Cabarrus County Jamboree Observations

The first annual Cabarrus County Jamboree was held at Jay M. Robinson High School in Concord, NC this past Friday Night. Eight schools from Cabarrus County were in action - Cox Mill, Northwest Cabarrus, West Cabarrus, Mount Pleasant, Central Cabarrus, Concord, Hickory Ridge, and Jay M. Robinson. We'll have impressions from each team and a player who stood out to us.   As a note, rosters have not been made available for all teams at this point of the season, so we will do our best to matchup players we know are making contributions on their respective teams!   Cox Mill Chargers   Cox Mill is being led by their new Head Coach, Wes Herlocker, so this was my first chance to see them in action. After a slow start, both the offensive and defensive units started to settle in. Offensively, they're running a version of the Slot-T and misdirection is going to be something they use to their advantage a lot this season. Defensively it looks to be more of a bend, but don't break mentality - I thought as the scrimmage went along, they did a better job of preventing the big plays over the top. Cox Mill was able to mount a late drive and scored on the last play of the scrimmage, then converted the two-point conversion for the 8-7 victory over NW Cabarrus.    I think in this offense, Hall could have a big season. With his speed and vision, the misdirection elements will give him a chance to get into the open field and do some special things. Hall looked fast and quick on his feet, and I think he will have some opportunities to catch the ball off some actions in this offense as well.    Northwest Cabarrus Trojans   Despite the scrimmage loss, I thought the Trojans showed a lot of good things on both sides of the ball. Offensively they are definitely opening it up more, and they are spreading the ball around to a number of talented targets in the air. I think their running game is enough to keep the chains moving. Defensively they appear to be solid at all three levels. I think the big key will be health and depth - that was something Coach Morman talked about at the conference media day a couple of weeks ago. I believe they will be a contender in their conference for sure.    Im excited for Hudson this season. I believe he is going to get the opportunity to show that he's a top level quarterback in the Charlotte Metro Area. What I loved about his performance last night was that he was decisive with the football - whether it was a catch/throw rhythm, catch/3 steps, etc .. the ball was coming out on time, on target, and he allowed his receivers a chance to make big plays down the field. That's all you can ask for out of your quarterback.    Mount Pleasant Tigers   Head Coach Daniel Crosby is back again, and the Tigers are back doing what they do best on offense - grind out first downs and long drives using the running game. Their first drive got deep into the redzone before a fumble stopped the drive. The Tigers scored off of a nice play action pass later in the scrimmage. Defensively stopping the passing game proved to be a bit of a challenge, and some big plays in the air setup their opponent for scores, but if they're able to limit those big plays, they're going to be in the hunt for a conference championship.    The big OL prospect was helping lead the charge up front in the running game. I saw Mullis consistently getting good movement, and a good bit of the first drive where they had success on the ground was run behind him. I can see an All-Conference type of season ahead for Cooper for sure.    West Cabarrus Wolverines   I came into this scrimmage not really sure of what I was going to see from them, but I am impressed with what they showed. Offensively, they have a couple of playmakers at the receiver position who made some nice plays down field that setup their two touchdowns in their 13-7 scrimmage victory over Mount Pleasant. I thought they ran the ball enough offensively to balance that out. They also played three quarterbacks, which is tough to do in a 2 quarter scrimmage, but I thought all three showed some good things. Defensively I thought they settled in after the first drive of the game - Mt. Pleasant is a tough team to get in a jamboree situation, but they started to stop the run pretty well. The TD they gave up was a play action pass to the tight end - something they can get cleaned up. Overall, this team can be a factor in their conference.    Brendon showed well at this scrimmage, as he made a couple of impressive down field catches to put West Cabarrus in position for a touchdown. He showed the he can high point the football, as well as get behind the defense using some good speed. He has reliable hands, and last season he was a team captain and an All-Conference player. He's going to be a player to watch for me going forward.    Concord Spiders   After a 2nd round playoff season last year, the Spiders are in a bit of a building back mode this season, and that's what it looked like for most of the night. I thought in the 2nd half of their scrimmage against Central Cabarrus, the defense showed marked improvement, not allowing points and forcing a turnover, so there's some positive things to build on there. Offensively, outside of a couple of nice passing plays, it was hard to get the ball moving down the field. The Spiders may have to get real creative in running the football this season, but it's still very early so they have time to figure things out before conference play starts.    I thought Karter did well on the line of scrimmage in both his run blocking and pass protection. Karter moved his feet really well in both instances and showed some nice upper body strength in moving his man in the power-based blocking scheme the Spiders employ. Karter's leadership up front will be very important this season as the Spiders navigate the winds of change from their success last season.    Central Cabarrus Vikings   The Vikings came out in this scrimmage like they had something to prove, and in their double wing offense they showed some big play ability. I was impressed with the number of people they got involved in the offense, and that's a great way to replace the incredible production of Damonte James from last season. Defensively, short of giving up a couple of pass plays, their front 7 looked strong and aggressive in getting to the football. They're a team that looks better than most people believed to start this season.    I thought Infinite picked up right where he left off this past season as far as being a major impact player for the Vikings. His blocking on the edge at tight end on offense helped spring some big plays in the running game. Defensively he was also stout in setting the edge and providing pressure on the quarterback in the passing game. Teams are going to have to double team him, especially in the running game, to get movement and that's going to free up his teammates to make plays. He should get more recruiting attention as the season goes on for sure.    Hickory Ridge Ragin Bulls   I think this team may be the story of the night. I expected the Bulls to be improved from last season, but what I saw last night was some exponential improvement, and that is a kudos to Head Coach Brandon Gentry and his staff. After a slow start on both sides of the ball, they settled themselves and played one of the best teams in the area in JM Robinson to a 7-7 tie. Offensively they have good balance, nice size on the offensive line, and playmakers that can be threats in the open field. Defensively, their defensive line did a really good job upfront in dictating the line of scrimmage and stopped a lot of things before they even got started. This team can compete for a conference championship.    We've got Luke ranked pretty highly in his class, and we may have to adjust that even higher after seeing what I saw last night. Luke ran some smooth routes, showed an excellent vertical leap ability, and he just looked more in control and confident than almost anyone on the field in this scrimmage. He's going to be an All-Conference player if he gets the ball consistently, and I would expect some recruiting interest to start coming his way, if it hasn't already.    JM Robinson Bulldogs   The home team in the jamboree waited a long time to get on the field, but they started with a bang when they did, dispatching Hickory Ridge's offense quickly and then scoring on their first play from scrimmage. But after that, there were some struggles on both sides of the ball. The Bulldogs are breaking in a young offensive line, and they got some baptism by fire in this matchup, which you like to see. They'll be a lot better after this experience. Defensively, there were some plays made against them also that will be some good things to learn from. This team has a ton of talent and they're still my favorites to win the conference, but they're by no means a finished product right now.    The talented prospect showed why he is so heralded as a running back on the first play from scrimmage. Ennis took a designed inside running play, broke a couple of tackles, and cut it back against the defense for a 60 yard touchdown run against a good Hickory Ridge team. Ennis showed everything in one run people love about him - vision, power, and breakaway speed. He should have a really big season this year.

The first annual Cabarrus County Jamboree was held at Jay M. Robinson High School in Concord, NC this past Friday Night. Eight schools from Cabarrus County were in action - Cox Mill, Northwest Cabarrus, West Cabarrus, Mount Pleasant, Central Cabarrus, Concord, Hickory Ridge, and Jay M. Robinson. We'll have impressions from each team and a player who stood out to us.