THE LOCKDOWN CORNERS
Demarcus Milliner - 6’1” 175 Stanhope Elmore High School, AL
Quite possibly the most impressive player on hand this weekend. After allowing one completion on the first play from scrimmage Saturday, he simply locked up everybody who lined up across from him. Milliner has a smooth back pedal and breaks on the ball quickly. He can play a finesse style, or come up and get physical in press coverage at the line of scrimmage. He had success with both styles, even against the tournaments best receivers like Da’Rick Rogers and Markeith Ambles. The battles with Ambles were very physical, with neither having friendly words to say to each other. Milliner dominated the match up, and helped lead his team to the championship game. It may be high praise, but Milliner has the skills to play on Sunday in a few years.
Lo Wood - 5’11” 170 Apopka High School, FL
Wood lived up to the hype, and then some. I didn’t know what to expect from him coming into this weekend; however, I left town thinking he’s a prospect definitely worthy of four stars. He did not see a lot passes coming his way, but stayed active by breaking up passing attempts in zone coverage. Wood is a leader, and really seems to understand the variety of coverages his team was running. One could often see Lo aligning other defensive players before the snap. He seemed really comfortable in “Cover 2”, or playing tight coverage and running step for step with most receivers. He has to be one of the Top 5 corners in Florida.
LaMarcus Joyner - 5‘8” 175 St. Thomas Aquinas High School, FL
Has just about everything you want in cornerback: speed, hips, and cover skills. He may not have ideal height, but his explosiveness and skill tend to overcome that part of his game. That said, some wide outs were able to get the best of him, especially Christian Green, who caught a deep ball on him for a game changing touchdown during Sunday’s playoff games. Despite that, Joyner clearly made more plays than he allowed.
Merril Noel - 5’9” 165 Pahokee High School, FL
Noel’s stock really began to soar on Sunday, where he really began to frustrate receivers with his physical style of play. Think of it in basketball terms, where that one player who can’t really play, but talks and sweats profusely, for some reason decides to play tight defense on you. That was Noel. His “Florida swagger” was on full display, and he had of crowd of supporters vocally behind him. This continued in the championship game versus team Alabama, in which Noel didn’t allow any completions. However, a speedster by the name of Solomon Patton did get past him a couple times, and if the timing would have been right, those passes would have gone for touchdowns.
Spencer Boyd - 5’10” 175 Cape Coral High School, FL
His team didn‘t play as much as some others, and the may have been for the good. After losing in their first game Sunday, Spencer told me his team wasn’t that good because of chemistry issues. Still, Spencer managed to standout. He’s smooth in and out of breaks, and has great speed. The game seems like it comes to him out there.
Toney Grimes - 6’0” 180 Hollywood Hills High School, FL
Although quiet and soft spoken, don‘t let that fool you. Grimes does have great speed, but he does a lot of other things well. He’s very aggressive, and drives hard on the ball. Has the size and skill set to possibly be moved to the safety position at the next level.
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