The prestigious Rivals.com 250 was released yesterday. On it were 3 NW student-athletes of notes and we have them here for your review.
Each one of these kids made it through the regular season in terrific style and were also honored with offers from Division 1 Programs. To make the list RIvals.com has had their top analysts review film and the athletes accomplishments. Each was evaluated also on their ability to move on the the next level and be an impact player.
Budda Baker– Bellevue HS: Bellevue, Washington
DB/ATH/RB- 5'11"-185 pounds
Budda had a verbal offer his 10th grade season from the Huskies. And things have not slowed down. He is clearly one of the premier guys in the Nation for the 2014 Class and anyone who has watched him these past couple of years knows that. He is a terrific back on offense, an explosive athlete on special teams, and an even better Defensive Back. He holds somewhere between 20 and 40 offers already. All of that is well handled by his Coaching Staff at Bellevue who take care of all their guys as they move on to college.
Having watched him grow and develop we can say this young man has the entire skill set to go on to be an All American, to play on Saturday for any Major College, and to even go beyond that. Best of all he is a terrific student and person.
Connor Humphreys – Central Catholic High School, Portland, Oregon
DE/OL/TE- 6'4"-250 Pounds
Connor started to break out as a 10th grader late in the year. You could see it happening. He was growing and getting better technically. But his unstoppable assault on the Football and any QB or RB in his view is what wowed us.
This off season he dedicated himself even more to becoming the most complete athlete he can be. He has the fastest first step we have seen and his ability to keep his pads low to the ground and defeat even the toughest Offensive Tackles to the Football has been notable. We have not seen him consistently stopped by anyone this season and the Rams have played as tough of a schedule as you can imagine.
He holds offers from PSU and Wyoming and has a host of others coming in. His 2012 Season Highlight film is going to give him more and more offers. He is attending the Army All American Game and we expect him to rise fast after that. This is a Pac 12 / SEC/ Notre Dame level player who is getting better and better and is not even close to his ceiling.
Kaleb McGary– Fife High School: Fife, Washington 6'8" 275 Pounds Offensive Tackle- Tight End
Kaleb is an amazing kid. A blue Collar kid who knows what is means to go without the luxuries in life and how to work for everything he gets. He first came on our radar at Ryan Paul's New Athlete in Vancouver, Washington where we saw this big kid doing things a guy this size should not be able to do. At least not at 16 years old. Then while attending the John Charles Air One Football Camp things really clicked as he ran routes and made catches that were truly athletic. The hand writing was on the wall in January and our first story on this massive Junior touched of a slew of letters.
Since that time the Amboy, Washington native moved to Fife to take up a new life due to work and began again. He was an instant impact player at Fife and led the team as one of the emotional leaders. He is planning to start as the Center on the Basketball Squad and will travel to the Army All American Combine as well. OSU, UW, UTAH, and WSU have offered him so far.
He is interested in Michigan, LSU, Notre Dame, Nebraska, and Auburn as well as all Pac 12 schools. Is there anyone that thinks a kid like this won't get it? He is a Blue Chip kid all the way!
We are super proud of these guys and glad that our staff works with the Nation's Number One Prep and College News Network; Rivals.com a member of the Yahoo Sports family. We were able to get them credit for their achievements.
Every year guys like these lead an ever growing army of NW Recruits into the College Ranks. The more kids we can get a 2 Star-5 Star rating for the more recruiting interest grows. There is no question that Rivals.com is the toughest Network in the Nation to get ratings and ranking from.
This is the first wave for 2014. There will be many more 4 Stars and 3 Stars and even some 5 Stars.
They are all Stars to Us!
Great job guys.