704 Junior Bowl Offensive 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 offensive 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.**    This is a big pickup for Hough first and foremost, as they lost some talented offensive linemen to graduation and college football. Nori is a pancake machine between the white lines, and he's improved over the past couple of years with his footwork and athleticism in pass protection as well.     Bryce is a no-brainer for consideration for our 704 Junior Bowl team. He's a 2-time All-Conference selection who is dominant from his center position from both a run blocking and a pass blocking perspective. Recent offers have come from East Carolina, Samford, Dartmouth, and Tulane.     Khalil had some impressive performances this past season for the Lions. I watched him live in the playoffs against a talented Myers Park team have a good game, especially in run blocking. He's got offers from Johnson C. Smith and Georgia Tech, and I believe more are going to come his way with a strong off-season performance.     Recent offers for Moreno have come from Liberty, Coastal Carolina, and East Carolina - and they all have seen what I've been seeing, which is some rapid and exponential improvement in his game as an offensive lineman. Moreno transitioned from a primarily defensive player, and I think his ceiling is one of the highest overall out of this group.     Charlie has a lot of college football programs interested in him, and there's a good reason for that. Excellent size always excites coaches on the next level, and the power in Charlie's game overall gets you excited. Throughout his film, he is constantly putting defenders on the ground and finishing them to the echo of the whistle. Fun stuff to watch!     An All-Conference selection, Samarion really does a good job in the running game on a variety of blocks up front from his guard position. Samarion shows excellent footwork in getting out in space on short and long pulls and explodes into contact at the end of those pulls. Samarion also exhibits great strength in straight driving defensive tackles off the football. I think college interest will start to increase this offseason.     Picking up his first offer recently from East Carolina and having a lot of interest from multiple college football programs, Cooper had a nice breakout season up front for the state championship Chargers this past year. With a 3.7 GPA and squatting 500 pounds, plus benching 335 pounds, Cooper should have another strong season for his senior year before moving on to play college football on the next level.     Playing center for the 8A State Champions, I really like how Tuionetoa can snap and step to shaded techniques - that is an essential skill for success for that position. He stays on blocks very well in the running game and consistently blocks through the end of the play. Tuionetoa picked up an offer this summer from East Carolina and figures to pick up more interest this offseason from college football programs.     With the size Nick has, you could say you see him as a tackle on the next level, but versatility is a major plus for offensive linemen, and he did a great job as a center for the 5A state champions this past season. There are some snaps with him at tackle in his highlights, though, and he looks natural in either role. Nick shows his athleticism well, getting out into space in the screen game and making nice blocks in space against smaller defenders. His snaps are consistent, and he does a good job in both run blocking and pass protection, showing excellent technique in both areas.     I was advised about this young man, and when I took a look at his film, he's a perfect fit for the Cougars run-heavy offensive attack. An All-Conference selection, Will does a great job of moving the line of scrimmage against defensive tackles. I'm excited to see how he grows his game with a new head coach, but a familiar face, leading the charge this season for the Cougars.

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 offensive line candidates for selection.