Community Film Room, Episode 68

Our Winter rankings update pinpointed even more players from the 2027, 2028 and 2029 classes who have stood out in their respective positions. For a variety of reasons, our team decided that each of those new additions were worthy of a coveted spot in our rankings.   But as you've discovered by following along, we're nowhere near done.   As we traverse the offseason, we're also seeing a changing of the guard. And, as such, PRZ South Carolina is constantly looking at as many of the 10,000 or so prep football players in the SCHSL and SCISA ranks as possible.   Now, the Community Film Room is back.   In each edition, we'll break down five unranked players from across the state to let you see what we're seeing. The series will lead right into the the start of the spring rankings cycle, the ever-growing importance of the summer program schedules and then the 2026 season.   In Episode 68, we're taking a close look at two Lowcountry offensive linemen, a budding star linebacker from the Upstate, a Midlands receiver and a nearby two-way threat with a DI offer already as a corner.    Wertz has two aspects of his game that jump off his reel. For starters, he's always around the ball. It doesn't matter if it's a run up the gut or a pass to the edge or behind him; he's clearly paying attention to his assignments and then reading them well. We suspected some of that just from the 180+ tackles he was credited with as a junior.   What we also noticed was his ferocity in attack - something that probably stems from his wrestling background. Regardless of the type of ball carrier or blocker, Wertz plays anything but scared. That's not to say he won't hit his accelerator to go around a tackle to get to the other side of the line. Because he does that well, too.   What we're looking to see out of him in 2026 is for him to cut down on some of the overpursuit we've seen brought about by his speed. But if that's the biggest knock on him, he'll do well to improve on the nine tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, 13 QB pressures and five forced fumbles he had as a junior.      When [player_tooltip player_id='1165165' first='Jaylen' last='Singletary'] was running wild on folks throughout the 2025, he wasn't doing so without help up front. And in Jones, the Hurricane's big right tackle, we saw the type of lineman who was worthy of a follow downfield.   At 6-foot-4 and 255 pounds, Jones is still relatively lean, something college coaches are going to love. He's extremely mobile for a tackle, and Hampton County did a great job of putting that strength into action. Over and over, we saw him either bursting through that initial block to get into the second level or simply taking advantage of a soft defensive scheme to do that same. The fact he recognizes when to attack and when to display some patience in those blocks was big. The fact he recognized when to explode through a linebacker was even bigger.      Fairfield has produced a steady diet of receivers who have speed. So it didn't surprise us when we turned on the film of Shannon and seeing him burn some DBs on post routes. But deeper in the film, we also saw a receiver who loves the in-flight fight for positioning and is equally adept at high-pointing the ball. Shannon has an advantage in that he's not small. Taking advantage of it, though, is a different story. Using his body as a shield, knowing whether to go in or out or come back or turn on the jets, it's all there already. Scroll to the 1:35 mark to see an excellent example.   As a junior, he caught 560 yards worth of passes and piled up another 280 yards on a variety of carries. A 1,000-yard senior season feels inevitable.      At North Central, Price (pictured above) is asked to do a lot. And he showed he was capable of just that while putting up more than 1,100 combined passing/rushing yards and 15 total offensive touchdowns. He should be able to again make his mark on offense for the Knights in 2026.   However, the reason we believe he's got college defensive back written all over him is because of what he's already been able to do at this level at the position. Last fall, Price had four interceptions to go along with 32 tackles. How quickly he went from run support to imitating a receiver in his second clip was a solid microcosm of the skill set.   We're not the only ones who already think he's going to be playing in 2027 at the next level. His abilities - combined with a 4.113 GPA - have already earned him an early offer from Dartmouth. It won't be his only opportunity.      Freeman is big. Let's get that out of the way first. Because it allows you to better understand a bevy of pre-contact motion from opposing edge players trying to game-plan out in their head how to deal with him. At 6-foot-3 and 310 pounds, Freeman won a lot of battles before they began.   The real fun started a split second after the snap, though. That's when he was able to utilize that size in a real way that will translate to actual production. Despite some issues that prevented the Stags' offense from peaking fully in 2025, Freeman showed more than enough long-term potential to give this program every reason to have him replace [player_tooltip player_id='1267220' first='Zion' last='Britt'] at left tackle next season.   Freeman loves to drop down under the opponent's pads, and as he starts getting back to more of an upright position, he's already won the leverage game.

Our Winter rankings update pinpointed even more players from the 2027, 2028 and 2029 classes who have stood out in their respective positions. For a variety of reasons, our team decided that each of those new additions were worthy of a coveted spot in our rankings.