Saw the young man in person tonight. Was impressed with his size and agility, can move pretty good for 310. Originally I could see why some think he is underrated. But after watching all night I think three stars is about right and while he is a solid talent I wouldn’t expect him to break the mold and press for early playing time. Unless something crazy happens in front of him.
Review of the game:
Schools in the area moved games up a day b/c of some storms expected tomorrow night. Thompson High is loaded with athletes top to bottom and out gunned the opponent most of the night. Spain Park does have a solid D-Line with all four starters holding offers. They have a sophomore end who is a physical specimen, Jared Smith, has offers from half the SEC and Umaa and already has invite to All American game. They matched up several times throughout the night and Stanton controlled or stalemated him every time. He gave up ground once or twice on backside protection to no effect but I don’t think Smith made more then one play when he was head 2 head with our future commit. Only one I can remember was a tackle as the RB cut inside and Ramil couldn’t keep him from disengaging and making the play… result was a +4 yard gain though. Smith got in his ear a little and drew Ramil into a post play verbal sparing match that didn’t look like anything but the words used were foul enough to draw a P.F. flag on Ramil. Negated a 20 yard run and Coach removed him for a play, he didn’t react to any of it, stayed cool and went back in the next play and kept working. He didn’t have another issue until late in the game. Thompson in goal line offense and up 3 touchdowns opted to try and punch it in. This time Smith and Ramil we’re both flagged, one for holding the other for face mask. Some shoving and hand gestures followed after the next play on a TD.
He handled himself well against another power 5 talent who has a reputation of being both physically and mentally disruptive with his style of play. Ramil kept it between the whistles and never got over excited.
Had one really impressive play on Smith during an outside run to his side, nice reach block to hook the end in on a rare 3rd down run play. Thought he would distribute a little more punishment than I saw tonight. Never really got into anybody in a big way, no head up pancakes or big collisions. Didn’t pull much. Had a tendency to drop his head and lean into the pass rusher but his hands and upper body strength never allowed the rusher to finish a move or take advantage of the mistake. Also has a tendency to grab outside the shoulder pads in both run and pass blocking.
Review of the game:
Schools in the area moved games up a day b/c of some storms expected tomorrow night. Thompson High is loaded with athletes top to bottom and out gunned the opponent most of the night. Spain Park does have a solid D-Line with all four starters holding offers. They have a sophomore end who is a physical specimen, Jared Smith, has offers from half the SEC and Umaa and already has invite to All American game. They matched up several times throughout the night and Stanton controlled or stalemated him every time. He gave up ground once or twice on backside protection to no effect but I don’t think Smith made more then one play when he was head 2 head with our future commit. Only one I can remember was a tackle as the RB cut inside and Ramil couldn’t keep him from disengaging and making the play… result was a +4 yard gain though. Smith got in his ear a little and drew Ramil into a post play verbal sparing match that didn’t look like anything but the words used were foul enough to draw a P.F. flag on Ramil. Negated a 20 yard run and Coach removed him for a play, he didn’t react to any of it, stayed cool and went back in the next play and kept working. He didn’t have another issue until late in the game. Thompson in goal line offense and up 3 touchdowns opted to try and punch it in. This time Smith and Ramil we’re both flagged, one for holding the other for face mask. Some shoving and hand gestures followed after the next play on a TD.
He handled himself well against another power 5 talent who has a reputation of being both physically and mentally disruptive with his style of play. Ramil kept it between the whistles and never got over excited.
Had one really impressive play on Smith during an outside run to his side, nice reach block to hook the end in on a rare 3rd down run play. Thought he would distribute a little more punishment than I saw tonight. Never really got into anybody in a big way, no head up pancakes or big collisions. Didn’t pull much. Had a tendency to drop his head and lean into the pass rusher but his hands and upper body strength never allowed the rusher to finish a move or take advantage of the mistake. Also has a tendency to grab outside the shoulder pads in both run and pass blocking.
