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300
All season long the Scouts of Scout.com have been discussing what an amazing
year it is for offensive tackles, and the rankings for the Class of 2012 have
consistently reflected that consensus with a whopping 11 of them receiving
5-Stars from Scout. The Class of 2010 and 2011 had 10 5-Star offensive tackles
combined.
What wasn't as readily apparent was how deep a year it was for safeties across
the country. For comparison sake, the Class of 2011 had four safeties ranked in
Scout's Top 100, the Class of 2012 has doubled that number with eight, and
athlete Stefon Diggs would make it nine, but he was recently moved to wide
receiver in this latest update.
Scout typically updates its rankings once a month, but with July becoming a
second evaluation period in its own right with college camps and huge events
such as The Opening, the Elite 11, Hoover's 7v7, the IMG 7v7, Gridiron Kings,
the Badger 7v7 National Championship and more, it seemed prudent to wait until
the conclusion of those events before updating the Scout 300.
Following the last major event of the Summer, Gridiron Kings, Scout's National
Analysts Brandon Huffman, Greg Powers, Chad Simmons, Allen Trieu, and Bob
Lichtenfels sat down with Director of Scouting Scott Kennedy and walked through
the entire Scout 300 and beyond to deliver a comprehensive set of rankings from
the best team of Scouts in the business.
For a look at he movers and shakers from the Summer evaluation period. the
National Analysts weigh in.
From Chad Simmons on the Southeast:
Four new names have added a fifth star beside their name out of the South as
we close out the summer. Landon Collins, Nelson Agholor, Duke Johnson, and Tracy Howard moved into the national top 50, and deservedly so. All were right on the
edge of the top 50, so none came out of nowhere, but all added that new star,
and moved into that elite group on Scout. Collins is an elite safety with speed,
Agholor is a gifted athlete that could shine on either side of the ball, and
Johnson is a running back with great quickness and agility.
P.J. Williams moved up close to 30 spots when he moved into the Top 100 after
a very impressive summer. The Florida State commitment is a complete safety that can cover
like many cornerbacks.
Others moving into the Scout 300 are tight end Sean Price, safety Rhaheim Ledbetter, and cornerback Darion Monroe. Price is committed to South Florida,
Ledbetter is committed to Florida, and Monroe is committed to Texas A&M.
Amari Cooper moved into the Scout300 earlier this spring and he has now jumped
into the top 200. He is someone to watch this fall because he could continue to
climb the rankings.
From Brandon Huffman on the West:
While linemen have dominated the headlines all spring and summer out West,
and deservedly so, the top-end talent at the receiver position has also been a
big topic. It seems like every camp we went to, Bellflower (Calif.) St. John
Bosco receiver Bryce Treggs and Fresno (Calif.) Washington Union receiver
Deontay Greenberry were there trying to out-do each other. They played on the
same team at the New Level 7on7, The Opening and Gridiron Kings, and would go
back and forth as to who was better. It was that close. Both made major moves,
with Treggs jumping into the Top 50 and five-star range with Greenberry just
outside the top 50. This debate could go on all year.
And someone has to get the receiver the ball and it was Tanner Mangum from
Eagle (Idaho), a BYU commit, who teamed up with Greenberry and Treggs at The
Opening. Mangum, who missed much of his junior year with an injury, had been on
the brink of the Scout 300 all year long. Getting into it was the challenge and
it started with his performance at the Elite 11 Regional Camp at Stanford in
May, continued at The Opening and culminated with a co-MVP performance at the
Elite 11 Finals earlier this month. The steady Mangum made a convincing case
that he's one of the nation's premier quarterbacks.
From Greg Powers on the Midlands:
Many of the players in the Midlands remained very close to their original
rankings within the region, but one of the biggest movers was wide receiver Corey Coleman of Richardson Pearce (Texas), who worked hard all throughout the
off-season to get his body in tremendous shape. The Baylor commit was also able
to showcase his talents during seven-on-seven competition with his team on the
local scene and then went big nationally at The Opening when he busted off a
4.32 40-yard dash time and a 3.80 pro-shuttle, making him one of the fastest and
agile players to come out in a long, long time.
DeSoto High offensive guard prospect Curtis Riser is another player who
proved his worth. He plays tackle for his team, but worked hard to become a
complete interior line prospect in the off-season, because that is the position
he will play at Texas. Some thought he was the best offensive guard at The
Opening and he took home MVP honors at the Houston NFTC. He is an athletic guard
prospect, who is also very consistent.
From Bob Lichtenfels on the East:
Oxon Hill (Md.) Potomac five-star cornerback Ronald Darby made a big move by
ascending into the top ten in the latest Scout.com rankings update. Darby was
already rated the No. 1 player at his position, but after we watched him this
spring and summer he showed that he was an elite player and maybe the most sure
thing in this class. Virginia Beach (Va.) Ocean Lakes outside linebacker Eli Harold is an impressive specimen and he has found his way into the Top 50 and is
now a five-star prospect. Ramsey (N.J.) Don Bosco Prep four-star cornerback Yuri Wright continues his climb up the rankings and now checks in at No. 51 in the
country, just shy of being a five-star. Lancaster (Pa.) Catholic offensive guard
Adam DePietro has moved in to the Top 300 and is now a four-star. After an
incredible spring and summer of lighting up camps Pittsburgh (Pa.) Penn Hills
wide receiver Corey Jones was a unanimous selection to move to four-star range.
Woodberry Forest (Va.) C.J. Prosise and Jeannette (Pa.) safety Demetrious Cox also
moved into the Top 300 and will now be four-stars.
From Allen Trieu in the Midwest
The Midwest stayed very static in this update. Many changes were made outside the 300 with players moving up, but within the five and four star range, players did not move around much. Quarterback
Zeke
Pike, an Auburn commitment, slid just out of five-star range. Each of the national analysts had a chance to see him this summer. The consensus was that we wanted to see him healthy this fall after his shoulder surgery this summer. We still feel as though he is one of the five best quarterback prospects in the country, but he had a few other players at other positions leap over him.
A few players made some minor moves up. Running back Dennis Norfleet is a staff favorite. He dominated every 7 on 7 event he went to this summer, and while non-padded, non-contact competition cannot be the end-all, he has super explosiveness and hands, and we saw him do it with pads on last year. Michigan commitment
Tom Strobel moved up in the 300 and his position. The Mentor (Ohio) product impressed us on film with his size and motor. Iowa commitment, defensive tackle
Jaleel
Johnson, made a slight move up, as did guard Tyler
Orlosky, a West Virginia pledge.
Scout will continue to update its rankings over the course of the next week as
continue our annual ascent to ranking over 2000 prospective student athletes.