Top Triad Defensive Linemen

Our series continues where I am digging into the Triad Area players in the state of North Carolina to spotlight before the season starts. Previously, I focused on the Charlotte Metro Area in a series earlier this year, and my colleague Will Helms dug into the Raleigh area in a similar fashion earlier this year as well. The Triad in North Carolina will feature schools centered near the cities of Winston-Salem and Greensboro for full clarity.   This article will feature some Triad Defensive Linemen/EDGE's worth keeping an eye on this upcoming season. There is definitely room for new stars to move up from Junior Varsity or transfer in from different schools; however, our article will focus on players returning after playing Varsity football for their teams last season.    The talented and highly recruited EDGE prospect in [player_tooltip player_id='1607067' first='Andrew' last='Rogers'], recently switched high schools from Dudley to Grimsley for his upcoming junior season. That change has not slowed his recruiting down one bit, as Andrew has offers from several Top Power 4 schools, including Notre Dame, Georgia, Auburn, South Carolina, and North Carolina, just to name a few. I saw Andrew live in the playoffs last season, and he has an EXCELLENT get off at the line of scrimmage, and his speed rush is really tough to stop off the edge. He is built for modern college football as an athletic and rangy EDGE with top-notch length and hand usage. I only expect Andrew's recruitment to grow exponentially, playing in the spotlight consistently for the Whirlies.     PJ recently committed to play college football at Georgia at the end of June, so congratulations to PJ on that big decision! PJ has had an interesting career, transitioning from primarily an offensive line prospect to a talented defensive line prospect, transforming his body and putting the work in to show he can be even more dominant on that side of the football. Defensively, I love PJ's violent hands at the snap and the power he gets off the football with. Those traits are also seen in his offensive highlights, but PJ shows an elite ability to bullrush and has shown the ability to split double teams on the interior with ease. It will be fun to watch him and the Titans defensively this year.     Ben is an impressively strong and athletic interior defensive line prospect who has a ton of impressive offers from schools such as Michigan, Georgia, Southern California, South Carolina, and Florida, amongst others. Ben is just an absolute rock in the middle of the defensive line - he can't be moved in the interior run game, and he does an excellent job of playing off blocks by reading and reacting to blocks. Ben uses his hands well to pair with great strength to shock offensive linemen at the point of attack. As a pass rusher, Ben does a great job of bull rushing to push the pocket and get to the quarterback.     Rob is another highly recruited EDGE prospect from the 336, holding offers from schools such as Arkansas, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Liberty, Charlotte, and Mississippi State, amongst others. Rob's speed off the edge as a pass rusher, I think, is his best trait, and he ties that together with a couple of nice pass rush moves to get to the quarterback. Rob does a good job of stringing out running plays, running right at him, not allowing backs to get outside of him. I think colleges feel like they can add some good weight to him without losing his athleticism, and he'll be a true three-down player at the next level.     I have written about Omaryon a good bit this offseason as he has continued to impress at multiple postseason camps. East Forsyth will definitely lean on him strongly this season to stop the run up the middle, which is what he does best as a prospect. However, in seeing him at the Catawba College Camp, Omaryon has really improved his athleticism for his size - now listed at 6'2 and 330 pounds - and has flashed some pass rushing ability from his defensive tackle position. I will be excited to see how Omaryon starts off the season in his first few games.     King has really worked hard in his first two years of high school football, and he has started to see that pay off with his first two offers from Duke and Boston College, respectively. With a 3.6 GPA, any more offers that come in for King, he'll be able to easily qualify academically. We have King rated as an EDGE prospect, but at his size, he can slide inside and play some defensive tackle as well. King gets off the ball very well at either position, but his speed really shows coming off the edge as both a pass rusher and a run defender. King sows some elite hand usage to shed and disengage from blockers, and he's very quick with those hands - he has been coached well. I expect King to really explode from a recruiting perspective, especially if he grows a couple more inches taller.     I was able to see Brantley up close in person at the CFI Carolinas Showcase, and he was a pleasant surprise with his pass-rushing ability. On film, I see Brantley's ability to be a plugger in the middle of the defensive line and stuff the interior running game, but he didn't show a bunch of pass rush juice, so to speak. In person, I saw Brantley win with a couple of nice moves, including a straight bull rush and a nasty swim move he set up with a nice jab step to get the offensive lineman to overcommit. Brantley is a bit of a sleeper and a school will get a nice steal with him as a recruit.

Our series continues where I am digging into the Triad Area players in the state of North Carolina to spotlight before the season starts. Previously, I focused on the Charlotte Metro Area in a series earlier this year, and my colleague Will Helms dug into the Raleigh area in a similar fashion earlier this year as well. The Triad in North Carolina will feature schools centered near the cities of Winston-Salem and Greensboro for full clarity.