Rivals Underclassmen Challenge: Florida storylines
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The 2014 Rivals250 Underclassmen Challenege Presented by Under Armour will be held July 12, in Jacksonville, FL, at EverBank Field. There will be prospects from all over the country in attendance, but we have our eyes set on the Florida prospects. Here are the five storylines to watch heading into the event.
1. What quarterbacks will rise to the top?
There will be north of 25 quarterbacks on hand at the Rivals Underclassmen Challenge this Saturday, and eight of them will be from the sunshine state. Which will make the biggest impression? There's no shortage of talent from the Florida gunslingers.
Cocoa quarterback/athlete Bruce Judson is only going into his sophomore season, but has already added offers from the likes of Clemson, Florida State, and Ohio State. Tampa Alonso quarterback Chris Oladokun holds early offers from USF and Toledo as a 2016 prospect.
Lake Wales' newest offensive weapon is Xavier Gaines who transferred from Frostproof. He was very impressive at the Rivals Camp Series stop in Orlando, and has garnered offers from Alabama, Auburn, Florida, and others. Wakulla quarterback and LSU commit Feleipe Franks will look to continue to impress in the camp circuit. Franks stands at 6-foot-6, 205-pounds.
Two under the radar quarterbacks that will be particpating include Nease's Leighton Alley and Bulchoz's Jackson White. Fletcher quarterback Augie Debiase will be making short drive over to Everbank. He holds two early offers from Indiana and Virginia Tech. Last but not least is Suncoast's Matt Dame, who landed a big offer from Miami during the spring evaluation period.
2. Can Cruz prove himself?
Viera (Fla.) 2016 cornerback Evan Cruz earned himself an invite to the Underclassmen Challenge after a solid performance at the VTO Camp in Tampa. Cruz is only 5-foot-8, 165-pounds, but plays much bigger than that and flies around the football. He makes up with his lack of size with solid technique. He will be tested this weekend against prospects that are bigger and faster than him, but Cruz will have a chip on his shoulder and will want to prove his worth. If Evan Cruz is a division one football player, he has a great opportunity this weekend to show the country what he can do.
3. Living up to the hype
Coconut Creek High School has a ton of talented underclassmen. They had a big spring evaluation period as big time programs from across the country stopped by and offered their prospects. The Cougars definitely hold some of the future of the Rivals100.
Coconut Creek defensive backs Trayvon Mullen and Malek Young have both earned offers from Power Five conference schools across the countries. Mullen is a lengthy cornerback at 6-foot-2, and although Young stands at only 5-foot-9, he is a natural cover cornerback.
2016 wide receiver Binjimen Victor has been very impressive in the camp and 7v7 circuit during the summer. 2017 wide receiver Emmanuel Greene made a national name for himself with a highlight play that went viral at a 7v7 tournament a few weeks ago, and is one of the top 2017 prospects in the country.
Coconut Creek has all of the hype with Mullen, Young, Victor, and Greene. But can they live up to the hype with a big Rivals Underclassmen Challenge performance?
4. For the Panhandle
Panama City (Fla.) Bay defensive end Janarius Robinson will represent the Panhandle of Florida at the Underclassmen Challenge. The 6-foot-5, 224-pound prospect is very impressive physically and has earned big offers from the likes of Clemson, Florida State, and Miami. The only other Panhandle prospect that will be participating is 2017 Navarre running back Michael Carter who holds early offers from Florida Atlantic and Tennessee.
5. Future five-star?
Miami (Fla.) Gulliver Prep running back Robert Burns was one of four 2017 prospects to be invited to the Rivals five-star Challenge in Baltimore earlier in July. He's impressed the Rivals national analysts at both the Five-star Challenge and the Rivals Camp Series stop in Miami during the spring. It will be a long time till the 2017 recruit rankings drop, but Burns is making a solid case to be the number one overall ranked tailback. Burns has also impressed college coaches with offers from Alabama, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and many others. The 5-foot-10, 205-pound will look to prove once again that he is worth a five-star ranking down the road.
Following the event, FlaVarsity.com will revisit the five storylines to watch, and analyze each of the storylines on the premium message board for subscibers only.