Rankings Jump: #75 to #59rnElijah was one of the top debuting athletes prior to the season. Now after the 2023 season he is one of the biggest risers. Coming into the season we knew the speed was unquestionable. The reigning D1 100M Dash State Champion plays at a different speed than everyone else. He is able to instantly eat up cushion, stack DBs, and then pull away in the open field. What led to the jump is that this season we started seeing more of the nuanced parts of the WR position. The ability to track the ball, the ability to go up and get it despite being 5’10” 165 lbs. We also saw him fine tune his route runner further. His burst out of breaks consistently opened up huge separation for his QB. The tools are there to mold at the next level. Mankato got a good one here.

Tomah is in position to make the biggest jump in record from last season to this season in the entire conference. They have solid OL play returning, talent at the LB position, and they have a stud athlete in Elijah Brown returning to the team. That is who I have selected as my team MVP. Elijah  contributed some in the run game and is the leading pass catcher returning to the offense. The standout athlete made his biggest mark roaming the defensive backfield where he secured 3 INTs. We should see Elijah all over the field this fall. He has elite speed that won him the 100M State Championship this spring. He also has excellent burst and agility in tight quarters. He is going to be tough to contain on offense, and he will have dominant range on defense. He is one of the top talents in the conference overall.

Another impressive athlete who was in the running for Top Testing Performance of the Position was the Tomah junior. Elijah was the first athlete in Session II to stand out with a next level 4.25 second shuttle drill. I watched it happen live, and Elijah looked the part of a college athlete. He ran low to the ground, giving him a low center of gravity and allowing him to make those extremely quick changes of direction. The burst out of those changes was the best I saw at the Showcase. To further show off that burst, Elijah also broad jumped 10’2″. The cherry on top of his testing was a 4.61 40 yard dash. Elijah had one of the 5 best testing performances of the  entire Showcase.

I wasn’t able to catch up with him in one on ones, so instead let’s check out his junior highlights. You don’t need to watch very long before that elite athleticism jumps off the tape. Brown plays at a different speed than everyone else on the field. He is a playmaker that makes the unusual plays on a weekly basis. The junior also has two way ability as a WR and DB. I think we are going to see a breakout year from Elijah.