704 Junior Bowl: Defensive Line Candidates

The Queen City Senior Bowl honors 80 of the top seniors in the Charlotte Metro Area. Prep Redzone North Carolina takes a look at a hypothetical "704 Junior Bowl" - players that had a strong junior season that would be considered for a selection if such a game existed in the Charlotte Metro Area. In Year 1 of this series, I went ahead and selected who would be on my Junior Bowl team. This year, I am going to give you a list of candidates for consideration, then we'll do a final release of the full team once all position candidates have been released. So, let's take a look at our defensive line candidates for selection.   **For full transparency, the 704 Junior Bowl will consider players from the following counties: Cleveland, Gaston, Mecklenburg, Iredell, Cabarrus, and Union counties.**    When you start looking at the number of offers from Power 4 programs, the list is staggering. So, of course, it makes sense that Jesiah is a strong candidate for this 704 Junior Bowl team. His best trait, in my opinion, is the speed and strength in his get-off at the line of scrimmage. There are several highlights of Jesiah getting in the backfield almost instantly and making tackles for losses and sacks. A college will be really exciting in receiving Jesiah's commitment to play college football.     Nathanael is an impressive defensive line prospect and has a ton of offers for his ability on that side of the ball, but his most impressive highlight to me came from him playing offensive line. Nathanael engages with a defensive lineman at the hash mark and run blocks him all the way to the sideline, with the play resulting in a touchdown. That strength and mindset are what have me excited to have Nathanael on this 704 Junior Bowl team.     Paxton is one of the hardest-working defensive linemen I've seen on film. His highlights are impressive because of his ability to shed blocks and make plays against both the run and the pass. Paxton played an important role in the Chargers' winning the 5A State Championship. His recruiting with college football programs will come in time, but he's an important piece for the Crest program next season.     Kai is one of the stronger two-way linemen in the Charlotte Metro Area. That alone is good enough for consideration on the 704 Junior Bowl team. Kai is a very good interior defensive tackle who totaled 65 tackles, 9 tackles for loss, and 3 sacks this past season for a good Yellow Jackets team. Kai requires double teams from interior offensive linemen, and it frees up his teammates to make plays at the line of scrimmage.       Amari is another good-looking two-way lineman who shows some good things on both sides of the ball for the Storm. You can see his athleticism in his highlights as a pulling guard, as he lays out multiple defensive linemen on trap and power blocks. Defensively, though, Amari shines with his block-shedding ability - it doesn't take him long to get rid of offensive linemen attempting to block him in either the run game or pass game. Active hands are impressive, and Amari makes plays in the backfield consistently.     We've written a lot about Griff over the past couple of years because of his high-level play for the Chargers program and dominance at the line of scrimmage against offensive linemen. College football programs have taken notice as well, with offers from Charlotte, Miami, Clemson, and Louisville all coming just in January for Griff. I like Griff's 3-down ability - he's strong against the run and sets the edge well, along with showing the ability to get to the quarterback in passing situations.     Kayden is an elite pass rusher off the edge - his quickness in a straight pass situation is very difficult for offensive tackles to deal with. I've seen Kayden dominate in camp settings because of this. But I thought this year, I thought he did a really good job of improving his play against the run. I saw this up close against a Mallard Creek team that likes to establish the running game on offense. Kayden was an important piece of slowing their attack down, leading to a big victory at the time.     A lot can be made of players switching schools in this modern era of high school football, but coming to Crest, I think, has unlocked Christian as a true college football EDGE prospect. You immediately see the frame on film, along with his get off and technique, and you see why he has picked up 3 college football offers in a short period of time from Marshall, East Carolina, and Gardner-Webb. I love his athletic profile as well, and I've seen him up close in camp settings and knew it was a matter of time before it all started to come together for him.     Jackson had an incredible year this past season, and I featured him multiple times in our Stars of the State series, where we highlight standout players week in and week out. This past season, Jackson had 107 total tackles, 34 tackles for loss, and 19 sacks. Incredible production. Right now, Jackson has a little bit of college interest, but in this transfer portal era, everyone's recruiting is a little slower than it normally would be. Jackson has great grades and strong test scores, and by all accounts is a great young man off the field as well for Cannon School. He would be a great addition to this 704 Junior Bowl team.

The Queen City Senior Bowl honors 80 of the top seniors in the Charlotte Metro Area. Prep Redzone North Carolina takes a look at a hypothetical "704 Junior Bowl" - players that had a strong junior season that would be considered for a selection if such a game existed in the Charlotte Metro Area. In Year 1 of this series, I went ahead and selected who would be on my Junior Bowl team. This year, I am going to give you a list of candidates for consideration, then we'll do a final release of the full team once all position candidates have been released. So, let's take a look at our defensive line candidates for selection.