Uncovered Gems - River Cities Alliance #2

The first year of the River Cities Alliance was an entertaining one. These former OK Conference teams are all mostly run-heavy squads that lean heavily on a physical style of play. So, if you want to succeed in the RCA, you absolutely need to be physical. That's really the theme of this article. Six players from the RCA, most of which finding success because of how physical they're willing to be.    Coopersville is quickly becoming an offensive line factory. I had watched Hunter during the first round of playoffs and came away quite impressed.   A lot of the good impression game by nature of the blocking schemes Hunter was asked to execute. I've rarely seen Sophomores capable of consistently pass, reach, base, down block (etc). I've seen fewer with the size Hunter has.   On tape, you can easily see Hunter's competence in all-around run blocking. He's strong, smart, and agile enough to execute practically any block. My one big nitpick right now is his footwork- Hunter tends to false step a lot. Still, a very good lineman who I'd expect to be a GLIAC prospect in a year's time.      Quinlyn had himself a very solid Junior season on both sides of the ball. Offensively, he had a handful of targets, much of them being on 5-10-yard comebacks. Those plays show solid hands, and credit to the QB for throwing those with good timing. In the future, I'd love to see Quinlyn break a tackle or two and fight for extra yardage.   Defensively, he had a few good plays as well. The play at 0:50 is a great man rep against a 10-yard comeback. Plus, the play at 1:32 shows his ability to stick with a man downfield.   Solid Junior season tape. I like Quinlyn's size, especially at DB, and think he's one great offseason away from being an all-conference player.      A run-heavy scheme is never successful without physical offensive linemen. Jack's 3-minuite tape is filled with extremely physical and successful run blocking.   Jack shows a lot of success in simply blocking the man in front of him. Staying mostly at the line of scrimmage, Jack was able to consistently hit his defender with good leverage, and oftentimes earn himself a pancake. Plays like 1:15 show solid all-around run blocking. Stay low, deliver a hit, and lay your defender in the grass. This offseason, I'd love to watch Jack at a college prospect camp. This would shed a lot of light on his abilities, especially pass blocking.      Slot WR   Coopersville doesn't pass the football a ton, but when they do, it's oftentimes to [player_tooltip player_id='1148727' first='Sam' last='McDonald'].   Ranked last year as a linebacker, Sam has quickly become an even more productive slot receiver. His first highlight shows a simple WR screen taken to the house against a very strong Lowell defense. Credit to Sam for following his blocks and showing good speed. Then, the play at 0:40 shows another speed-in-space play. Sam takes the Jet Sweep, follows his blocks, and breaks a tackle, earning a first down. Lastly, I'll mention the block at 1:18. It honestly looks like Sam held back a bit during this play, but he still managed to get the opposing DB on the ground. I'd love to see more blocking highlights in the future!   Sam's tape is absolutely filled with speed-in-space type plays. He's option #1 on sweeps and screens, which I don't see changing next season. Work on speed & agility, and Sam has a chance to have another breakout season.      Another very good year for Brody.   Something I look for in all DB tape is run-stopping. Any DB who wishes to be a college prospect absolutely needs to be able to stop the run and tackle in open space. Plays like 0:18, 0:41, and 1:20 show just that. At times, I believe Brody could be a step more reactive when the play is developing and a tad more aggressive with his tackling. Though, especially against hesitant ball carriers, Brody is great.   Brody also has a few very good plays in pass coverage. The play at 0:28 shows solid speed and reaction time defending the slot fade. Then, 0:50 is a solid example of man coverage.   I also have Brody's athletic testing numbers from about a year ago, and they are mostly just above average for DBs. Build on those athletic metrics while playing good man coverage at camps and Brody could find himself with a handful of offers this Spring.      A shorter highlight tape for [player_tooltip player_id='1613960' first='Kaiden' last='Dreyer'], but still worth a quick mention.   Kaiden's tape is full of very, very good run stops. His tape opens up with a very well-timed blitz that blows up the quick toss. Great job delivering that hit as well- a LOT of DBs I watch struggle with tackling/hitting. The next play I'll quickly mention is at 0:27- Kaiden reads the outside run, cuts off his lane, and gets a great solo tackle. That play looks like it would have gone for big yardage if Kaiden wasn't there, so that was an excellent job tackling in open space.   Like all of these prospects, Kaiden could earn college offers with good showings at prospect camps.

The first year of the River Cities Alliance was an entertaining one. These former OK Conference teams are all mostly run-heavy squads that lean heavily on a physical style of play. So, if you want to succeed in the RCA, you absolutely need to be physical. That's really the theme of this article. Six players from the RCA, most of which finding success because of how physical they're willing to be.