Eye in the Sky: Best Tape From Outside the Bracket

These are the players who showed up every single week, no matter the record, and played like they were trying to drag their teams into the postseason on sheer effort and talent alone. Heavy workloads, double-teams, gameplans built around stopping them — they handled all of it. They may not be practicing in November, but it's not because they didn't play well enough to get there.    For Camelback, Mannix Butler was the kind of edge rusher every OC has to circle on Monday and still ends up screaming about on Friday. At 6-foot-5 with real length and pop, he was flat-out wrecking game plans —  finishing the year with 15 sacks, good for second-most in 5A. The tape shows a dude who fires off the ball with real urgency, gets into blockers' chests, and uses those long arms to separate and finish. Whether he's long-arming a tackle back into the pocket or slipping inside when protection slides away from him, he can win reps in different ways. In games Camelback needed him most, he answered. Seven games with more than one sack and just as many with three or more TFLs. Even when teams started sliding protection his way or chipping with a back or tight end, he still found ways to affect plays, chasing from the backside and closing space in a hurry. On a team fighting just to stay competitive, Butler was the constant — a high-motor, high-production edge who's still got a lot of polish to be added to his game — which speaks volumes about his upside.      If you're talking about pure production on a non-playoff team, it's hard to find a better example than Tolleson wideout [player_tooltip player_id='402797' first='Rico' last='Blassingame']. He put up legit No. 1 receiver numbers against everybody, stacking a thousand-yard season with 14 touchdowns while pretty much every defense he faced knew exactly where the ball was going on money downs. The film matches the stat line: a long, springy target who can win over the top, climb the ladder on fades, and still be dangerous after the catch on quick game stuff. You see games where he takes over entire nights, ripping off huge yardage and turning routine screens into explosive plays with his ability to make people miss. He's not a gadget guy living off schemed touches — his routes are clean, his pacing is mature, and he knows how to use his frame to shield defenders at the catch point. On a team that didn't have the wins to go with his output, Blassingame still looked every bit like a playoff-caliber weapon.      Corona del Sol didn't make the run they wanted, but [player_tooltip player_id='884431' first='Luke' last='Farrell'] played like the kind of quarterback you build a program around, not just a stat-padder chasing numbers. He averaged over 200 yards a game this season, and the tape backs it up with how comfortable he looks operating the offense. He's a tall, smooth passer who throws with touch and really impressive accuracy down the sideline, can drive intermediate routes into tight windows, and doesn't panic when things get muddy in the pocket. You see full drives where he's in complete command — working through progressions, taking what defenses give him, then ripping a big-time shot when coverage busts or the matchup is right. Even as a young guy, there's real poise there; he'll stand in against pressure, take the hit, and still drop a throw on a dig or seam. I'd like to see him start attacking the middle of the field a bit more and be a little more careful with how often he tries the deep shot, but there's very clear improvement over last year and I'd expect the same thing from this year into next.      On a Desert Vista team that had its ups and downs, [player_tooltip player_id='975177' first='Kyler' last='Drunasky'] was the constant pulse of the offense, touching the ball 159 times and piling up yards in every way you'd want from a modern feature back. His raw totals jump out at you — just under a thousand on the ground with another 350 through the air — but it's how he got them that really stands out on film. He's a patient runner who understands how to press the line, let blocks develop, and then hit the gas when he sees daylight, whether that's on inside zone, stretch, or simple gap schemes. There are games where he simply takes over drives in the red zone and then turning around to hurt defenses on screens and swing passes when they start loading the box. He's got enough size to run through arm tackles and enough juice and wiggle to make DBs miss in the open field, and DV leaned on that versatility all year — early downs, passing downs, short yardage, you name it. For a team that didn't end up in the bracket, Drunasky played like a playoff back, the kind of guy opponents talked about all week and still couldn't fully bottle up on Friday.      Thunderbird might not have been a playoff team, but if you watched them at all this year, you noticed No. 5 pretty quickly because [player_tooltip player_id='1165226' first='Daryl' last='Little II'] was one of the most dynamic all-purpose threats in the entire conference — and he's already an elite defender as just a sophomore. I covered that side of the ball not too long ago, but he deserves just as much credit for what he did on offense, where he somehow managed to be both their primary receiver and their go‑to gadget guy. The numbers are insane over 2,000 all-purpose yards, more than 1,400 receiving yards, and 15 touchdowns through the air, all while being the focal point of every opposing defense. The tape backs it up — he's smooth with the ball in his hands, accelerates like he's gliding, and has the top‑end speed to actually finish plays, not just create chunk gains. Screens, crossers, deep balls, jet action, returns — he touched the game in every way possible, and Thunderbird leaned on him like a true engine of their offense. Even when defenses rolled help or bracketed him, he still found ways to break through.      At Valley Vista, there was never much mystery about where the offense was coming from — if they were moving the ball, it started with quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='1177569' first='Damir' last='Ilicic']. He threw for over 2,500 yards and 20 touchdowns this season, and every time you watch him — whether it's on tape or in person — the first thing that jumps out is the arm strength. The ball jumps out of his hand with effortless zip. He can drive deep outs, rip seams, and push the ball vertically in a way that immediately forces defenses to defend every blade of grass. The biggest area of improvement this season, though, wasn't the power — it was the anticipation. He's throwing receivers open more often, hitting his drops and cutting it loose on time instead of waiting for routes to fully declare. His footwork in the pocket has always been one of his strengths, letting him buy a few extra beats to throw without needing to be a true running threat, and that foundation shows up on tape snap after snap. He's not going to be mistaken for a dual‑threat, but he doesn't need to be when the arm talent and pocket mechanics are this good. On a roster fighting uphill in a loaded 6A landscape, Ilicic was the steady, high‑level passer keeping them alive.      Sunnyside's season didn't end with a playoff run, but if you watched their defense, it was impossible to miss how often Adrian Villa showed up around the quarterback. His 10 sacks and 16 TFLs said a lot about how often he's in the backfield, and the film looks exactly like you'd expect from those numbers. He explodes off the ball with real urgency and wins with a mix of speed and power that gives high school tackles real problems. His strong arms and quick hands make it really difficult for the opposing offensive line to keep in front of him. Even when he doesn't get home, he's affecting the timing and rhythm of the offense, and you can see quarterbacks start to feel him coming before the snap. Even when they tried to beat him with screens, he had the IQ to sniff those out too. On a team that needed someone to change the math up front, Villa brought that presence.

These are the players who showed up every single week, no matter the record, and played like they were trying to drag their teams into the postseason on sheer effort and talent alone. Heavy workloads, double-teams, gameplans built around stopping them — they handled all of it. They may not be practicing in November, but it's not because they didn't play well enough to get there.