The high school season is several weeks old and Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Greg Smith has already seen a lot of the top prospects in the Midwest in action. Here are the five most impressive standouts he has seen up to this point in the season.
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The Pitt commit was all over the place during the game I saw in person. He racked up 17 tackles during the game. Normally when you see that many tackles from a defensive back it means he defended a lot of passes. That wasn’t the case here. Dotson did a great job of coming up to help in run support and showed his physicality.
He’s picked up some new offers early in the season. Dotson will be a major flip target for many programs as his flip gets out from his early season games.
The long and athletic defensive lineman really stood out when I saw him in Detroit a couple weeks back. He’s a twitchy athlete off the edge with a great first step off the line. He’s more of a speed rusher than a power rusher at this point. But pass rushers like him are hard to find.
His recruitment has been quieter than it should be lately. But a few programs such as UCLA, Penn State and Purdue have his attention as he begins his senior season.
The 2026 offensive lineman recently picked up an offer from Alabama. It’s easy to see why teams around the country like him. He’s playing tackle for his team now but I could easily see him kicking inside to guard and being more effective. One of the reasons why is because he pulled quite a bit from his tackle spot and was very good at it. He’d be even better in more of a phone booth blocking from the guard spot.
His recruitment is wide open right now but Notre Dame, Michigan State and Alabama seem to have his attention the most.
St. Clair gets graded on a curve a little bit because of the tough, rainy conditions during the game I saw. That doesn’t mean he had a poor performance at all. St. Clair accounted for three total touchdowns in the game, which included a nice rushing touchdown where he showed his athleticism.
The Ohio State commit and No. 1 player in the Rivals250 is most dangerous when in the pocket though. He reads defenses well and throws a beautiful football thanks to a smooth throwing motion. St. Clair shows a nice ability to layer the ball in between coverage and has a great deep ball.
The tools are all there for the best player in the 2025 Rivals250.
The moment you see Underwood step onto the field you understand why everyone raves about his size and talent. He’s a legit 6-foot-3, 220 pounds and is physically imposing at the position.
On the field, he does a nice job of getting rid of the ball quickly and accurately in the RPO game. That’ll help him in LSU’s offense. But where Underwood is really dangerous is when he takes off on designed runs or scrambles. His athleticism is a game changer. It’ll be fun to see his development in the SEC.
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