CFI Carolinas MEGA Showcase Top Defensive Linemen

The Charlotte Football Insiders (CFI) Carolinas MEGA Showcase brought over 270 athletes from all over the Carolinas and put them in front of over 25 colleges in order to be recruited and possibly offered college scholarships. CFI in the last 5 years has had over 100 players gain offers through exposure from their showcases and events. This analysis will focus on the top defensive linemen selected by the CFI Coaching Staff as Top Performers from the event.    This was my first time seeing Kayden up close and taking a look at him for an extended period of time. Man, Kayden's first steps are explosive coming off the edge, and he uses his hands extremely well to play through half a man when rushing the passer. If he were a couple of inches taller, he'd have offers already in my opinion. Because of his size, he will need to be patient from a recruiting perspective, but Kayden is in line for an impressive season rushing the passer opposite of [player_tooltip player_id='1170182' first='Elijah' last='Littlejohn'] in the Lions' defensive scheme.     Ja'Shawn has been a consistent All-Conference performer and has transferred over to West Charlotte High School for his senior year. Positional versatility is the great thing for Ja'Shawn as he can play defensive tackle, defensive end/EDGE, and off-ball linebacker if necessary. For this showcase, Ja'Shawn had some nice pass rushing reps during the 1 on 1 portion of the showcase.     Caniyus is a 2027 prospect who came into this showcase with some early FBS offers from East Carolina and Troy, respectively, and he backed up those offers with a strong performance. Caniyus showed some really good get-off at the snap and had some nice power moves to shed blocks during the 1 on 1 portion of the showcase. You can see as he continues to grow physically, with his quickness, Caniyus is going to be a real problem for offensive linemen going forward.     Jaden plays more of a quick penetrating defensive tackle role for North Mecklenburg in reviewing film from last season, and he showed some good quickness off the football during the showcase. I liked how he moved during individual drills, and he was able to use his quickness to beat some bigger interior offensive linemen during the 1 on 1 portion of the showcase. Jaden also plays some offensive line for the Vikings, so he will be an important player for them this upcoming season.     Brantley is a strong defensive tackle prospect who did a good job during the 1 on 1 portion of the showcase. Brantley worked a couple of impressive power-based moves against interior offensive linemen. Looking at the film, Brantley does a good job of slowing down the interior running game as well. He should have a strong senior season for a good Southern Alamance program.     David was a good-looking speed rusher throughout the showcase. David did a good job of winning off the edge with a strong first step. David then put some good hand usage & a couple of pass rush moves to win through the outside shoulder of offensive tackles consistently. With David's size, I expect him to have a good senior season and jump onto the radars of some college coaches from a recruiting perspective.     Zaire I thought, was athletic for his size and showed some good movement throughout individual drills and the Agility Circuit. Zaire also showed some pass rush burst during 1 on 1's, showing that he can be a three-down player for the Yellow Jackets this season. His performance boosted him into our updated Class of 2026 player rankings which were released earlier this week.     Joshua can also play inside at Defensive Tackle or play out on the edge as a defensive end, and has switched over to Palisades High School for his senior season. Joshua had some good reps in the pass rush 1 on 1's segment of the showcase. Joshua had some impressive pass rush moves - a spin move, a dip/rip move, and a jab step that all resulted in wins. He will have to be patient with his recruiting because of his size, but he has a good shot of playing college football on the next level.     Braylon did a good job overall at the showcase. He moves well for a young man with his size, and showed some nice overall athletic fluidity going through the agility circuit. Braylon had a good first step coming off the ball during individual drills, and he showed that he could take coaching well overall. Braylon is still developing, but should have a good junior season for Davie County.

The Charlotte Football Insiders (CFI) Carolinas MEGA Showcase brought over 270 athletes from all over the Carolinas and put them in front of over 25 colleges in order to be recruited and possibly offered college scholarships. CFI in the last 5 years has had over 100 players gain offers through exposure from their showcases and events. This analysis will focus on the top defensive linemen selected by the CFI Coaching Staff as Top Performers from the event.