Friday Night Recaps Week 10: Florida teams lead the way

Overall, it was a positive week for Michigan commits on the gridiron this past week. The slate of games is mostly led by the Florida players, all of whom were victorious in the playoffs or against a major program. On the flip side, the first commit to compete for a state championship, Marlin Klein, suffered a close loss.

J.J. McCarthy and Greg Crippen (IMG Academy - FL)

In its final game of the year, IMG Academy handled business as usual with a 41-6 win over TRU Prep.

McCarthy did not play for undisclosed reasons. Without him, IMG stuck to the ground game, with 2022 Michigan target Kaytron Allen rushing 14 times for 245 yards and five touchdowns.

IMG Academy finished the season 8-0 while outscoring their opponents 381-82. McCarthy threw for 1,392 yards and 16 touchdowns with zero interceptions in the six games he played.

Tavierre Dunlap (Del Valle - TX)

Del Valle lost a close 24-21 battle against Hays on a fourth quarter field goal. This drops Del Valle to 3-5 on the season with one regular season game remaining.

After not playing two weeks ago and exiting last week’s game early, it looks like Dunlap didn’t suit up once again.

In their last regular season game, Del Valle will play Austin High in a game that was rescheduled from last month.

Andrel Anthony (East Lansing - MI) and Raheem Anderson (Cass Tech - MI)

The two Michiganders still in the playoffs are idle for at least two more weeks until the suspension of high school sports is lifted.

Quintin Somerville (Saguaro - AZ)

Saguaro pitched a shutout for the second straight week with a dominating 57-0 win over Gilbert to improve to 5-1.

There was no mention of Somerville in the team’s box score, so either he didn’t record any statistics or he didn’t play.

Saguaro will now enter the 5A playoffs as the number three seed. They’ll host Salpointe Catholic in the first round next week.

Dominick Giudice (Mater Dei Prep - NJ)

Giudice’s season ended last week, but I wanted to keep him in the recap for one more week because he uploaded his senior season highlights and we can finally get a sense of his production this year.

In his seven-minute highlight reel, I counted 23 tackles for Giudice with 13 tackles for loss and five sacks. He also had a punt block for good measure. Only about the first half of the film was him on defense, with the second half showing his performance as an offensive lineman.

These still probably aren’t Giudice’s full stats on the season, but it’s better than nothing, which we had up until now.

Also of note is Giudice lists himself as 274 pounds in the first frame of his film. That’s a big gain from the 250 at which he’s listed on his 247Sports profile. If he keeps developing his body, he’ll be much more ready to step into the defensive tackle role at Michigan.

Branden Jennings (Sandalwood - FL)

Since Sandalwood’s game last week was played on Monday night so it couldn’t be included in the roundup, we’ve got a double dose of Jennings.

In last week’s 28-13 win over Mandarin, Jennings was simply dominant. He racked up 14 tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble and a pass breakup to lead Sandalwood to their first playoff victory since 2006.

This week, Jennings helped keep their playoff run chugging along with a 28-19 upset over Flagler Palm Coast. Jennings had 12 tackles and a sack in the win. Here’s a clip of one of his many tackles.

Sandalwood will face off against Seminole in the third round of the playoffs.

Jaydon Hood and Ja’Den McBurrows (St. Thomas Aquinas - FL)

After their bye in the first round, St. Thomas Aquinas cruised to a 50-14 victory over Lehigh in the second round.

McBurrows was part of the scoring with a 72-yard interception return for a touchdown. There are no stats available for Hood, but a recent article has stated he only has 26 tackles in the first five games of the season.

In the next round, St. Thomas Aquinas will face Manatee.

Marlin Klein (Rabun Gap-Nacoochee - GA)

Rabun Gap-Nacoochee fell to Charlotte Christian in the state championship game, 27-21. This was Charlotte Christian’s fourth straight Division I independent school championship.

There aren’t any stats uploaded for Klein this week, and I doubt there will be now that the season is over.

Rabun Gap-Nacoochee finished the season 7-2 with their only two losses coming to eventual state champions. Charlotte Christian won Division I, obviously, and the Christ School captured the Division II crown.

Chart

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Jonathon Simmons