Seven returning Antioch High football players receive college offers
Antioch High School Varsity football players from left to right, top to bottom: Guadie Campbell, Najee Harris, Omari Harris, Antoine Tanner, Iuni Mauga, Isaac Freytes and Isaiah Dunn. photos by Luke Johnson
By Luke Johnson
Antioch High School’s football team has become a national recruiting hotspot during this offseason as seven returning players have received college offers.
Senior running back Najee Harris has garnered the most attention as the world’s number one recruit according to Rivals and Scout.com. At 6-foot-2, and a lean 228 pounds, he has astonished scouts with his explosive athleticism. Last season, he set numerous school records including rushing for 2,744 yards and scoring 39 touchdowns. The five-star recruit has earned 32 scholarship offers from the top collegiate program, but has been verbally committed to the University of Alabama since April 2015.
The rest of roster with offers goes as followed: seniors cornerback Isaiah Dunn (5), cornerback/wide receiver Antoine Tanner (1), safey/wide receiver Issac Freytes (1), juniors linebacker/running back Omari Harris (4), tight end Iuni Mauga (1) and sophomore wide receiver Gaudie Campbell (2).
“I was relieved that my hard work is starting to pay off. My mom isn’t wasting her money for nothin’,” Tanner said about being offered by Kentucky Christian University.
Assistant head coach Brett Dudley said his relationship with college recruiters has changed drastically in the past two years. At one point, he could not get a college representative to click on a link in an email even if he paid them, but during May, he had 10 to 20 college coaches visiting him on campus each week. Earlier this year, the likes of Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh, Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly and Alabama’s Lane Kiffin stepped onto AHS grounds.
Dudley added that the best part about this quantitative amount of exposure is that all levels of college football are giving Antioch their attention. Not everyone on the team is like Najee Harris and built to play in the SEC, but this gives other players the opportunity to play at lower-level colleges and receive a free education.
Several of these offers are coming from the state of Utah with four produced by Brigham Young University (N. Harris, Dunn, Freytes and Campbell) and three by the University of Utah (Harris, Harris and Dunn). Three offers have came from Eastern Washington University (O. Harris, Mauga and Campbell) while two have came from the local, prestigious school of Cal-Berkeley (Harris and Harris).
Campbell and Mauga’s offers come under rare circumstances as they have yet to play at the varsity level. Dudley said recruiters are attracted to their potential, and “what they can become.” Both are 15 years old. Campbell is 6-foot-2 with a high vertical and a father whom is 6-foot-6, while Mauga is already 6-foot-2 and 222 pounds.
Players and coaches alike feel that these accolades have boosted the team’s confidence, but it has also put a target on their backs for opponents.
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AHS Players Collage
The BYU interest in Antioch recruits can be traced back to Gary Sheide who started the decade long interest BYU had in top caliber quarterbacks. Gary was the first of many great leaders that raised the bar at BYU and helped establish their national reputation. It will be exciting to see what a national footprint these gentlemen will create given the level of interest from so many great schools and coaches.
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