell threw for 4,257 yards and 46 touchdowns. He's got a quick yet smooth release and most importantly doesn't make a lot of mistakes. He's got a 46-19 career touchdown-to-interception rate - with his number of picks decreasing each year - and he's completed 60.5 percent of his career passes, including a 65-percent clip as a junior.

Our Winter rankings update pinpointed even more players from the 2026, 2027 and 2028 classes who have stood out in their respective positions. For a variety of reasons, our team decided that each of those new additions were worthy of a coveted spot in our rankings.