Down in South Jersey we can find rising freshman Ethan Nicolas Ethan Nicolas 6'1" | 180 lbs | RB Donovan Catholic | 2027 State NJ lining up in the backfield for Donovan Catholic. The young tailback has a second gear to his foot speed that allows him to turn up the sideline with ease. Along the same sideline, Nicolas showcases outstanding balance, tight roping and staying in bounds as defenders try to knock him off his path. However, make no mistake about it: Nicolas does not resort to bouncing to the sideline, as many freshman backs who are transitioning to high school might. We see him follow his blockers through the designated hole first, and exploding for big plays second. In the thick of things, Nicolas is willing to go into a pile, drudge forward, and plug ahead. The move he likes the most is a sort of sidestep/jump cut hybrid he uses to rub against the backs of his offensive linemen and cutback to a more opportune hole. A defender too, Nicolas has been shown to track the nearside hip well, gator rolling when appropriate. In coverage he has a good sense of when to break off his coverage when the quarterback breaks the pocket. He has served on specials on the kickoff team too. One thing that Nicolas could take with him into next fall is to lower his pad level when running. By doing so he will shrink the surface area defenders have to tackle him, increase his ability to get lost in the shuffle behind bigger offensive linemen, and create more power angles in his body to break tackles. In his debut season Nicolas rushed for 99 yards and 1 score on twenty attempts.