On3 Rankings Report: Statement game from top ATH, risers continue dominant seasons

The high school football season is moving along, as we’re midway through the regular season. A few weeks have passed since On3 released the updated 2024 On300. Several ascending prospects in the 2024 cycle have to continued to play at a high level as seniors.

Today we’re highlighting four top 100 prospects who have helped their rankings stock with strong showings as well as a three-star running back who is making a push for a fourth star with a dominant past month.

ATH Jaylen Mbakwe, Alabama

On3 Director of Scouting and Rankings Charles Power: Jaylen Mbakwe has starred all over the field during his career at Pinson (Ala.) Clay-Chalkville. Mbakwe burst on the scene during his sophomore season as a dynamic two-way player at receiver and cornerback before primarily playing as a receiver as a junior. The Alabama pledge has made the move to quarterback as a senior and had his biggest game to date last week in a nationally-televised game against four-time defending state champs, Alabaster (Ala.) Thompson.

Mbakwe finished the game with 168 rushing yards and 100 passing yards, scoring five touchdowns. He was the best player on the field by a considerable margin and played with the confidence befitting that status. The track speed is well known, as he won state titles in the 100 and 200 meters last spring. Most importantly, that speed seamlessly transfers over to the field in a functional way. Mbakwe’s initial burst is elite. His ability to harness and toggle his speed projects very well to cornerback – where he projects longterm. We also loved the toughness and competitive nature he showed throughout the game. Mbakwe is not the biggest prospect, but he was physical in grinding out tough yards. We also saw Mbakwe flip over to corner late in the game and get a pass breakup while defending Thompson’s top target. While we’d certainly like to get more of a look at him playing corner, perhaps in an all-star setting, there’s no doubt this outstanding showing served as a remind why Mbakwe ranks as the No. 22 overall prospect and No. 1 athlete while sitting on the cusp of five-star status for On3.

National Scout Cody Bellaire: Jaylen Mbakwe has one of the strongest track and field sprinter profiles of any prospect in the 2024 cycle. Early on in his senior season he has put on an athletic showcase while operating as Clay-Chalkville’s quarterback. His burst and ability to reach his top gear in an instant allows him to defeat pursuit angles with ease and essentially serpentine his way through would-be tacklers without breaking a sweat. Combine that with his innate ability to make defenders miss in the open field and you have someone who has been borderline unstoppable with the ball in his hands. Mbakwe is someone whose athletic ability allows him to become a weapon no matter where he lines up on the football and is prospect who can thrive at almost any skill position on the football field sheerly due to his top-end speed, fluidity and instincts.

TE Trey’Dez Green, LSU

Charles Power: Trey’Dez Green was one of the biggest risers in the updated 2024 On300, moving up to No. 39 overall. The 6-foot-6.5, 230-pounder continues to play at a very high level after transferring to Zachary (La.) High for his senior season. Green looks like one of the biggest pass game mismatches in the cycle. A two-sport star, who earned high major basketball offers early in high school, Green has power forward size and athleticism with the ball in the air. Through four games, we have Green at 21 receptions for 320 yards and four touchdowns. Several of the catches have been extremely impressive, with Green showing high-level coordination and ball skills, manifesting in a large catch radius. He clearly put in work in the offseason and is moving the best we’ve seen from him to this point. If he continues playing at this level, we could see Green challenge as a top two tight end in the cycle and for the No. 1 spot in the Louisiana state rankings.

Cody Bellaire: The towering tight end prospect from south Louisiana has transformed his body following his transfer from East Feliciana to Zachary. The nearly 6-foot-7 senior made serious strides in the weight room after arriving at Zachary and it has allowed him to become an even greater threat to defensive backs on the football field. Green appears to be moving with more twitch and suddenness than ever before and has gained confidence in his ability as a receiver. In his previous seasons, Green was primarily a 50-50 ball demon that would essentially be limited to red zone fades and go-balls. At this point in his senior season, Green has added the ability to become a threat at the intermediate levels of the field in the passing game as well as a formidable blocker in the run game. But don’t get it twisted, he still has a freakish catch radius and makes 50-50 passes look like child’s play. It appears though that he has added another set of tools to his already impressive toolkit based off of what we’ve seen up to this point and is making impressive strides to becoming an all-around weapon of a tight end.

S Koi Perich, Minnesota

Cody Bellaire: Koi Perich was one of the bigger risers in our initial 2024 senior update even with a limited sample size. After having only 2 games played as a senior it was very evident that he was someone we needed to get a closer look at because he was such a dynamic two-way player that jumped off the screen on nearly ever snap. Now after having seen five games, it wasn’t a fluke. Perich has arguably the best trigger of any safety in the country. His ability to run the alley and fly to the football while maintaining control and being explosive on contact should have every defensive coach in America salivating. Not only is he great in the short area, but he has the long speed to play as a deep safety in the middle of the field. His 10.8 track speed is displayed on nearly every snap. You see it when he is breaking through the line of scrimmage and splitting safeties as a running back with the ball in his hands or as a lone safety flying downhill bringing down a ball carrier in the open field. We would love to see more from him when it comes to true man coverage snaps as a defensive back, but his fluidity and top-end speed have us believing he is more than capable of being able to step up to the occasion if asked to do so.

Charles Power: Koi Perich pairs an outstanding athletic profile with dominant play on Friday nights. He’s a legitimate three-sport star Esko (Minn.) Lincoln Secondary. With that said, Friday nights is really where Perich shines. The Minnesota commit doesn’t face true top competition, but is utterly dominant in every phase. So far this season, Perich has totaled 16 touchdowns in five games. He’s rushed for 339 yards and ten scores on 32 carries. The playmaking transfers over to defense and special teams as well, as he’s tallied 37 tackles, two interceptions and three scores on defense along with a return touchdown. The film more than backs up the production. Perich is a twitched up athlete who plays angry. He is a big-time striker and plays with a noticeable edge. Perich, who was recently offered by USC, rose to No. 58 overall in the updated On300 and continues to look like one of the top safeties in the cycle.

DL Gabriel Reliford, Texas A&M

Cody Bellaire: Gabriel Reliford has continued to strengthen his reputation for being one of the most unblockable players in the entire country. In five games as a senior, Reliford has tallied 58 tackles, 16 tackles-for-loss, 4 sacks and 13 hurries. Reliford was a prospect whose body type and athleticism forced us to consider where he would best fit at the next level in terms of position and play style. In watching his junior film, we always believed he had excellent burst and ability to get after the quarterback, but we were unsure if he was going to be able to maintain that level of athleticism if he were to add mass throughout his frame. Fast forward to his senior season and gaining 25 pounds later and the first-step quickness has only gotten stronger. Not only has he shown that he can maintain his get off and upfield burst, but he has been able to generate more power at the point of attack and has developed more shock in his hands when engaging offensive lineman. Reliford continues to dominate at the high school level and we expect that continue on at the next level and beyond.

Charles Power: Gabriel Reliford continues to jump out in a big way as a senior. The Shreveport (La.) Evangel Christian Academy is one of the more disruptive prospects we’ve seen this fall. Reliford is a juiced up pass rusher at around 6-foot-2.5, 255 pounds. The play speed and effort level are eye-popping. The ability to track down plays in pursuit and finish with violence is outstanding. Through five games, he looks well on way to a 30+ TFL season, which is an elite production threshold for senior defensive linemen and EDGE prospects. Reliford recently rose to No. 70 in the updated On300 and that might’ve not been high enough based on how he’s looked thus far.

RB David Eziomume, Clemson

Charles Power: Senior season production tends to be highly predictive at the running back position. Few, if any 2024 backs have had a better stretch than David Eziomume in recent weeks. The Clemson pledge has absolutely gone off over the pas month, rushing for nearly 800 yards and 10 touchdowns in the pas three games. He’s led his Kennesaw (Ga.) North Cobb squad to a 3-0 record during that time, most recently running for 326 yards against a nationally-ranked team. Eziomume brings a high-end combination of size and speed, checking in at 6-foot and close to 200 pounds with a sub-11.0 second time in the 100 meters. The size and speed pair with a physical, high effort running style. Eziomume consistently runs through arm tackles and has had some truly sensational second-effort runs that have been huge gains. Currently a high three-star with a 89 rating, Eziomume is cruising to a four-star bump at this rate.

Cody Belliare: Eziozume is somebody that we have been keeping our eyes on early on during his senior season especially after what he was throwing down on the track this past spring. After watching his junior film we always felt that he was someone who displayed excellent patience, tremendous footwork and the ability to slip through tacklers. But we had questions with him being a bit one-speed and were unsure of the top-end speed and explosiveness to his game. He put those concerns to bed after laying down a 10.84 100m and a 22.23 200m during his junior track and field season and the returns on the senior film match those track times. He’s shown that he can stick his foot in the ground and burst through to the second level with ease as well as the ability to hit the homerun ball if given enough daylight. Eziomume has proven early on in his senior season that he has the size and athletic tools to become a bell cow back for a heavy offensive rushing attack at the next level.