The Lions’ passing game struggled for the vast majority of this game, but Rakim, I thought, looked excellent in his route running. There were some chances he had that he just missed on due to some errant passes, but he caught a couple of balls and showed some speed and agility after the catch. The Air Force commit, I think, has his best football ahead of himself at the next level.

Rakim is committed to playing college football at Air Force, and he’s been a big part of West Charlotte becoming a state title contender throughout his career. Rakim has positional versatility where he can play some tight end and be a matchup nightmare in the middle of the field in the passing game. Rakim is a leader and a great culture setter for the Lions, who runs excellent routes and exhibits strong hands when catching the football.

We have Rakim ranked #15 in the state, but I’m starting to wonder if even that is too low. Rakim had all three touchdown catches from his quarterback in this one. The first one was a short pass where it was a 4th &1 from their own 30 yard line. Rakim made a couple of Mavericks defenders miss and he was off to the races. On the 2nd TD, it was a great play call as the middle of the field was wide open on a quick post route. The 3rd one, Rakim was able to high point the football in the corner of the end zone off a scramble situation. I spoke with Rakim after the game.

Rakim Finch Rakim Finch 5'11" | 185 lbs | WR West Charlotte | 2026 State NC | TE/WR | West Charlotte | c/o ’26 – I just wrote about Finch last week, and seeing him in person did not disappoint. His first touchdown came on a tipped pass that he secured before outrunning the defense. The second was classic red-zone dominance—he boxed out the defender on a jump ball and hauled it in for six.

Rakim Finch Rakim Finch 5'11" | 185 lbs | WR West Charlotte | 2026 State NC has been unguardable all offseason. The physical, fast WR has drawn comparisons to AJ Brown with his playstyle—strong hands, explosive routes, and big-play ability. He’s made highlight after highlight during 7v7s and looks primed for a breakout senior season with the defending state champs.

Finch was one of our biggest movers in the class, jumping from the mid-200s to his current position at 120. Finch has been excellent in spring camps and has been rewarded with some high-academic and service academy offers. He’s a hard-worker who can take the top off a defense, despite having good, not elite, speed. He stems routes well and knows how to create separation.

Rakim is a player that I am very happy for. He did a lot of team first work in the Lions’ scheme, playing Tight End and deferring his stats as the Lions’ do a great job in spreading the ball around to multiple talented players in their offensive scheme. As a player, Rakim is strong with his release off the line, and excels at getting into space with excellent route running. I saw him live last season and he was running open downfield on multiple occasions. Rakim has reliable hands and shows some speed to win downfield against man coverage also. Rakim ‘s recruiting has really picked up this off-season, picking up offers from 4 different college football programs. I am excited to see him continue to progress into his senior season.

I have been impressed with Rakim for a couple of years now. When I saw him in person earlier this season, all he was doing was getting open on a number of downfield routes. Rakim is a good possession receiver who can make the catches to move the chains but has the speed to make big plays over the top happen as well. A team captain with a 3.7 GPA who can change the game? Easily makes this Junior Bowl team.

Rakim showed a strong ability to get open all throughout the game, he just wasn’t able to hookup on a lot of targets he received. I liked his route running and technique in releasing off the line, and his footwork in freeing himself from Cox Mill’s defensive coverage. Rakim did have a nice catch and run off of a curl route to set up a touchdown in the 2nd quarter. On that play, Rakim found a hole in the zone, sat down, made the catch and then immediately got up field for about a 25 yard gain.