Queen City Senior Bowl Offensive Standouts

The 7th Annual Queen City Senior Bowl was an entertaining game with big plays made by talented players on both teams. However, in the end, the West won its 5th consecutive game over the East Team, 25-20. We'll highlight some of the players who made a big impact for both teams. As a note, the Queen City Senior Bowl is a game that raises money for the Metro School in Charlotte, NC, who help teach kids who have several different types of disabilities.    I saw Jayden twice in practice during Bowl Week, and he looked as fresh and fast as I've ever seen him. Jayden told me he just loves playing ball, and he doesn't get caught up in any other stuff around the game. In his last high school game, Jayden put on a show and was the overall game MVP by Charlotte Football Insiders (CFI). Jayden rushed for 171 yards on 18 carries, which is most likely a Queen City Senior Bowl record. Jayden was in and out of the hole quickly, and he nearly had a go-ahead score in the 4th quarter, but the East Team held him out of the end zone on a goalline stand. Nevertheless, Jayden easily has college football talent, and I hope a school takes a chance on him because they'll get a steal on the field.     Coming off a state championship, you never know what you're going to get from a player in an All-Star game. But Michael really did well in this game. He got things started with a nice fade catch for a touchdown in the first quarter. He very nearly would have had another touchdown catch later in the game if not for an overthrown ball. Michael also had several catches to keep the chains moving, including a 30-yarder on the first play of the game. Michael finished with 6 catches for 95 yards and the touchdown pass.     Noah was named the Offensive MVP for the game, and it was more so because Noah moved the East Team with confidence on two scoring drives - both of them resulting in touchdown passes. The first one was a play-action shot on first down where he found his receiver, [player_tooltip player_id='1704986' first='Jonathan' last='Manley'] from Weddington, on a post route for a 32-yard TD pass in the first quarter. The second one was a play-action bootleg pass where he found Porter Ridge TE Alex Todd from 1 yard out. For the day, Noah was 6-10 for 42 yards and the 2 TD passes, along with 5 rushes for 28 yards.     Coming off of an epic performance in the 3A State Championship game, Lan showed that he could play well against any level of competition. Lan started things out with a TD pass to [player_tooltip player_id='1671903' first='Michael' last='Edwards'] on the first drive of the game from 9 yards out. After that, Lan showed accuracy to all areas of the field, and showed that he could run the ball a bit as a dual-threat type of quarterback. Lan finished 8-14 for 126 passing yards and a TD pass, also having 7 rushes for 29 yards.     Jadarius, or "J-Man" as a lot of people call him, ended up with a nice day on the ground for the West Team. I thought he ran really hard between the tackles to start the game, and that opened up some opportunities on the outside in the outside zone game. When Jadarius was able to turn the corner, he showed some impressive speed and the ability to run away from people. Jadarius finished the game with 71 yards on 11 carries.     Bryce made the most of his opportunities in this game. He had a touchdown run that gave the West the lead from 50 yards out. It was a simple inside zone running play that was blocked well up front, but Bryce's speed turned the play from a first-down run play to a touchdown run play! I like the way Bryce exploded through the hole on his touchdown run. Bryce finished with 70 yards on 6 carries and 1 touchdown.     Throughout watching practice during Bowl Week and then the game itself, I thought Brooks was the most complete and dominant offensive lineman on the East Team. Brooks is committed to East Carolina, and this might be one of those situations where a player's best football is ahead of them in their career. I wouldn't be surprised to see Brooks starting for a college football program in his future; that's how much potential and skill he has shown.     Watching the West team practice during Bowl Week, Shawn was impressively dominant in 1-on-1s. So much so that an anonymous college football coach in attendance told me he was as good as their 3-year starter now. High praise! Shawn has several offers on the table after having a very good season, where he saw exponential improvement in his play. Shawn ended up playing a major role in the Hough Huskies' championship run, and played very well overall in the bowl game on Saturday.

The 7th Annual Queen City Senior Bowl was an entertaining game with big plays made by talented players on both teams. However, in the end, the West won its 5th consecutive game over the East Team, 25-20. We'll highlight some of the players who made a big impact for both teams. As a note, the Queen City Senior Bowl is a game that raises money for the Metro School in Charlotte, NC, who help teach kids who have several different types of disabilities.