Next three classes rife with talent in Tri-County area

Waves of college football-quality talent pass through the York County area every four or five years. The next one is clapping down onto area football fields now.

The Herald’s coverage area – seven schools in York County, three in Chester County and two in Lancaster County – is seeing a run of college-bound talent that could go down as one of the best the area has seen. That mantle – and this is highly debatable of course – likely goes to the classes that graduated in the years from 2008 to 2011.

“It’s going to be tough to trump (Jadeveon) Clowney, who was consensus No. 1 from start to finish, and (Stephon) Gilmore, who has proven to be everything that he was hyped to be through the years,” said Tiger Illustrated’s Paul Strelow, who covers recruiting in the state for Rivals. “Will this next class match that? I think that’s probably too high of a standard.”

That four-year stretch included six players who were NFL draft picks, or at least reached an NFL training camp – including 2014 No. 1 overall pick Jadeveon Clowney. That number could grow if Northwestern’s Justin Worley or Chester’s Kalon Davis land with an NFL team during this month’s preseason.

It’s hard to say if there are any NFL draft picks lurking area gridirons right now, but there certainly is talent. The senior class of 2016 already has commitments to South Carolina and BYU, and several other big ones on the way. The 2017 class should also see several players head off to big state schools. But it’s the class of 2018 that excites coaches, fans and recruiting analysts like Strelow.

“Rock Hill has provided more than its share of blue-chippers to the South Carolina recruiting map the last number of years,” said Strelow. “If you look in advance as kind of all recruiters are doing right now and focus has turned toward the rising juniors and sophomores, I think you see certainly an influx of talent to where Rock Hill will be kind of the center of the 2018 class, in particular.”

The last few years were a bit lean for our area. Lewisville’s Malcolm Means signed with N.C. State in 2013, and Zeek Rodney and Mason Rudolph signed with Wake Forest and Oklahoma State, respectively, from the class of 2014. Outside of those three, college football scholarships were largely limited to the Football Championship Series.

But, said Strelow, “You’re gonna have more attention than these last few cycles paid to the Rock Hill area.”

The biggest reason for the up-tick in recruiting interest is a pair of sophomores – South Pointe’s Derion Kendrick and Lewisville’s Josh Belk. They’re the two biggest prospects the Tri-County area has seen since Clowney and Gilmore. Those two were both No. 1 players in S.C.

“I think Kendrick could very well be that level,” said Strelow. “I think Belk could be a top-25, top-50 guy when all is said and done. I think you leave a little more room for error as bigger kids grow into their bodies. But Derion has killed it at every college camp he’s been to so far.”

Times have changed and Clemson and South Carolina usually only recruit the top 10 or 15 players in South Carolina. Their ranges have expanded greatly, especially at Clemson, which has a heavy presence in Florida.

“You’re looking at Kendrick and Belk as two guys both schools are very likely to be heavy after, two out of the probably top-five or six in South Carolina in that class. I think that’s a pretty strong statement for the top shelf talent that Rock Hill will have that year,” said Strelow.

This story was originally published August 20, 2015 at 11:53 AM with the headline "Next three classes rife with talent in Tri-County area."