Several months back we had an article here at Dawg Sports asking who Bulldog fans would want to commit if only one more prospect could come on board for the class of 2013. Dooly County's Montravius Adams was right up there on the list. It's not hard to see why. Other than Grayson's Robert Nkemdiche, Adams is the "other" Peach State prospect ranked among the top ten high school players in the nation. He projects as either a defensive end or nose tackle, two positions where we can always use more bodies.
Given that John Jenkins, Cornelius Washington, and Abry Jones will all graduate this year, and Kwame Geathers may or may not be back, the need for big bodies up front is as acute in this class as it's going to get. Certainly Garrison Smith, Ray Drew, and Mike Thornton have all put in time up front, but there's definitely playing time to be seized, and starting spots which will likely be up for grabs in 2014.
By now you've probably seen the junior film that garnered Montravius Adams offers from essentially every major college program in the southeast. In that film you see a guy with an incredibly quick first step for a 290 pounder, a guy who even played a little tailback (showcasing a decent spin move to boot).
Below are highlights of Adams' performance earlier this season against Brookstone:
I notice that he looks a good bit bigger this year, probably having eclipsed the 300 pound mark. That comes with some costs. For one, he seems to have lost a step compared to his junior film. dmittedly, that means going from preternaturally quick to merely quicker than a guy that big has any right to move.
I was impressed with the nifty swim move at the 1:45 mark. I know I've said this before, but most high school defensive linemen really don't make proper use of upper body technique to get around blockers. They can run through 180 guards at the high school level, but getting a good pass rush at the collegiate level requires mastery of the subtle technique of not presenting a big ass stationary target to the guy blocking you.
Let's also take a look at Adams' highlights against Class A power Wilcox County earlier this season:
Wilcox County quarterback Makail Grace is a slippery sucker, as you can see in this film. It says something that the Dooly coaches seem to have given Adams the task of keeping an eye on him, and that Adams was able to hem him in as much as he did (I saw this game, by the way. Grace had a highlight or two of his own.)
Adams says that he plans to take all five of his official visits before making a decision. A lot of recruiting folks are presuming that his decision will come down to Clemson or Georgia. While he's turned down several chances to come to Athens, he did make it up for the Ole Miss game with his mother, who seemed to really enjoy the visit. And as always, the longer the recruiting process goes for a top prospect, the more you have to like the chances of the home state school.
Montravius Adams will lead his Dooly County squad against ECI this weekend in the Class A finals in the Georgia Dome. You can catch the game at 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning on GPTV.