Midlands Position Rankings: Defensive Line

The Midseason Player-Position rankings are an updated version to our Top 100 List, broken down by position. As stated when the original rankings came out, the list would change throughout the season as the senior film came in and it certainly has changed. We will do one more revision in post season for the final position rankings.

The defensive line position is one that really has to be assessed on film. Most of these guys numbers are not staggering due to most of the offenses throwing the football. Camden’s Xavier McLeod and Shymeik Jones are a wrecking crew for the Bulldogs. Both are P5 prospects and are difficult to block. Jones has been solid as a pass rusher this season. AJ Johnson of Dutch Fork is a strong player against the run on that Silver Fox line. He’s got 29 tackles with 6 for loss this year and 1 sack. Lexington’s Montrell Byrd has been a surprise this year. He was not even on the preseason Top 100 list but has played very well this season, He’s collected 39 tackles, 9 for loss, 4 sacks and a forced fumble on the season. Max Drag has been a main force for the Chapin defense this season. He has 19 tackles, 3 for loss and 2 sacks for the Eagles. River Bluff’s Drew Surratt has 32 tackles on the season with 4 tackles for loss and a sack. Braxon Burton of AC Flora has 25 tackles on the season and is a very good run gap stuffer for the Falcons, difficult to block. Jawaine Gleaton of Wagener-Salley is probably one of the more under rated defesnive linemen in the Midlands. He’s a force on the defensive ftont and has 41 tackles, 11 for loss and 6 sacks. Camden’s David Copley is a hybrid linebacker/defensive end who has been very disruptive for the Bulldogs, collecting 36 tackles, 7 for loss and 4 sacks on the year. Heathwood Hall’s Nick Johnson is another under rated player. He is an easy FCS caliber players and has collected 61 tackles with 11 for loss and 2 sacks for the Highlanders.