What We Saw: McDonald’s Kickoff Classic

Jed Blackwell August 15, 2021 @ 08:00 AM

In the end at the Byrnes segment of the McDonald’s Kickoff Classic, the real winner was the weather. Dorman’s 21-7 win over Mallard Creek was shortened to three quarters (the third had a running clock) due to high wet-bulb readings, and Byrnes barely got started at all, pulling ahead of West Charlotte 7-0 before the wet bulb halted play and then a lightning storm moved through, bringing the day’s action to an early end. Several players stood out in the action we did see, however. Dorman’s [player_tooltip player_id="89299" first="Hudson" last="Lee"] is as-advertised. Lee played very sparingly, notching approximately 10 snaps at DE, and recorded three tackles and half a sack, unofficially. "We know what he can do," Dorman defensive coordinator Wade Cooper said. "We let him show us what we can do, and then brought him out to get him ready for next week." Dorman’s offensive line looked good, particularly the starting unit led by [player_tooltip player_id="91355" first="Markee" last="Anderson"] and D.J. Geth. They paved the way for three touchdowns for the Cavaliers, including one on the opening drive, one of two on the day from Will Black (pictured) in Dorman’s GATA short-yardage power formation. Freshman Chamarryus Bomar also scored for Dorman. "The first drive set the tone for the whole thing," Dorman offensive line coach Michael Lancaster said. "We just kind of did our thing. The big thing that I saw is that it’s hot, we’ve got a lot of reasons to quit as big boys, but they kept fighting. I felt pretty good about that. As it went on, we’re in pretty good condition and we didn’t tap out. We were able to control the line of scrimmage. We’ve got a great group of kids who work hard, and we’re going to work every single day to get better." Byrnes got in roughly six minutes of work against West Charlotte, with Elijah Barnes scoring for the Rebels. We did get a chance to catch up with [player_tooltip player_id="59465" first="Eli" last="Henderson"] and Gabe Rogers before the contest. Henderson will graduate early to enroll at Arkansas, and is looking forward to this season as he’ll lead a massive offensive line, including another highly-ranked prospect in [player_tooltip player_id="89309" first="Dakota" last="Quinonez"]. Rogers returns for his second year under center for the Rebels, and thinks a full summer of 7-on-7 work in Byrnes’ system will benefit the team greatly. Both teams will be in Week Zero action next Friday, as Dorman hosts Clover and Byrnes will travel to Greer.