BATON ROUGE, La. – By Tuesday at the LSU prospect camp, many of the big names had already come and gone but there were still some elite prospects in the 2013 class and beyond that remained and even a couple of newcomers that showed up to compete.
Laurence Jones showed off elite ball-hawking skills on Tuesday.
We take a look at the top ten performers at LSU based on Tuesday’s action.
1. Laurence Jones, DB, Neville (2014) – Though Jones plays cornerback for his Neville High School team, he has a frame that could be just as easily mistaken for a linebacker. To eyeball Jones is to question whether a player of his size can cover smaller, faster receivers. On Tuesday, his interception count should have quieted any doubters. Every time I looked up, Jones seemed to be intercepting the football. He has good range, instincts and great ball-tracking skills from both corner and safety.
2. Berkley Edwards, RB, Chelsea, Mich. – A new arrival on Tuesday, Edwards came with a splash. The smallish running back reportedly ran some blistering times in the testing portion of his day and looked every bit as explosive once position work began too. Edwards has big-play ability out of the backfield and showed the ability to catch the ball with ease and change directions on a dime. Though Edwards doesn’t have an offer from the Tigers, his performance may well have put him on the LSU radar.
3. Eugene Brazley, RB, New Orleans Carver – Brazley looks to be a real steal for Ole Miss out of New Orleans. Particularly in the morning session, Brazley was clearly the top running back with regard to his route-running and pass-catching ability. He was comfortable and precise running angle routes and flat routes while also showing an ease catching the ball downfield on some good defenders. Brazley owns a thick build and looks to be an every down back at the next level.
4. Jermaine Antoine, DB/RB, Loreauville – After barely missing out on Monday’s top performers list, Antoine played himself onto the list by making plays on both sides of the ball on Tuesday. The versatile prospect is likely a defensive back on the next level but showed plenty of ability as a pass-catcher too. He was simply one of the most consistent defenders throughout the week of work. As he continues to position himself academically to add more opportunities, Antoine could become a true steal out of Louisiana.
5. Deondre Skinner, TE, Patterson – Skinner arrived at LSU’s camp as an Arkansas commit and his play earned him a scholarship offer at the end of the day. Skinner’s development as a receiver over the past year is evident. He was an immediate standout in one-on-ones, running well with a big frame and catching almost everything in his vicinity. With an in-state offer in hand, Arkansas won’t be able to sleep easy until Skinner is signed.
6. Sherman Badie, RB, John Curtis – Look for John Curtis to be one of the top teams in the southeast this fall and Badie is a big reason why. He showed off a very impressive build on Tuesday with a muscled up v-shaped frame. He’s very natural moving laterally and he also put up a fantastic time in the 40-yard dash. While he’s featured in a assembly-line style system at John Curtis, there is little doubt that Badie is an elite back in any offense.
7. Kendell Beckwith, LB, East Feliciana – Beckwith owns an LSU offer and he doesn’t have much to prove to the coaching staff but he continues to work out and continues to impress. Though he possesses the biggest linebacker frame in attendance, Beckwith consistently showed that he has plenty of ability in coverage. He was defending running backs and slot receivers alike and even had one rep at cornerback that resulted in an incompletion. This week’s camp went a long way in legitimizing his stock as one of the nation’s top linebackers in my eyes.
8. Duke Riley, LB, John Curtis – Because LSU took so many linebackers in the class of 2013 and there are a couple of other elite in-state prospects higher on its board for this smaller 2013 linebacker group, the Tigers likely won’t be extending him an offer anytime soon. But that doesn’t mean that he’s not a high-end prospect. Riley is a good instinctual linebacker that ran well in the testing portion of camp and also showed athleticism throughout 7on7 work. We expect Riley to be a tackling machine somewhere.
9. Dylan Moses, ATH, University Lab (2017) – Yes, you read that graduation year correctly. If Moses didn’t attend a K-12 school, we wouldn’t even be able to put him in the database yet because he’ll still be in middle school in the fall. But if you doubt that Moses deserves mention on this list, look to LSU’s legitimate verbal offer as proof to the contrary. Moses likely projects to linebacker long term but he already looks like a grown man and he runs like one too. While playing defensive back on Tuesday, he looked understandably lost at times but still rarely got beat and made some fantastic breakups.
10. Trey Quinn, WR, Barbe (2014) – Few prospects helped their stock this week as much as Quinn. The only reason he isn’t much higher on this list is because he took a limited number of reps on Tuesday. Whenever he’s on the field, he separates himself with great routes and hands. But he’s not just a route-runner. Quinn has elite top-end speed and athleticism and he looks to be a national prospect at wide receiver.
- Barton Simmons
- National Recruiting Analyst - 247Sports