704 Junior Bowl Running Back Candidates

The Queen City Senior Bowl honors 80 of the top seniors in the Charlotte Metro Area. Prep Redzone North Carolina takes a look at a hypothetical "704 Junior Bowl" - players that had a strong junior season that would be considered for a selection if such a game existed in the Charlotte Metro Area. In Year 1 of this series, I went ahead and selected who would be on my Junior Bowl team. This year, I am going to give you a list of candidates for consideration, then we'll do a final release of the full team once all position candidates have been released. So, let's take a look at our running back candidates for selection.   **For full transparency, the 704 Junior Bowl will consider players from the following counties: Cleveland, Gaston, Mecklenburg, Iredell, Cabarrus, and Union counties.**    Lemar had an impressive season for the Wonders, rushing for nearly 1100 yards on the season with 18 rushing touchdowns. The thing I love about his game is the vision he runs with on interior and off-tackle runs. Lemar puts that with a nice ability to run through weak tackle attempts on the 2nd and 3rd levels of the defense. If Lemar is able to become a true home-run hitter with more speed, he'll be a no-doubt college football prospect.     We need to officially change his name in our database - but Jaciere, or "Sincere" as a lot of people call him, is a true talent at the RB position. I watched him live against a good Mallard Creek defense have some big runs for touchdowns. He's a home-run hitter in the open field, and he's got a nice combo of power and vision with the football in his hands. He was in a crowded backfield last season, so it will be interesting to see if he will get more touches this upcoming season.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/pepman704/status/1971805548266852748?s=20 </div></figure>     Da'mourion straight up should have been ranked in our last update, and I personally take fault because I thought we already had him ranked! Nevertheless, Thomas-Wright is a dominant back with the full package. He did a lot of heavy lifting as a main piece for the Bulldogs' offense this past season, rushing for nearly 1400 yards and 11 touchdowns in probably the toughest overall conference in the state. Thomas-Wright can run with power, and he has the speed to turn first downs into touchdowns. Seeing that live earlier this season against Olympic, he's a strong contender for this 704 Junior Bowl team.     Becoming the main offensive threat for a team that doesn't win a lot can mean a lot of tough Friday Nights, but Zykerion did an excellent job for the Wildcats this season. He rushed for nearly 900 yards and 10 touchdowns despite the defense coming for him nearly every play the Wildcats ran on offense. When he got space, Pharr showed excellent speed in the open field and nice vision to set up and cut off of his blocks in the running game. With another year of offseason development, Pharr should have his chance to become a 1000-yard rusher next season with the amount of touches he should get.     Savion really came into his own this past season, becoming a lead back for a very strong Ashbrook team. Savion rushed for nearly 1100 yards and 13 touchdowns on an offense that had a very good 2nd running back and a running quarterback, so you can imagine what his numbers could be with even more touches. Savion has grown physically to 5'9 and 195 pounds, and he brings speed and power with every touch he gets. Savion has offers from Syracuse and Miami (Ohio) and a lot of interest from other schools, and is a strong consideration for our 704 Junior Bowl team.     After seeing Max rush for nearly 300 yards and 4 touchdowns live against a really good Stuart Cramer team this past season, I was ready to crown him as a Top 5 back in his class in North Carolina. That's how impressive he was. The workload that he can handle as a back alone is tremendous, but then when you turn around and see him play linebacker on defense, it's almost unbelievable. Max is a throwback in an era of specialization, and that goes a long way with me. The power and determination on every carry are special, and he's a leader for his team. He's a very strong candidate for this 704 Junior Bowl team.     Rushing for nearly 900 yards and 8 touchdowns is a pretty good season for a high school back. But then, when you add on nearly 400 yards receiving, that gets into some nice production. Kaleb is an all-around back who's good enough to line up in the slot and run routes as a wide receiver as well, a nice weapon in the Panthers offense. Kaleb has always been a threat with his speed in the open field - he can be a dynamic returner in the special teams world to go along with his offensive skills. Kaleb is the rare triple threat that teams have to account for as a runner, receiver, and returner. That type of value is what college football programs love, and it should enhance his recruiting once it picks up in earnest for him sooner than later.     I have been a huge fan of Kylan for a while now, and this past season, he really stepped up into the spotlight for a strong Forest Hills program. Kylan has since moved to Monroe, and it will be interesting to see how he fits into their offense. The good thing is, one of the main strengths Kylan has is his versatility. He can play in any receiver role on offense, as he showed last season with the Yellow Jackets. Kylan is a dynamically fast player - he is one of the best track runners in the Charlotte Metro Area, and that speed is on display at running back, receiver, and as a returner on special teams. I am very high on Kylan, and he's going to be a major weapon for the Redhawks this upcoming season for sure.     Anthony is a smaller back in size, but he brings a ton of speed with him in that physical package. The one thing I can say for sure with Anthony is that if you let him get into space, you are not going to catch him in the open field. Anthony did a lot of his damage out of spread formations, which makes sense given his strengths with the ball in his hands. I'm anxious to see what happens when he gets more touches in the offense after a senior back graduates.     Some incredible production here for Dejon - in 10 games, he rushed for 1107 rushing yards, an 8.1 yards per carry average! On top of that, Dejon earned All-Conference and All-State honors and provided some good balance for a strong Latin offense overall. I think Dejon does a number of things well - running hard at the 2nd and 3rd levels of the defense, catching the ball out of the backfield, and being able to carry a heavy workload are all things that really stand out for me. He's a good candidate for this 704 Junior Bowl team.     I got a recommendation to really look at Jamir for this particular series, and I liked a lot of what I saw to include him for consideration for our 704 Junior Bowl team. The speed/power combination is impressive, and the fact that he did this against all levels of competition Monroe played says a lot. When you look at his highlights, you're amazed that he's able to wiggle and juke out of crowded boxes with ease. Then, the ability to hit top speed so quickly is amazing. Jamir rushed for nearly 1200 yards last season, and a lot of people don't know the name just yet. He's in line to be added in our next rankings update for sure.

The Queen City Senior Bowl honors 80 of the top seniors in the Charlotte Metro Area. Prep Redzone North Carolina takes a look at a hypothetical "704 Junior Bowl" - players that had a strong junior season that would be considered for a selection if such a game existed in the Charlotte Metro Area. In Year 1 of this series, I went ahead and selected who would be on my Junior Bowl team. This year, I am going to give you a list of candidates for consideration, then we'll do a final release of the full team once all position candidates have been released. So, let's take a look at our running back candidates for selection.