Deep Dives: 704 Metro Area Athletes

We are continuing our Deep Dive Series, now branching out to the surrounding counties outside of Charlotte, known as the 704 Metro Area! We are looking at players specifically in Cleveland, Gaston, Union, Cabarrus, and Iredell counties. If we have a special player in another adjacent county - such as Stanly, Lincoln, or Rowan - they will be eligible for inclusion in this ranking also!   We will keep it going with the athletes in the 704 Metro Area, and we will follow the same setup as we did for Mecklenburg County: The top five players will get their own individual breakdown, while our remaining players will get a summarized analysis of their abilities. The athlete category is a broad one - players typically have a primary position, but there are some players included who have some special athletic skills that I wanted to highlight also. Let's get started!    Isaiah is in the ATH category even though he had a dominant breakout season as a linebacker this past season. Isaiah has played some wide receiver in his past, and at a pretty good level, so he's got some ability on both sides of the ball. As it stands, though, this past season, Isaiah totaled 134 tackles with an incredible 115 of those tackles being solo tackles! I don't know if I've ever seen a ratio of solo to assisted tackles be that high. On top of that, Isaiah had 19 tackles for loss and 8 sacks, just an incredible season production-wise. I saw him live a couple of times - and in the season opener against Myers Park, he was all over the field, and showed some impressive leadership skills even as a sophomore. College football programs have seen the same thing, and he's picked up offers from Old Dominion, Charlotte, East Carolina, Duke, Virginia Tech, Troy, and Western Kentucky so far. The future is bright, and the ceiling is very high for Isaiah, in my opinion.     Kingston is the first of two players in the Top 5 of this ranking that we don't have ranked currently in the state of North Carolina on our website, but expect that to change in our next rankings update in May. Kingston is primarily a defensive back, but he also plays some wide receiver on offense for the Cougars. Kingston had a breakout season this past year, performing well against some talented wide receivers all season long, primarily in man coverage. Kingston has some very good speed and excellent agility - especially coming out of his breaks, he can make interceptions and pass breakups look easy with his excellent technique. College football programs have noticed these things as well, and Kingston currently has offers from Old Dominion, Wofford, Cornell, Georgetown, Lafayette, Liberty, & Furman.     Alex has been a dynamic playmaker for Metrolina for a while now, and he should get more attention than what he does, but make no mistake - Alex is the real deal and a major threat out of the Metro Area. The numbers show that Alex makes an impact on both sides of the ball - 3 interceptions, 4 pass breakups, and 30 tackles on defense, while having nearly 400 yards on offense and 4 touchdowns. Alex also shines as a dynamic returner on special teams, so I don't know if he ever really comes off the field at all. Impressive from that standpoint alone. Alex has offers from Arkansas, Southern Mississippi, Maryland, and, most recently, from North Carolina Central.     Jerome is the 2nd player that is included in the Top 5 of these rankings, and not currently ranked in our Prep Redzone NC rankings, but expect that to change after our update in May. When I looked at Jerome's film, I had to reach out to his head coach to ask why he hasn't been offered yet. With Jerome's size, speed, and athleticism - once he gets in front of college coaches - he should start seeing some immediate recruiting attention. Jerome is a Wide Receiver on offense and an EDGE player on defense with nice speed at both positions. He is a hard hitter defensively, and ultimately, I think that's his position on the collegiate level, but he is a very good receiver also, with some dynamic run-after-catch ability. I don't usually do this, but I will link his highlight film here so you can take a look for yourselves. He's a real talent that's under the radar for now.      I wrote about Maurice in detail during our 704 Junior Bowl series, and I think he deserves to be #5 in this ranking because he can be a real factor on both sides of the ball. Maurice is a hybrid linebacker/defensive back who is a great space player. He can cover the middle of the field well in the passing game and is electric in getting to the football and making open-field tackles in the running game. Maurice can also be a dynamic contributor offensively as a running back, and I'm excited to see how he fits in at West Iredell after coming over from Alexander Central High School. Maurice is also starting to get some well-deserved recruiting interest as well.      Honorable Mentions   Domenick Baker - NW Cabarrus [player_tooltip player_id='1607789' first='Cayden' last='Rumph'] - South Point [player_tooltip player_id='1306285' first='Khali' last='Clark'] - Crest Kamari Falls - Hunter Huss Daeshawn Camp - Kings Mountain Analysis   [player_tooltip player_id='1858006' first='Dom' last='Baker'], I know well from seeing him at the CFI Carolinas MEGA Showcase, and what's really impressive is that he competed there as a quarterback, and this past season as a freshman, he was a varsity starter as a defensive back! That should tell you all you need to know about his pure athletic ability! Dom also picked up his first offer from East Carolina, which will be the first of many for his bright future. [player_tooltip player_id='1607789' first='Cayden' last='Rumph'] is a talented defensive back who is most likely going to run the Redbone offense as the quarterback at South Point coming up this season, so not much more needs to be said about that athletic ability, wow!   [player_tooltip player_id='1306285' first='Khali' last='Clark'] is an athletic freak at the linebacker spot who totaled 77 tackles for the state champion Crest Chargers this past season, and as the leading returning tackler, looks to be a real tone setter and defensive leader for a team hoping to repeat as 5A Champions. At 6'1 and 210 pounds, his speed and length are why I put him in this category - he's a real pure athlete here. Kamari Falls - look at his stat line, and your eyes just bug out of your head. For Hunter Huss this past season, he led the team in tackles with 134 total tackles, 78 of those being solo tackles. Add in 9 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, and 13 hurries - impressive stuff. But then he turns around and plays Tight End on offense - talk about being worn out after games, that's just flat out impressive. At 6'3 and 190 pounds, he's a player to watch for sure. Daeshawn Camp was an integral piece on both sides of the ball for Kings Mountain this past season. Playing an H-Back/Move role offensively and playing linebacker defensively, Daeshawn didn't come off the field much at all. He will be an important player, especially on defense, with the graduation of some good talent this past season on that side of the ball for the Mountaineers. Anwar Bit - Parkwood [player_tooltip player_id='1264500' first='Jayden' last='Arthur'] - AL Brown [player_tooltip player_id='1687754' first='RJ' last='Sherrod'] - Piedmont Ashur Tesh - East Rowan [player_tooltip player_id='1896723' first='Jeremiah' last='Alexander'] - Monroe Analysis   Quickly on this group - Anwar Bit is a productive wide receiver who had over 40 catches this past season, standing at 6'1. Expect him to be one of Union County's best receivers this upcoming season. [player_tooltip player_id='1264500' first='Jayden' last='Arthur'] is moving over to AL Brown High School from South Rowan HS, and I think he could be a nice piece at either running back or wide receiver - I think as long as you get the ball in his hands, he's a dynamic threat. I could say the same thing for [player_tooltip player_id='1687754' first='RJ' last='Sherrod'] from Piedmont - he's shown some playmaker skills on both offense and defense that will be big for the Panthers this upcoming season. Ashur Tesh makes more contributions on defense than offense, but he has been a big piece of the positive turnaround that started last season in the Mustangs program overall. Finally, [player_tooltip player_id='1896723' first='Jeremiah' last='Alexander'] is a Class of 2029 prospect that the Redhawks down in Monroe are high on being a major contributor this upcoming season on both offense and defense. Monroe always has dynamic playmakers with speed and special ability in the open field, and Alexander appears to be the next one in line.

We are continuing our Deep Dive Series, now branching out to the surrounding counties outside of Charlotte, known as the 704 Metro Area! We are looking at players specifically in Cleveland, Gaston, Union, Cabarrus, and Iredell counties. If we have a special player in another adjacent county - such as Stanly, Lincoln, or Rowan - they will be eligible for inclusion in this ranking also!