Worth the Wait: Watchlist Prospects that Waxed the Rankings, Pt 1

It is tough to tell exactly how long certain prospects reside on our watch list between rankings updates. However, make no mistake about it: there are numerous prospects that make tremendous jumps from just names in a database to a name with serious game.   Below are a handful of prospects that have emerged from the watchlist and subsequently shot up the rankings during this most recent update.    Shooting up the rankings after being watch listed is [player_tooltip player_id='1279062' first='Aidan' last='Kelly']. This offensive lineman out of Wood-Ridge climbed into the top 40 at his position and within the top 250 overall. A guard, Kelly woks to drive and press very well. When pulling, we see him keep his head and eyes peeled inside to neutralize the first possible threat; similarly, Kelly's head stays on a swivel when he is uncovered in pass protection, as he looks to help or pick off any threats. Should nothing immediate present itself, he is big and strong enough to overpower still linebackers in open space at level two. Not lost upon his size is his ability to block in space, as he has shown to move well in such settings.     Although he played receiver for Woodstown, prospect [player_tooltip player_id='1556633' first='Garrett' last='Leyman'] might not end up playing there in college. At 175lbs with all of a 6'5" frame, Leyman has the build to for coaches to sculpt him into their vision anywhere on the football field. Leyman's length allows him to easily extend for balls throw past or ahead of him. Interestingly enough, he was athletic enough to play cornerback. Skill-wise, we see him take advantage of of his size again on defense, where he uses his long arms to make plays underneath and deflect numerous passes. At times this talented prospect also played quarterback, although he seems as though his primary instinct was to scramble and run. There are some flashes of speed shown on his tape to go along with his size that he uses so well. Lastly, he has good ball skills that, in my opinion, seem to be better on defense than offense.     Perhaps one of the biggest risers from the watch list was Donovan Catholic's [player_tooltip player_id='1287377' first='James' last='Aldrich']. Aldrich ascended to be within the top 20 overall and top 5 at his position. Aldrich is exceptionally physical and violent when blocking. He is one of those old school, nasty offensive linemen. Obviously his mean streak shows up in the run game, however Aldrich absolutely looks to decleat opponents when he is uncovered in pass protection. Conversely, when covered he does a nice job of chopping the hands of his matchup and then getting them to the ground to cover them. A load who keeps working, we see him wrangle his matchup with Aldrich's end-goal to be to embarrass them and dump them on the ground. As a puller, we see him accelerate through the hole on his skip pulls. Lastly, when double teaming down-linemen, all the momentum of the double is going in the same direction that Aldrich is working, and not that of his teammate.     The Hun School seems to be pumping out many, quality prospects lately. [player_tooltip player_id='1608158' first='Joe' last='McGann'] is another one of them. McGann, a center, can simply stun his matchup at the line of scrimmage and work them backwards within his first step. This translates to when he aces are called, moving opponents with either guard highly effectively. Another player who uses his size well, McGann beats matchups due to how broad he is simply by position locking. In the open field on screens he runs well too.    <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Class of 2025 Final Rankings Coverage</h2>   <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2025/03/film-evaluation-notes-for-2025s-new-additions-part-i">Film Evaluation Ranking Notes, Part I</a> <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2025/03/film-evaluation-notes-for-2025s-new-additions-part-ii">Film Evaluation Ranking Notes, Part II</a> <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2025/03/film-evaluation-notes-for-2025s-new-additions-part-iii">Film Evaluation Ranking Notes, Part III</a> <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2025/03/film-evaluation-notes-for-2025s-new-additions-part-iv">Film Evaluation Ranking Notes, Part IV</a> <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2025/03/film-evaluation-notes-for-2025s-new-additions-part-v">Film Evaluation Ranking Notes, Part V</a> <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2025/03/film-evaluation-notes-for-2025s-new-additions-part-vi">Film Evaluation Ranking Notes, Part VI</a> <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2025/03/film-evaluation-notes-for-2025s-new-additions-part-v">Film Evaluation Ranking Notes, Part V</a> <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2025/03/film-evaluation-notes-for-2025s-new-additions-part-vi">Film Evaluation Ranking Notes, Part VI</a> <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2025/03/rankings-risers-ranked-prospects-whose-stock-shot-up-part-i">Ranking Risers, Part I</a> <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2025/03/worth-the-wait-watchlist-prospects-that-waxed-the-rankings-pt-1">Watchlist Risers, Part 1</a> <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2025/03/must-see-athletes-prospects-with-film-that-popped-part-i">Must-See Film: Athletes, Part I</a> <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2025/03/must-see-dbs-prospects-with-film-that-popped-part-i">Must-See Film: Defensive Backs, Part I</a> <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2025/03/must-see-d-linemen-prospects-with-film-that-popped-part-i">Must-See Film: Defensive Linemen, Part I</a> <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2025/03/must-see-lbs-prospects-with-film-that-popped-part-i">Must-See Film: Linebackers, Part I</a>

It is tough to tell exactly how long certain prospects reside on our watch list between rankings updates. However, make no mistake about it: there are numerous prospects that make tremendous jumps from just names in a database to a name with serious game.