Several of the West’s best will be in Las Vegas this weekend for the fifth
annual New Level Athletics Elite 7-on-7, and while there are plenty of familiar
teams that have been coming to Sin City for the past few years, there are some
newer teams that are coming for the first or second time, but have plenty of
talent.
The tournament begins on Saturday, and continues on Sunday, and there will be plenty of talent on the field at UNLV, just as it has been the last
four years, when some of the elite prospects across the country converged on Vegas.
The unique format features select teams, with prospects from Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada,
Oregon, Utah and Washington will be amongst the talent on hand as well as the
Goon Squad, with players from all over the country as well as a team from Canada
this year.
It will be a 7-on-7 format, with teams playing in a championship and consolation bracket.
Here is another look at some of the newer teams expected at UNLV this weekend.
One of the traveling teams who will hit every NLA Elite 7on7 is the Goon Squad.
Coached by co-founders Baron Flenory and Kashann Simmons, the team with several
standouts from Texas and the Southeast, will look to win their first tournament
title.
Mansfield (Texas) Timberview sophomore defensive backs Edward Paris and Brandon
Sim.mons, who both have a handful of offers, will lead the Goon Squad defense
along with Georgia native Brendan Langley. Quarterback Shane McCarley from
Texas will run the Goon Squad offense.
The top prospect in the entire event is
Su'a Cravens, the five-star safety from Murrieta (Calif.) Vista Murrieta.
Cravens is the top defensive prospect in the West, with offers from
coast-to-coast and he'll lead the Frat Boyz, coached by former Butkus Award
winner Chris Claiborne. Offensively, the Frat Boyz have Pasadena (Calif.)
Maranatha quarterback Andrew Elffers and Perris (Calif.) Citrus Hill receiver
K.J. Young.
Arizona Elite is one of the newer teams but they feature one of the premier
corners in the country, Chandler (Ariz.) Hamilton's Cole Luke as well as a
stellar running back in Jalen Ortiz from Peoria (Ariz.) Centennial.
Team ASAP from the Bakersfield/Stockton/Sacramento area boasts a solid
quarterback prospect in Zack Greenlee from Stockton (Calif.) Lincoln as well as
one of the top running backs in the West, Bakersfield (Calif.) Stockdale's Deon Martin, a Scout 300 prospect who committed to Cal earlier this week. Elk
Grove (Calif.) Pleasant Grove has a couple of prospects on the squad, receiver
Isaiah Saunders and sophomore Brandon Lewis in the secondary.
The hometown team from Las Vegas has a championship quarterback of their own,
Las Vegas (Nev.) Bishop Gorman's Anu Solomon, who led the Gaels to a Top 10
ranking by FOXSportsNext and the Nevada State Championship in 2011. He'll
be joined by BYU commit Trajan Pili from Las Vegas (Nev.) Centennial and
receiver Ryan Smith from Las Vegas (Nev.) High.
Also on Las Vegas 7 is 2014 star Nathan Starks
and receiver Jamir Tillman, both
from Bishop Gorman
4th Quarter Sports emerged last year as the winners of the BMOC
Under-the-Lights tournament behind MVP quarterback Jihad Vercher from Los
Angeles (Calif.) Salesian. He'll be joined by a few of his Salesian
teammates from the 2014 class, athletes Jamadre Cobb and Marquis Ware, who
already have a few offers in. Tustin linebacker Marshaun Daniel and
running back Terence Martinez also join the team as well as Long Beach (Calif.)
Poly safety David Price and running back Marcus Lewis.
A year ago, Alliance 1 won the AIGA 7on7 tournament and they're back in Vegas
with freshman quarterback Josh Rosen, an all-underclass pick a year ago, who's
now set to take over at Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco and he'll be joined
by his Braves teammate Davonte Young, a three-star running back as well as
sophomore defensive back Jaleel Wadood.
Prodigy won the 4th Quarter Tournament a week ago and they'll be in Vegas
this weekend with a couple of prospects to watch, including Murrieta (Calif.)
Vista Murrieta outside linebacker Tyler Cook and Heritage (Calif.) running back
Jamal Morrow.
Pride 'N Skillz is headed by sophomore quarterback Eban Jackson from Long
Beach (Calif.) Poly, who will run the Jackrabbits offense this fall.
Jackson first caught our attention two years ago as an 8th grader at the Eastbay
Junior All-American Game in San Antonio. A couple of prospects from
Cerritos (Calif) Gahr are also on the roster in receiver Patrick Enweally and
running back Alex Kline.
BBT from San Bernardino has Upland (Calif.) quarterback Nate Romine, who led
the Highlanders to the CIF-SS Inland Division semifinals in 2011 running their
offense while Air Show Elite has Inglewood (Calif.) defensive end Chauntez Jackson, who will play linebacker and tight end. Game Steps has Los
Angeles (Calif.) Dorsey quarterback Reggie Bell leading their offense.
Big Picture Athletics from the Central Coast of California, features some
standouts from Santa Maria (Calif.) St. Joseph in receiver Zak Karsh and tight
end Ryan Mediano.
LV Prospects has running back Donnell Pumphrey from hometown Las Vegas, with
a couple of BCS offers and Tucson Showtime features 2014 stud receiver Cameron Denson.
I.E. Elite has a couple of under-the-radar guys to watch in Rancho Cucamonga
(Calif.) athlete Tyan Washington and La Verne (Calif.) Damien receiver Josh Savage.
$("#send-to-blogger").attr("href", "http://www.blogger.com/blog_this.pyra?t=" + escape($('#story-deck').html()) + "&u=" + escape(location.href) + "&n=" + escape($('#story-title').html()));
MAGAZINE COVERAGE |
Get the 2012 Scout.com Recruiting Yearbook with an annual Total Access Pass
|
|
 Free Email Newsletter |
Don't miss any news or features from FoxSportsNext.com. Subscribe to our newsletter to have our newest articles emailed to you on a daily or weekly basis.
Click here for a list of all Team Newsletters.
|
|
|