PLATTE CITY, Mo. – Even in the hotbeds of college football recruiting it’s not an everyday occurrence to find a game with three power five prospects. It’s even more wild to find three defensive line prospects in the Kansas City area who will all be playing in the SEC in the coming years. But that’s exactly what we saw when Platte County hosted North Kansas City in a game that featured Oklahoma commitment Adepoju Adebawore.
The rest of the trio was Platte County’s Tennesee commitment Chandavian Bradley and North Kansas City Alabama pledge Edric Hill.
Adebawore had missed the first two games of the year with a slight knock but came back on Friday night and put together a solid night with roughly five tackles, four quarterback hurries, and a pass break-up against an offense that was clearly doing all it could to avoid him and get the ball out quickly.
The July 10 commitment clearly wasn’t back to full speed as he continues to recover from a preseason injury but he flashed so many of the things that have seen him go from a three-star to the No. 52 overall player in the country.
What sticks out most quickly about Adebawore is his impressive length, he’s a player with a wingspan that almost certainly exceeds his 6-foot-4 height. Add to that some massive and powerful hands and you get a defensive lineman who will be difficult for an offensive tackle to get into the body of once he’s fully capable of putting his gifts to use.
Adebawore also shows off plenty of closing speed once he locks onto a ball carrier or quarterback in space and made every tackle within the considerable reach of his arms.
Again, using his hands and continuing to physically develop could create massive change and development in his game and backup his lofty ranking that seems like it could continue to move up given time.
NOTES:
*Bradley had a massive starring role for Platte County with a long touchdown, a strip sack, and a safety. Though he’s still long and lean at this point his explosion off the edge is truly impressive and an elite trait. As he continues to learn more with his pass rush, he could be a lethal option, perhaps as a standup EDGE defender. But whatever he’s doing, Bradley moving at the quarterback will be a handful for offenses to deal with.
*Hill had a more quiet night than his two future SEC counterparts but he never ceases to impress with his big frame and short area quickness. Platte County never attempted much on the ground and one would think that had a lot to do with the big man in the middle for the North Kansas City Hornets.
*North Kansas City had a host of interesting prospects but two that stood out for different reasons were Chase Porter and Eltoum Murgus.
Porter, a receiver had both of NKC’s touchdowns on the night and even had a third on a kickoff return for touchdown that was called back on a holding penalty. He’s a natural playmaker with the ability to separate and seemed to find a way into a big play just about every time the ball was in his vicinity. Meanwhile Murgus is a long and lean linebacker type at about 6-foot-2 and 180-pounds He is also an accomplished track athlete, and showed off his speed nearly tracking down a Platte County receiver on what ended up as a long touchdown for the Pirates. He’s raw but there are tools there that can be put to great use.
