An athlete who sticks out among the Statesboro roster is Amontrae Bradford. At 6’5″ and 210 lbs., the rangy junior edge defender can get out in space and create havoc.
Last week, Bradford showed off his explosive speed and length again. Breaking through the line of scrimmage, Bradford was directly in the fact of the QB who had just dropped back. The pass was thrown, but Bradford was ready, and in one motion Bradford both batted the ball down and then caught it. With the open field in front and the football in his hands, the junior hit the gas showing off his tremendously long running stride as he glided into the endzone.
Just watching the junior, and it’s clear that college programs will be in consistent contact this upcoming offseason. Some programs have already reached out.
“My recruitment has been going well. I took a few visits to UGA, BAMA, South Carolina, FSU, GSU, GT, and Florida all this season,” Bradford said.
Bradford has obviously been busy with his recruitment, and no doubt, momentum seems to be building. The early college attention during the recruiting process is a testament to his on-the-field production this fall.
“The year is going much better than I thought.” Bradford continued, “I improved my pass-rushing moves the most this year.”
The length of Bradford will obviously grab the attention of college scouts, but we are impressed with his intensity and quickness when making tackles in space. Bradford shows a good motor hustling out to the sideline to make a tackle and you will routinely find Bradford coming from the weakside to make a stop.
He still needs time to fill out his frame, and get stronger at the point of attack, especially on run plays, but that is muted mainly by his immense athletic upside that could be unleashed at the next level. We feel that Bradford is really just scratching the surface of his potential as an edge defender, and his junior film suggests that FBS programs will be seriously targeting him over the next year.
For Bradford, he said that he wants to finish off this season against Jenkins and make a strong push into the playoffs. Statesboro is the type of program that could surprise some teams in the playoffs despite having a losing record in the regular season.
They have impact players spread throughout the program like Bradford, and definitely have a program with a roster full of college-level talent that will make them a tough out come playoff time.
Keep up the good work
Keep up the good work