Elite Talent Performs Strong at the #RoarCity Mega Camp
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Wednesday on the campus of Tennessee State University, top talent from all across the state and the country embarked on the 2021 #RoarCity Mega Camp and the event was more than a success, it was a smashing hit.
Not only did significant talent attend the event but a large group of collegiate coaches ranging from the ACC, Big 10 and SEC all the way down to FCS and the NAIA came to Nashville to evaluate prospects.
The college coaches got what they came to see as some of the best in-state talent was in attendance and several prospects walked away with new offers.
The quarterback position was stacked with guys who many on the recruiting scene already know about and they did not disappoint. Among the top names in attendance include Chris Parson Chris Parson 6'0" | 190 lbs | QB Ravenwood | 2023 State TN (Ravenwood ’23), Braylen Ragland Braylen Ragland 6'2" | 185 lbs | QB Bartlett | 2023 State TN (White Station ’23), Ryan Damron Ryan Damron 6'0" | 185 lbs | QB Henry Co. | 2023 State TN (Henry Co. ’23), Drew Viotto (Walled Lake Western, MI’23), Jaylen Abston Jaylen Abston 6'2" | 180 lbs | QB Lebanon | 2023 State TN (Lebanon), Robbie Roper (Roswell, Ga), Braden Graham Braden Graham 6'1" | 200 lbs | QB Riverdale | 2024 State TN (Lipscomb Acad. ’24) and Jordan Bell Jordan Bell 6'2" | 190 lbs | ATH Munford | 2024 State TN (Munford ’24).
Not to be overshadowed by the group above, Mt. Juliet (QB) Griffin Throneberry Griffin Throneberry 6'3" | 190 lbs | ATH Mt. Juliet | 2023 State TN (’23) and Tullahoma’s (QB) Ryan Scott Ryan Scott 6'1" | 210 lbs | LB Knox. West | 2024 State TN had strong performances as well. Throneberry is a rising junior with a lot of athletic potential and Scott has a big arm with strong mechanics and accuracy.
The youth at running back yesterday at Tennessee St. was the talk of the group as several guys had stand out days and certainly put themselves on the map to be recruited.
Among the top guys are Nakelin McAfee Nakelin McAfee 5'10" | 190 lbs | RB King's Academy | 2022 State TN (King’s Acad.), Tre Hartwell Tre Hartwell 6'0" | 220 lbs | RB Independence | 2023 State TN (Indy ’23), Arion Carter Arion Carter 6'1" | 210 lbs | LB Smyrna | 2023 State TN (Smyrna ’23), Stef Ponder Stef Ponder 6'0" | 210 lbs | LB Father Ryan | 2023 State TN (Father Ryan ’23), Ahmad Miller Ahmad Miller 6'0" | 205 lbs | RB Whitehaven | 2023 State TN (Briarcrest ’23), Keion Irby Keion Irby 5'10" | 195 lbs | RB Mt Juliet | 2023 TN (Mt. Juliet ’23), Noah Vaughn Noah Vaughn 5'9" | 185 lbs | RB Maryville | 2023 State TN (Maryville ’23) and 2024 stud Joe Williams Joe Williams 6'0" | 195 lbs | RB Melrose | 2024 State TN (’24) from Whitehaven.
All eight of these running backs are legit college prospects with several of them already holding offers. Hartwell, Miller, McAfee and Williams in particular had really strong days and impressed everyone in attendance.
Moving on to the pass catchers, the collection of receivers and tight ends at camp were impressive and it was a good mixture of guys with size and speed along with multiple prospects who had breakout days.
The top prospects many may know about include Barion Brown Barion Brown 6'1" | 165 lbs | WR Pearl-Cohn | 2022 State TN (Pearl Cohn), Andrew Paige Andrew Paige 6'4" | 210 lbs | TE Beech | 2022 State TN and Jackson Long Jackson Long 6'5" | 220 lbs | TE Beech | 2022 State TN from Beech, Jacob Page Jacob Page 6'2" | 185 lbs | WR Blackman | 2023 State TN (Ensworth ’23), Dylan Wroblewski Dylan Wroblewski 6'1" | 190 lbs | WR Lipscomb Academy | 2023 State TN (Franklin ’23), Nate Spillman Nate Spillman 6'3" | 195 lbs | WR Lipscomb Academy | 2023 State TN (Lipscomb Acad.) TE Thomas Jewitt (Strake Jesuit, Tx) and Ondre Evans Ondre Evans 6'1" | 185 lbs | DB CPA | 2024 State TN (’24) from Pearl Cohn.
Brown is one of the elite receivers in the country. Paige and Long are two highly impressive young men that should see a massive influx of offers very soon. Page, Wroblewski and Spillman are all impressive talents that bring a lot of tools to the football field.
Evans might be the most impressive talent I saw at receiver yesterday. The guy is young which means he has scary potential. Evans has size, a physical build and the guy can fly! Tennessee extended an offer yesterday to Evans and they won’t be his last Power Five offer.
Taking a look at the trenches, the offensive and defensive line not only had a large group of attendees but some serious talent as well, including multiple Power Five level guys.
Among those in attendance were Breon Key and Kamari Landers out of Michigan, Ian Poe Ian Poe 6'4" | 295 lbs | OL Tullahoma | 2022 State TN (Tullahoma), Garrett Smith Garrett Smith 6'3" | 290 lbs | OL Portland | 2022 TN (Portland), Owen Sacks Owen Sacks 6'2" | 295 lbs | OL Page | 2022 State TN (Page), Zack Plunk (Knox. Halls), Gus Hill Gus Hill 6'4" | 295 lbs | OL Fayetteville | 2022 State TN (Fayetteville), JaDarious Lee JaDarious Lee 6'4" | 305 lbs | OL Pearl Cohn | 2022 State TN (Pearl Cohn), Joe Crocker Joe Crocker 6'6" | 310 lbs | OL FRA | 2023 State TN (FRA ’23) and Cal Grubbs Cal Grubbs 6'4" | 290 lbs | OL Maryville | 2023 State TN (’23) from Maryville.
We also had four highly talented linemen who did not perform in camp but was in attendance to mix it up with college coaches. Those prospects were Jacob Hood Jacob Hood 6'8" | 330 lbs | OL Hillsboro | 2022 TN (Hillsboro), Fisher Anderson Fisher Anderson 6'7" | 275 lbs | OL Franklin | 2022 State TN (Franklin) and 2023 standouts Luke Brown Luke Brown 6'6" | 305 lbs | OL Henry Co. | 2023 State TN (Henry Co.) and Eli Freeman Eli Freeman 6'5" | 285 lbs | OL Lebanon | 2023 State TN from Lebanon.
Their counterparts on the D-line had some formidable guys who really had strong performances and took steps in the right direction towards becoming a recruited prospect.
Clay Barrett Clay Barrett 6'3" | 240 lbs | DL Cookeville | 2022 State TN from Cookeville, Jeffrey Pillows Jeffrey Pillows 6'0" | 290 lbs | DL Mt. Juliet | 2022 State TN from Mt. Juliet, Matthew Plunkett Matthew Plunkett 6'4" | 220 lbs | DL McCallie | 2022 State TN from McCallie and Marceo Collins, Jr Marceo Collins, Jr 6'3" | 250 lbs | DL Baylor School | 2023 State TN (’23) from Baylor were four defensive linemen I felt had stellar days and really took advantage of the opportunity presented
Pillows has already added offers from Tn Tech and Bethel since yesterday and I would expect the other three to add offers sometime in the near future.
Those weren’t the only defensive linemen who had good days. Among the others who had shining moments was Eric Gaston Eric Gaston 6'5" | 270 lbs | DL Cane Ridge | 2022 State TN (Cane Ridge), Matthew Bell (Hillsboro ‘23), Ethan Jones Ethan Jones 6'2" | 275 lbs | DL Lausanne | 2023 State TN (St. Benedict’s ‘23), Harrison Jackson Harrison Jackson 6'3" | 265 lbs | DL MBA | 2022 State TN (MBA), Joshua Jones Joshua Jones 6'1" | 285 lbs | DL USJ | 2022 State TN (USJ), Austyn Keen Austyn Keen 6'4" | 215 lbs | DL Beech | 2022 State TN (Beech), Kevin Bradley Kevin Bradley 6'4" | 280 lbs | DL Nashville Christian | 2023 TN (NCS ‘23) and Carson Gentle (’24) from McCallie, who already sports multiple P5 offers.
Looking over the linebackers, we had an absolutely loaded group that saw multiple guys walk away with offers. The main traits you found in the group were guys who could run, cover and certainly play physical.
2023 Mt. Juliet (LB) Ethan Crisp Ethan Crisp 6'3" | 205 lbs | LB Mt. Juliet | 2023 State TN was the top in-state name in attendance and even though the Golden Bears star defender has been on the road non-stop, visiting and camping with colleges, he still showed up, competed during drills and put together another strong showing. He ended the day earning an offer from Florida.
Two more top guys to mention are Bryan Longwell Bryan Longwell 6'1" | 225 lbs | LB Lipscomb Academy | 2023 State TN from Lipscomb Academy who has an offer from Liberty and Caulen Dunn Caulen Dunn 6'1" | 210 lbs | LB Collierville | 2022 State TN from Collierville who is a recent transfer into the Dragons program. He added an offer from Tennessee St. after his strong camp performance.
We also had some significant names from out of town that walked into camp with offers in hand. Among those guys include Aaron Alexander (Belleville, MI), Cameron Dyson (Belleville, MI), Aidan Vaughan (Walled Lake Western, MI), Brayden Courser (Det. Catholic), Brock Mozoki (Tabor Acad, MA ‘23) and Jalin Edwards (‘24) from Grissom, Alabama.
The in-state talent came out and performed just as strong. We had a few guys walk away with offers after the camp and others who put themselves on the radar of several collegiate coaches.
Among the top guys from camp were Braden Kaiser Braden Kaiser 6'3" | 225 lbs | LB Siegel | 2022 State TN (Siegel), Jason Foust Jason Foust 6'0" | 195 lbs | LB Powell | 2023 TN (Elizabethton ‘23), Cade Apple Cade Apple 6'1" | 210 lbs | LB Cookeville | 2022 State TN (Cookeville), Khaden Walker Khaden Walker 6'2" | 225 lbs | LB Jackson North Side | 2022 State TN (Jackson North-Side), Edwin Spillman Edwin Spillman 6'3" | 215 lbs | LB Lipscomb Academy | 2024 State TN (Lipscomb Acad. 24), Brayden Hoy Brayden Hoy 5'11" | 210 lbs | LB Maryville | 2022 TN (Maryville), Anthony Brewer Anthony Brewer 6'0" | 205 lbs | LB Haywood | 2022 State TN (Haywood) DaCorian Jones-Montgomery DaCorian Jones-Montgomery 6'1" | 220 lbs | LB Baylor | 2022 State TN (Baylor) and Blake Johnson Blake Johnson 6'2" | 220 lbs | DL Bradley Central | 2022 TN from Bradley Central.
The last position group to talk about was possibly the deepest and most talented crop of prospects at camp and that’s the defensive backs.
It honestly was hard to pick a top standout as we had so many talented guys in attendance who either have big time college offers or are on the verge of adding them.
Hard call to not list everybody in camp because the defensive backs were really that deep but the guys in attendance included D’Arco Perkins (Stratford), James Reed III James Reed III 5'11" | 180 lbs | DB Father Ryan | 2022 State TN (Father Ryan), Jaxon Hammond Jaxon Hammond 5'11" | 160 lbs | DB Christian Brothers | 2023 State TN (CBHS ‘23), Charles Ingram V Charles Ingram V 5'11" | 180 lbs | DB Ensworth | 2022 State TN (Ensworth), Kaleb Beasley Kaleb Beasley 6'1" | 175 lbs | DB Lipscomb Academy | 2024 State TN (Lipscomb Acad. ‘24), LaMarion Pierce LaMarion Pierce 5'11" | 180 lbs | DB Marshall Co. | 2022 State TN (Marshall Co.), Major Newman Major Newman 6'3" | 190 lbs | LB Alcoa | 2022 State TN (Alcoa), Dewaine Trotter (Pearl Cohn), Roland McGhee Roland McGhee 6'1" | 185 lbs | DB Ensworth | 2022 State TN (Ensworth), Jeremiah Jordan Jeremiah Jordan 6'2" | 190 lbs | DB Cordova | 2022 State TN (Cordova), Dyson Bell Dyson Bell 6'3" | 185 lbs | DB Riverdale | 2023 State TN (Blackman ’23) and Jaylen Thompson Jaylen Thompson 6'2" | 175 lbs | DB Riverdale | 2024 State TN (’24) from Siegel.
What we also had at the Roar City Mega Camp was super talented and high profile out of state defensive backs that came to Nashville and put on a show.
The five top names to mention here are Christian Rapley (Belleville, MI) Jeremiah Caldwell (Belleville, MI), Aaron Gates (Trinity Chrst., Ga) and two youngsters in Caleb Williams from Canton (MI) and John Slaughter from Southhaven (MS).
This camp overall was an absolute hit, especially when you look at all the top talent that attended and the large group of college coaches that were there. The prospects more than anybody was able to display their talents and network with a lot of people in the industry they strive to be a part of, so the Roar City Mega Camp was a major success for everyone involved.