Jayden McDonald, Salem, receives first offer
- Thread starter mike salem
- Start date
I knew it would be only a matter of time before the Salem guys got some love. I think Salem has 2-3 more who will get similar offers. Wood and Leftwich are next up.
I had a good feeling about these 2 going 1st, simply because of their size- 6'4" 215.
STUDS! Collins and Logan(maybe next year) should be getting some! Salem has a lot of college talent now!
The other guy that I would mention is KyJuan Waller DE from this year's group. In the avatar all of those guys we've mentioned are in the photo.
That is great to see. Both of the brothers have improved so much from their sophomore to junior years and it looks like they are going to make an even bigger jump this year. If that does indeed happen, they will see even bigger offers roll in and there will be many of them to choose from.
I would imagine that Collins will get some offers soon and Logan, Leftwich and Stacy Williams (rising Juniors) will start getting some college attention this year.
Hopefully some colleges will see what type of player Zavione Wood is and look past his lack of ideal height. He is the best returning player on the team on both sides of the ball.
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Salem had some players. I only saw them play once (against GW) and the way they beat up on GW and beat Glass, it shows that there is a lot of talent in that program. Salem wasn’t as big as they normally are but the studs that they did have STOOD OUT. Don’t see anybody coming close to them in the West this year.
I would agree totally . Maybe Broad Run could be a team that would hang with Salem this year, but can’t think of anyone else.
I should’ve been more direct, I don’t think anyone in Region D will challenge them. The Northwest could give them a challenge with Broad Run, Tusky, Sherando, Loudoun County.. I don’t see anyone other than Pulaski giving them a game in D. Glass will be very talented but young, GW returns the most but I just don’t see them losing what they lost to graduation (they still got beat bad by Salem when it mattered) and competing with Salem who loses nobody. Maybe Blacksburg gets a transfer in?!? Other than that, Salem will be running clocking everyone. Salem will have some good tests in PH, Martinsburg, Christiansburg (they’re going to be pretty damn good IMO), Pulaski and Northside.
The offensive line will be the big question mark again this year. They improved a lot as the season went on last year but were manhandled against Tuscarora in the playoffs and need to find some players to step up and make big strides. They have tons of skill position talent returning (Including QB) and some big-time athletes that will be moving up from JV.
The defense returns 9 players that started games last year, including six players that will be in their third year as starters and should legitimately be better than they were last year on that side of the ball.
I agree that Christiansburg has a chance to be very good this year... they actually beat Salem JV last year and were very competitive in the first half of the varsity game. Franklin County is also going to have another strong team and will always be tough game as they run practically the exact same system... they might actually be better than last year. A lot of people will probably expect Hidden Valley to take a step back as they usually have one nice season every few years and then fall off but I think they will actually be solid again this year. The opponent in the area that I expect to have a noticeable drop-off is Northside... they actually had to cancel most of their JV season last year due to lack of numbers and have been hurt by badly by players transferring out. Blacksburg is a hard one for me to figure out because they have quite a bit of skill position talent and I think Epperly will have a monster year moving into full-time QB but they don't seem to have very much up front for the foreseeable future. Pulaski should be good again but will likely be worse defensively and better offensively. It isn't like they lost a ton of players but some of the guys they lost on the defensive side of the ball were some of the best players that they have had in a very long time. PH returns quite a bit, including one of the best QBs in the area and have the type of athletes to make things difficult for Salem. Martinsburg will obviously be a huge test on the road and an extremely difficult game. I actually think the overall schedule this year for Salem is very competitive overall for what teams have returning... I think the area overall is as strong as it has been in quite awhile.
The defense returns 9 players that started games last year, including six players that will be in their third year as starters and should legitimately be better than they were last year on that side of the ball.
I agree that Christiansburg has a chance to be very good this year... they actually beat Salem JV last year and were very competitive in the first half of the varsity game. Franklin County is also going to have another strong team and will always be tough game as they run practically the exact same system... they might actually be better than last year. A lot of people will probably expect Hidden Valley to take a step back as they usually have one nice season every few years and then fall off but I think they will actually be solid again this year. The opponent in the area that I expect to have a noticeable drop-off is Northside... they actually had to cancel most of their JV season last year due to lack of numbers and have been hurt by badly by players transferring out. Blacksburg is a hard one for me to figure out because they have quite a bit of skill position talent and I think Epperly will have a monster year moving into full-time QB but they don't seem to have very much up front for the foreseeable future. Pulaski should be good again but will likely be worse defensively and better offensively. It isn't like they lost a ton of players but some of the guys they lost on the defensive side of the ball were some of the best players that they have had in a very long time. PH returns quite a bit, including one of the best QBs in the area and have the type of athletes to make things difficult for Salem. Martinsburg will obviously be a huge test on the road and an extremely difficult game. I actually think the overall schedule this year for Salem is very competitive overall for what teams have returning... I think the area overall is as strong as it has been in quite awhile.
Was told the size of the line forced staff to deviate from what they normally teach and that's what caused some of the issues last season. Any truth to that?
I just saw on Twitter where these guys have gained 25 lbs of muscle since March. One of the things you typically don’t see anymore in the SW part of the state are freak athletes who look the part. You get some who may be fast and you get some who may be 6’5 and a project. Very rare do you find complete packages like these two twins and the Givens kid at Botty with size, speed and skill. The Ramseys, Fox and Beck were some others in the past 4 years. None the less, Salem has some very impressive kids in their program currently.
Do you know of any other schools in the area that are having kids do the same and getting ripped? I assume Willie is working out with his cousins while they’re in town.
The twins are working with Shannon Taylor, former PH, UVA, & NFL player.
Willie looked like he has bulked up a tad when I saw him against King’s Fork last month. He, Shy Watlington, and Worm Poole fit the mold of the athletes I speak of. Physically gifted and complete packages. Unfortunately, not many in our area.
I really didn't see any differences in the technique being taught last year, just issues with performing the technique itself consistently. They did run certain plays a lot less and others a lot more to work around some of their issues but the actual playbook and technique didn't change from what I saw.
I would still like to see them get back to wider splits (I think I bring this up every year) especially if they are going to be consistently undersized. They have more size that they have had recently coming up but not a lot of guys that look like they would be ready to play varsity this upcoming year. They are going to need some massive improvements by several guys for that unit to play at a high level.
