Ranking the area’s top football sophomores

Dec. 29—This has been a banner year for Northeast Mississippi football prospects. We’ve had 10 seniors sign with FBS programs, including seven with Power 5 teams. And we’re still waiting to find out where Starkville receiver Braylon Burnside — a former Mississippi State commit — will end up.

We might not see such a deep pool of elite talent in this area for many years to come. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of talent coming down the pike. In fact, the class of 2026 has a lot of promise.

Several sophomores had big impacts this season, and a few of them are already getting serious college looks. So, here are the area’s top five sophomores from this past season, ranked. (According to … me.)

5. Braden Shettles

In two seasons, the New Albany quarterback has passed for 4,040 yards with 37 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Shettles has good size for his age at 6-foot-1, 160 pounds. He works hard on the technical aspects of his game. With so much starting experience already, he’s a dark horse prospect that recruiters would do well to keep an eye on.

4. Jayce Taylor

Playing in the shadows of guys like Tre Gunn and Jathan Hatch, Taylor quietly had a strong season as a two-way player for Biggersville. As a linebacker, he made 106 tackles, 16 tackles-for-loss and 5 sacks.

As a running back, the 6-1, 220-pounder was used a lot in short-yardage situations. He finished with 560 yards and 16 touchdowns on 79 carries.

Taylor will have a much more visible role next season, and you can bet the offers will start flowing in.

3. Braylen Williams

Like Shettles, Williams has two years of starting experience under his belt. And as good as he was as a freshman, Williams made marked improvement this fall: He had a better completion percentage (54.2% to 61.5%), more passing yards per game (190.3 to 222.8) and more rushing yards (753 to…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/ranking-areas-top-football-sophomores-133100207.html

Author : Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo

Publish date : 2023-12-29 13:31:00

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