On3/Rivals: Prospect Watch YAA National Junior Showcase, Day1

The YAA (You Are Athlete) National Junior Showcase was held in Houston, and here are the players who stood out on Day 1:

https://www.on3.com/sites/virginia-preps/news/prospect-watch-yaa-juniors-day1/

Quarterbacks

Blake Heidelberg is a freshman 2030 prospect from Orlando, Florida. Heidelberg was selected as the top quarterback performer for day one.

Gray Geller from Wiley, Texas, will be entering the 8th grade this year. He is 6-0, 165 pounds, and he was selected as a top performer at quarterback.

Mekhi Whisenant is another 2031 quarterback prospect who earned a top performer award at the YouAreAthlete Houston Junior Showcase. He is from Birmingham, Alabama.

Other quarterback top performers were Jay Barker, Thomas Walker, Gray-G Geller, Cash McDuff, and David Garcia.

Other middle school quarterback award winners include Nicholas Taliercio, Landon Freeman, Westin Davis, and Ace Henrichson. The top 7th-grade quarterback MVP was Cameron Duvall,

The quarterback MVP for the younger group was Josh Lindstrom, who not only was the number one quarterback, he also wore the number one.

Running Backs

I didn’t get to see much of the running backs on day one. They had a smaller group and featured mostly younger players. They went up against the linebackers in the cat and mouse drill.

Earning MVP for the running backs was Antonio Thompson. Other running backs who stood out as top performers on day one were Marcellus Kane, Kyren Lair, Derek Jones, and Ethan Brown.

For the 8th-grade group, the top running backs were Noah Lupino, Nico Turner, Trent Blake, Trey Ibita, Ethan Brown, and Armello Smith.

Receivers

There were a ton of wide receivers among the 400 prospects at the camp with more than 100 players competing for the Day 1 top performer award.

Trace Batson won the 6th-grade-and-under MVP for the receivers. Some of the top performers for the 8th-grade group include Christopher Geiger, Malik Davis, Devontae Payne, Javion Ware, Markel Abraham, Kale Harris, Kaden Bickam, Logan Lewis, Jermie Young, and Jalen DeGrate.

Offensive Line

Among the offensive linemen, the MVP and top performer was Scott Murphy.

Joining him on the offensive line top performers was Lincoln Coons, Nicholas Sirigno, Raiden Shepard, Cameron Brown, and Cameron Brown.

Defensive Backs

The defensive backs probably had the toughest job because they were short on numbers. For the 7th-grade defensive backs, Tyson Davis is a future star and a player I project to be a D1 prospect.

The youngest award winner was 4th-grader Nuri Moore, who was selected as the 6th-grade-and-under defensive backs MVP. Preston Suber took home the top performer for the 8th-grade defensive backs

Linebacker

Several linebackers earned top performer awards in both 8th grade and above, and for the young guns.

The top linebacker was Channing Rann III. He was the overall top performer and MVP. Other players who played well were Javion Lewis, Jeremiah Blount, Jackson Houston, Dylan Rodriguez, Hunter Jarvis, and Ashton Brunner.

For the linebacker young guns, Dinars Gamble was the top performer. Other players recognized were Wesley Levitt and Christian Sinat.

Defensive Line

The defensive line had the most awards, top performers, and award winners. The top performers were broken into edge and tackle groups.

Juan Chavez, a 2030, was the defensive line MVP. In addition, Cale Harris won a top performer award for the 8th-grade group. The 7th-grade defensive line MVP was Mason Alexander.