Young Prospects Shine for Ensworth Football

<p>The Ensworth football program has made it a point to build a very strong pipeline of talent and that is about to pay dividends for the high school team in the foreseeable future as several young standouts begin to see the field for the Tigers.</p>   <p>They have produced some strong 2028 prospects recently such as [player_tooltip player_id='1180873' first='Ashton' last='Coles'], [player_tooltip player_id='1599119' first='Eli' last='Coles'], among others, offering a preview of the wave of talent that was about to hit the high school ranks.</p>   <p>Conner Smith and I were able to get our first live evaluations of the young talent in the system after covering a spring practice on Tuesday evening with arguably the biggest takeaway being how bright the future is for the Ensworth football program under head coach Tim Hasselbeck and his strong staff.</p>   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">2030 QB/SAF Mason Ford</h2>   <p>Mason Ford is an exciting two-way prospect that will be entering the high school program with the ability to play quarterback and safety at a strong level. During practice, he competed at quarterback, where a spring with the high school staff has progressed his development forward at a strong rate. His mechanics are a lot more repeatable with a much more consistent throwing motion that will allow for him to use his arm strength to fit the ball into tighter windows.</p>   <p>Additionally, he is a dynamic young safety prospect that has good size and explosiveness, allowing him to consistently make plays around the ball during each game. That would probably be his quickest path to the field as he will be in the discussion for top safety in the state for his class.</p>   <p>With the improvements he has made at quarterback, Ford legitimately has immense potential on both sides of the ball and will be one of the more interesting young prospects to monitor in the state of Tennessee.</p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/shaynep_media/status/2054358242893898107?s=46 </div></figure>   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">2029 OL Ellis Masic</h2>   <p>Ellis Masic immediately caught our attention with his size, listed at 6-foot-3 and 255 pounds while being a freshman in high school.</p>   <p>He has good size and mobility that shows up when working on the perimeter at the offensive tackle position. He is still raw as one might expect with a big and young offensive line prospect, but he has some nice baseline tools to work with while being coached by Grant Williams and Ben Jones, coaches that combined to appear in 273 games in the NFL.</p>   <p>While he might not be a key part of the rotation just yet, he is someone to remember for what he could become down the road.</p>   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">2029 IDL [player_tooltip player_id='1704846' first='Lennox' last='Kiner']</h2>   <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1704846' first='Lennox' last='Kiner'] is a trench prospect that was on my radar last offseason and a year of development while working with the Ensworth coaching staff has him in a great position with his skillset and primed for a loud breakout season this fall.</p>   <p>He already has good size at 6-foot-1 and 275 pounds and holds it within a good, strong frame. He holds an impressive amount of natural strength that shows on both sides of the line of scrimmage, with his anchor being impossible to work through at guard and his violence moving people off their spot each rep at his natural defensive tackle position.</p>   <p>Kiner is one of the most exciting prospects in the state for his class and he has shown in the spring that he is ready to display that talent on Friday nights and become an immediate impact trench standout for the program this fall.</p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/shaynep_media/status/2054655333574865299?s=46 </div></figure>   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">2029 EDGE Coby Ingram</h2>   <p>Coby Ingram is a young prospect with a good frame with great core strength and athleticism. As he keeps getting bigger, he should develop into a natural force off the edge that can get after the quarterback while also setting the edge in run support.</p>   <p>He has the juice to beat offensive lineman around the edge and stood out in that aspect when working against some younger offensive line prospects. While working on both sides of the line of scrimmage, he was impossible for others to work through his anchor, which was very encouraging for a prospect with the potential to add a lot more weight.</p>   <p>While he might not be starting this year, he has the ability to make an impact while rotating in this season and the potential to become a dynamic starter over his last two seasons as he keeps adding more size to his strong frame.</p>   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">2029 OLB [player_tooltip player_id='1614247' first='Mason' last='Bonner']</h2>   <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1614247' first='Mason' last='Bonner'] is an exciting young linebacker prospect that can fill in a variety of roles with his good size, athleticism and versatility. Standing around six-foot tall and 195 pounds, he has good size to work with already and the physicality to handle working both in between the tackles and on the edge.</p>   <p>He has the athleticism to chase down ball carriers, something he showed at a high level while playing on the freshman team. That athleticism has the potential to translate over to pass coverage as well and he showed that in the scrimmage by dropping back to pick off a quarterback when throwing to the flat.</p>   <p>This is a very exciting prospect that can make plays from a variety of spots, including tight end on offense, and will be a key piece to the future of the Ensworth defense.</p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/mason_bonner4/status/2002926342179115059?s=46 </div></figure>   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">2029 OLB Tashka Owns Different Horses</h2>   <p>The spring practice on Tuesday evening was actually the introduction to football for Tashka Owns Different Horses, but the potential that he possesses in the sport is evident.</p>   <p>He has a long frame that is likely around that 6-foot-3 range and is a natural athlete that can fly around the field to make plays. That became evident as he filled in at safety some during the last part of practice and he just kept ending up around the football.</p>   <p>While he is new to the sport, he has impressive length, athleticism and physicality that will give him a bright future while working under one of the best coaching staffs in the entire state. He is also a prominent hockey player, so as he keeps adding more weight. to his large frame, the transition might not be as difficult as it potentially could be otherwise.</p>   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">2029 CB Gage Bullock</h2>   <p>2029 corneback prospect Gage Bullock new name on my personal radar, but his name is going on any list in Sharpie. He has everything one could want in a cornerback for the next level, boasting excellent size, length, fluid hips and physicality.</p>   <p>He was making plays all over his side of the field against both the pass and the run, seeking the ball out on every single play. He has the length, hips and movement skills to match with any receiver that he will see this season and force quarterbacks to fit passes into windows perfectly for a chance at a completion.</p>   <p>He comes from a family of athletes with his brother having just wrapped up a Division One football career as an H-back and his sister being a track star at both Oregon and Vanderbilt.</p>   <p>He immediately becomes one of the players that I am personally most excited to watch this season.</p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/shaynep_media/status/2054603194471186479?s=46 </div></figure>   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">2030 CB/WR [player_tooltip player_id='1654341' first='Jaxon' last='Hopkins']</h2>   <p>Speaking of coming from athletic families, rising freshman [player_tooltip player_id='1654341' first='Jaxon' last='Hopkins'] fits that description and has exciting potential for the next four seasons. While his older brother, Justin Hopkins, enters his college career at Minnesota, [player_tooltip player_id='1654341' first='Jaxon' last='Hopkins'] will be entering his high school career at Ensworth.</p>   <p>He has good size and athleticism for his age, which allows him to keep up with receivers he is lined up across from his cornerback alignment. He made plays throughout the practice and consistently found ways to impact his share of reps.</p>   <p>Hopkins also lined up a strong amount at receiver, where he used his athleticism to work open multiple times throughout the evening. He is a very exciting prospect in the 2030 class that has the ability right now and the potential in the long term to be a dynamic player.</p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/shaynep_media/status/2054352598023409880?s=46 </div></figure>   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">2029 SAF [player_tooltip player_id='1554766' first='Kendall' last='Rucker']</h2>   <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1554766' first='Kendall' last='Rucker'] has good size for his age and made several plays throughout the practice from his defensive back spot. He is another piece of a bright future in the secondary that Ensworth has on the come-up.</p>   <p>He has good athleticism with the size and that shows when he works downhill, recording a big play or two during the evening. He also had plenty of reps at receiver and could be someone that rotates in this season for the Tigers.</p>

The Ensworth football program has made it a point to build a very strong pipeline of talent and that is about to pay dividends for the high school team in the foreseeable future as several young standouts begin to see the field for the Tigers.