Related Articles
West Columbia (SC) One of the things I love to do as an analyst is look at the matchups. How does this OL match up with that DL? QBs vs LBs and DBs? Well, we got a great unit match up this week as Dutch Fork travels to Charlotte to take on the Hough Huskies. The key match up is the Hough Offense vs Dutch Fork defense.
HOUGH HUSKIES OFFENSE
This is a match up I’ve been looking forward to. The Huskies have a highly touted quarterback in North Carolina Commit Tad Hudson (6’3,220). Last season, Hudson passed for 2,600 yards and 30 touchdowns. He has two outstanding receivers in junior Markell Quck (5’11,165), who caught 53 passes last season for 800 yards and 10 touchdowns along with senior Sequan Osborne (6’0,180) who had 500 yards and 7 scores. There are two running backs to contend with in senior JT Smith (5’11,195) and senior Akil Williams (5’9,175), who combined for 1000 yards rushing. Smith has 7 Power 5 offers as an “athlete” and Williams was recently offered by Boston Collge. They have a big offensive front with two returning starters who have offers.
DUTCH FORK SILVER FOXES DEFENSE
The Silver Foxes strength is their defense. They are led up front by AJ Johnson (6’2,220) and Dakota Jordan (6’0,220). They are undersized agaiunst a big offensive line but they are hard hitting and athletic and have seen big OLs before. The linebacker group for Dutch Fork is second to none. Chandler Perry (5’8,190) may be the hardest hitter in this game. John Buetow (5’10,215) is an absolute animal and he can come up to the line and be a menace off of the edge. If he plays inside, he is down hill and has a good range in pursuit. Jaylen Hinton (6’0,200) is a hard hitting, down hill physical defender. He was the fourth leasding tackler on the team as a junior in a non-starting role. Paul Taylor (5’8,185) is the fourth guy and he will probably be on the outside off the edge. The Secondary is, like the linebacker group, one of the best, led by senior Landon Danley (6’2,200) who had 77 tackles and 4 picks in 2021.
MY THOUGHTS: Dutch Fork needs to apply preasure on Hudson. While he is proficient with his pass, he has a career -14 yards rushing so forcing him out of the pocket is the key. That means that front line and those edge backers are going to be key. I believe the Foxes secondary is good enough to cover the receivers of Hough, especially if they can get pressure on him and force him to throw when and where he doesn’t want to.
