Prep Redzone Dakotas Showcase: DL Standouts

We start our live eval reports in the trenches with the defensive linemen that caught our attention at our Prep Redzone Dakotas Showcase last Saturday. We saw, a great young crop of 2029s, A 2028 that should have D1 offers, and a solid 2027 group that has muliple D2 offers and will get more this summer.    A new name that I was glad was in attendance at our Prep Redzone Dakotas Showcase last Saturday, made the trip from West Fargo Sheyenne, was [player_tooltip player_id='2204185' first='Giovanni' last='Henry']. Talk about hard to miss from the eye, as the 6'3 257 pounder in the 2029 class boosted a 80.5' (6'8.5) wingspan and one of the largest hand sizes we saw in the entire showcase as a 2029 prospect which is kind of absurd. In the live eval, Giovanni showed at times that he could overpower with the length he has in his first step and beyond and generated a good balance of pad-level for his age with his hands. He was one that processed to me as a quick learner as he showed off solid coachability for his age. One of a couple quite intriguing 2029s we had in attendance in the DL group in Sioux Falls.     The other 2029 defensive linemen that didn't catch my radar until Saturday in the class was [player_tooltip player_id='2203121' first='Easton' last='Meyer'] out of McCook Central-Montrose. Easton showed off really smooth hands with his get off for his age against the competiton in Indy and later into 1v1s as one that impressed me with his athleticism he showed off on every rep with his explosiveness with his get off. The 5'11 219 pounder for the Fighting Kougars, had two testing categories where he placed in our top 14 at the showcase as at his size he jumped 8'10 in the broad jump (#14 overall) and his best testing number was in the pro agility which Easton went 4.57 good for 12th at our Dakotas Showcase. He's one that I feel has an impressive and only going to grow football IQ for his age, as there was just overall great balance in what I saw out of him on every rep. He gets my nod for my favorite 2029 new name from South Dakota at our showcase.     This last name will ring a bell to those that subscribe, as we have had a ton of partipation from the Westley family over the years at our Prep Redzone Dakotas Showcase. with Jaycob being up next from Elkton-Lake Benton. He's also one of the sizable ones from the fam we have had at our Prep Redzone Dakotas Showcase, as the 6'0 215 pounder, caught my attention early with the fluidity, motor, and depth he had when we watched his footwork in the early session. He showed off well-versed power in his hands in the later reps mixed well with developing pad-level that for sure fits well as a nose tackle now and at the next level.     Parker is one that caught my attention as a defensive linemen this time despite us having him rated on the other side of the trenches, but what I saw from the 2028 defensive tackle from Sioux Falls Washington, is what I feel might translate better as a nose tackle looking ahead. This kid has a lot of strength and leverage to give out and showed off what should be a blue-collar DT that has good upside left to prove for the Warriors in the coming years. He has room to certainly grow his hand technique and gain more explosiveness but again, I liked the upside I saw to grow into camp season.     Mason has been a recent OL MVP at our Prep Redzone Dakotas Showcase in the past, but showed up in Sioux Falls last Saturday as a defensive linemen which to me shows the trenches flexibility this young man has for those college coaches out there. Mason boosted some of the more open, loose hips I saw in the early session out of the defensive line group which showed the translation you want to see when we got into Indy and 1v1 reps as he showed off one of more quicker gets especially out of the underclassmen we had in attendance. He's also got a more explosive bend than others at the defensive tackle position that were in attendance. I am sure I have said it before, but Mason rarely misses when it comes to attention to detail with his coachability and you saw that in the live reps from what you saw from his first to last reps of the day. He finished as one of our end of session top performers in the DL group as well.     We had our EDGE2 out of thie 2027 North Dakota class in attendance at our Prep Redzone Dakotas Showcase in Sioux Falls and I would say it was worth the trip as Alec picked up his second D2 offer from Jamestown this week. In our live eval, it's easy to see what the Division 2 coaches are seeing as Alec showed off domiant length and smooth get offs with the good chunk of reps we were able to watch last Saturday in Sioux Falls. Not only was he dominant, but the length he has with those hands is hard to miss off the eye test. Another skillset that Alec exceled with persistently on Saturday, was how proficent his motor and finish were on every rep we got to watch as you can tell outside of the sound football IQ, his finish was one of the best skillsets he possesed. Surely a EDGE prospect not even close to done getting attention from college coaches this summer     -DL Co-MVP   We've had Thiik rated as our DL in the South Dakota 2028 class for a reasaon since they launched and he showed why that is last Saturday at our Prep Redzone Dakotas Showcase. The 6'2 223 pounder from Tea Area, finished inside our top 12 in the lasered 40-yard dash which is impressively high for a defensive linemen to be with a 4.91 40-yard dash with ideal measurables as just a sophomore at the moment. You want to talk about impressive hands? I didn't see Thiik lose a rep on Saturday, as the swiftness with his get off hands were super smooth while seeing that athleticism we referenced on every rep we noted as his change of direction was surely twitchy and sudden at his size. We have him graded so high for a reason, as Thiik is certainly a D1 grade in my eyes out of this 2028 SD class.     -DL Co-MVP   Develop, develop, develop that's what they do at Pierre T.F. Riggs every year and that was evident for 2027 defensive linemen Max Schmitz, that during his second Prep Redzone Dakotas Showcase, won a DL MVP in what was a solid group we had in Sioux Falls. He surely has gotten more explosive with his get off since his last showcase this winter as this kid surely I felt was one of the most coachable defensive linemen in this entire group as you can tell he really is starting to relish the fine details. During Indy, he showed off the great and growing football IQ we've seen and man, there was not a bigger motor in the trenches on either side of the ball than Max from my eyes. His hand placement and get off has gotten more of a natural feel and surely there will be more scholarship attention coming this way after our showcase as we get into summer camps.

We start our live eval reports in the trenches with the defensive linemen that caught our attention at our Prep Redzone Dakotas Showcase last Saturday. We saw, a great young crop of 2029s, A 2028 that should have D1 offers, and a solid 2027 group that has muliple D2 offers and will get more this summer.