Texas high school football is a different animal.
Yes, that's incredibly cliche. But it doesn't make it any less true. I was in Denton, Texas, to watch Denton Guyer take on Hebron. Notre Dame has offered three players from Guyer, all of which are class of 2023 recruits; unrated quarterback Jackson Arnold, four-star safety Peyton Bowen and four-star cornerback Ryan Yaites. They all played key roles in Guyer's 46-17 victory.
Arnold made the first start of his career. He spent his first two high school seasons backing up Texas A&M freshman Eli Stowers. The first play of Arnold's first start? A 17-yard scramble in which he had to evade pass rushers up the middle of the line. He scrambled to his left before getting majority of the yardage running to the right. It was an athletic play for Arnold and a sign of things to come.
In the passing game on the first series, Arnold showed a knack for getting the ball out quickly. Guyer operates a no-huddle, hurry-up offense, so most of Arnold's passes are quick outs, slants, comebacks, etc. He fired the ball accurately and quickly to both sides. He led Guyer into the red zone rather easily with dinking and dunking in the passing game and with runs like this one.
Guyer settled for a field goal after a couple penalties. Arnold took a shot to the end zone on third down but overthrew his wideout. That's one thing that also became clear throughout the night — Arnold hardly, if ever, under-threw a wide receiver. His miss always seemed to be long — for better or worse. But kind of like a golfer, it's better to have one miss than to miss both ways.
Yaites is a lock down one half of the field type of corner. He played exclusively on the right side of the field from the defense's perspective. Bowen played a lot of nickel corner. He told me after the game his assignment was to shadow Hebron's best slot receiver, so he went wherever that opposing player went. He did an excellent job of not letting that player make any catches.
Late in the first quarter, Yaites shed a blocker on a wide receiver bubble screen and made a tackle for loss.
On the very next play, Bowen's man ran a hard-charging seam route down the middle of the field. Doing what he does best, Bowen stayed with him stride for stride and picked it off. Within a matter of minutes, Arnold lofted a 22-yard (the tweet says 28, it was clearly 22) touchdown pass to put Guyer ahead 7-0.
That sequence was a clear indicator of why a program like Notre Dame is recruiting three prospects from a North Texas high school. Granted, Guyer has state championship pedigree and produces quite a few Division I players year in and year out. But there is something to be said for the Fighting Irish going after three of the school's players in one class.
Bowen and Yaites are both on Guyer's kickoff team. Bowen is the primary punt returner and kickoff returner, too. Obviously, the Notre Dame coaching staff has to be thrilled those two are getting so much special teams experience as juniors in high school. They might be able to contribute right away in that area as freshmen in college in a couple years.
That's especially true for Bowen, who had a lengthy punt return inside the 5-yard line that Guyer quickly cashed in on. He brought a kick return over the 50-yard line in the second half and might have come close to scoring again had he not ran into one of his teammates. Bowen told me after the game what makes him such a savvy player in the return game is his patience. Almost Le'Veon Bell-like in his prime. He doesn't immediately sprint up the field upon catching the ball. He's a good enough athlete at this level to pick and choose his running lanes.
Yaites' best plays of the night came in the tackling department. He has great length. He shows a willingness to step up in run support and make stops. We heard the PA announcer say many times, "Tackle made by No. 21 Ryan Yaites." He just does not let ball carriers break loose. Many of his tackles were made by grabbing the opponent's legs, but a tackle is a tackle. He brought opposing ball carriers down. He said after the game he really likes Notre Dame cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens' philosophy of "be violent." That's the type of attitude he takes onto the field.
Yaites did get beat deep a couple times. The Hebron quarterback overthrew his target the first time. Yaites got lucky. Hebron connected on a long pass play the second time. Yaites recovered decently enough to make another shoe-string tackle and prevent a touchdown. Yaites played press coverage for most of the night. That's going to lend itself to getting beat deep here and there. For it to only happen twice was a positive sign. For the most part, Yaites was able to stay with his man. He ultimately left the game late in the third quarter with a calf cramp, but that's all it was. He was healthy and in good spirits after the game.
Circling back around to Arnold to finish things off, he was as effective as Guyer needed him to be. He completed 60% of his passes for 167 yards and a touchdown. He threw one interception on a deep shot over the middle. Again, he overshot his man. For the most part, though, his deep ball was a thing of beauty. He could have had a lengthy touchdown in the second half had a receiver not dropped his pass. Arnold laid it out for him perfectly down the left sideline.
Arnold's dual-threat ability is very intriguing. He ran for 58 yards and a touchdown. He told @MikeSinger earlier this month he could see himself having the sort of success Ian Book had at Notre Dame if he chose to suit up in South Bend for his college career. Arnold has a long way to go to reach the heights Book has in his football career so far, but Thursday was a nice start. And remember, it was just the first start of his high school career. Many more to come.
Yes, that's incredibly cliche. But it doesn't make it any less true. I was in Denton, Texas, to watch Denton Guyer take on Hebron. Notre Dame has offered three players from Guyer, all of which are class of 2023 recruits; unrated quarterback Jackson Arnold, four-star safety Peyton Bowen and four-star cornerback Ryan Yaites. They all played key roles in Guyer's 46-17 victory.
Arnold made the first start of his career. He spent his first two high school seasons backing up Texas A&M freshman Eli Stowers. The first play of Arnold's first start? A 17-yard scramble in which he had to evade pass rushers up the middle of the line. He scrambled to his left before getting majority of the yardage running to the right. It was an athletic play for Arnold and a sign of things to come.
In the passing game on the first series, Arnold showed a knack for getting the ball out quickly. Guyer operates a no-huddle, hurry-up offense, so most of Arnold's passes are quick outs, slants, comebacks, etc. He fired the ball accurately and quickly to both sides. He led Guyer into the red zone rather easily with dinking and dunking in the passing game and with runs like this one.
Guyer settled for a field goal after a couple penalties. Arnold took a shot to the end zone on third down but overthrew his wideout. That's one thing that also became clear throughout the night — Arnold hardly, if ever, under-threw a wide receiver. His miss always seemed to be long — for better or worse. But kind of like a golfer, it's better to have one miss than to miss both ways.
Yaites is a lock down one half of the field type of corner. He played exclusively on the right side of the field from the defense's perspective. Bowen played a lot of nickel corner. He told me after the game his assignment was to shadow Hebron's best slot receiver, so he went wherever that opposing player went. He did an excellent job of not letting that player make any catches.
Late in the first quarter, Yaites shed a blocker on a wide receiver bubble screen and made a tackle for loss.
On the very next play, Bowen's man ran a hard-charging seam route down the middle of the field. Doing what he does best, Bowen stayed with him stride for stride and picked it off. Within a matter of minutes, Arnold lofted a 22-yard (the tweet says 28, it was clearly 22) touchdown pass to put Guyer ahead 7-0.
That sequence was a clear indicator of why a program like Notre Dame is recruiting three prospects from a North Texas high school. Granted, Guyer has state championship pedigree and produces quite a few Division I players year in and year out. But there is something to be said for the Fighting Irish going after three of the school's players in one class.
Bowen and Yaites are both on Guyer's kickoff team. Bowen is the primary punt returner and kickoff returner, too. Obviously, the Notre Dame coaching staff has to be thrilled those two are getting so much special teams experience as juniors in high school. They might be able to contribute right away in that area as freshmen in college in a couple years.
That's especially true for Bowen, who had a lengthy punt return inside the 5-yard line that Guyer quickly cashed in on. He brought a kick return over the 50-yard line in the second half and might have come close to scoring again had he not ran into one of his teammates. Bowen told me after the game what makes him such a savvy player in the return game is his patience. Almost Le'Veon Bell-like in his prime. He doesn't immediately sprint up the field upon catching the ball. He's a good enough athlete at this level to pick and choose his running lanes.
Yaites' best plays of the night came in the tackling department. He has great length. He shows a willingness to step up in run support and make stops. We heard the PA announcer say many times, "Tackle made by No. 21 Ryan Yaites." He just does not let ball carriers break loose. Many of his tackles were made by grabbing the opponent's legs, but a tackle is a tackle. He brought opposing ball carriers down. He said after the game he really likes Notre Dame cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens' philosophy of "be violent." That's the type of attitude he takes onto the field.
Yaites did get beat deep a couple times. The Hebron quarterback overthrew his target the first time. Yaites got lucky. Hebron connected on a long pass play the second time. Yaites recovered decently enough to make another shoe-string tackle and prevent a touchdown. Yaites played press coverage for most of the night. That's going to lend itself to getting beat deep here and there. For it to only happen twice was a positive sign. For the most part, Yaites was able to stay with his man. He ultimately left the game late in the third quarter with a calf cramp, but that's all it was. He was healthy and in good spirits after the game.
Circling back around to Arnold to finish things off, he was as effective as Guyer needed him to be. He completed 60% of his passes for 167 yards and a touchdown. He threw one interception on a deep shot over the middle. Again, he overshot his man. For the most part, though, his deep ball was a thing of beauty. He could have had a lengthy touchdown in the second half had a receiver not dropped his pass. Arnold laid it out for him perfectly down the left sideline.
Arnold's dual-threat ability is very intriguing. He ran for 58 yards and a touchdown. He told @MikeSinger earlier this month he could see himself having the sort of success Ian Book had at Notre Dame if he chose to suit up in South Bend for his college career. Arnold has a long way to go to reach the heights Book has in his football career so far, but Thursday was a nice start. And remember, it was just the first start of his high school career. Many more to come.
