Manny and the starting Marvin Ridge defense did an excellent job of keeping Forest Hills bottled up when they were in the game. Forest Hills got some offense going once Manny was done for the evening. His brute strength in pushing the pocket was impressive – there was one play where Manny almost took the snap from center, which was how fast he was in the backfield for the Mavericks.

In most years, a player with 17 Division 1 college football offers would gain a ton of fanfare across the city and state, but it is surprising how much Manny flies under the radar. I think he’s a powerful prospect who could play inside or outside on the next level. Manny can get to the quarterback at a high level, and he also excels at stopping the run when teams try to run right at him. Manny will have to take a big leadership role for a Mavericks team that graduated a ton of seniors from last season.

In watching Manny up close last season, I enjoyed watching him dominate at the line of scrimmage in the running game – that was a new addition to his game as I’ve seen him be explosive as a pass rusher on film on multiple occasions. Manny’s most recent offers have come from Yale, Dartmouth, and Appalachian State. With a 4.4 GPA in hand, Manny will have a lot of choices to play college football. And he’s on our Junior Bowl team.

Lewis is so valuable to Marvin Ridge’s defensive line, commanding double teams and still putting up huge pressure and sack numbers. Marvin Ridge has relied on its defense all season and he’s playing in high-leverage situations every week, so it’s not like he’s racking up stats in garbage time.

The big thing for Manny in this game was his strength against the run. I thought Manny anchored well and didn’t get pushed off the ball at his defensive end spot. Manny did a good job of locking out on offensive linemen at the snap and reading where the ball was going, shedding the block, and getting in on multiple tackles.

Lewis is listed as an edge rusher on most recruiting sites, but I think he has the frame and skillset to be a pass-rushing defensive tackle at the next level, despite being undersized right now. He’s strong at the point of attack and has a great first step, a combination that allows him to put consistent interior pressure on opposing quarterbacks. You’ll see him line up anywhere from nose tackle to edge to off-ball linebacker because his skillset is so diverse.