Edarious Rainge out of Early County has proven to be a versatile playmaker for Early County. Whether the senior is making an impact on defense or special teams, Rainge seems to always create momentum-swinging plays for Early County.
In last week’s 54-31 win over Early County, Rainge certainly had an impact, including an interception that he returned for a score, but the most noteworthy action occurred on special teams. The chaotic kick return started with a stumble from the returner bobbling the football, and after he collected he turned upfield where he promptly fumbled. There was a mass of humanity piled around the football, but very few had the fight like Rainge, and the senior emerged from the crowd ripping away from opponents. He went sprinting up the sideline and was escorted by a posse of teammates for one of the more unconventional special teams touchdowns we have seen in recent memory.
The victory was huge for Early County, and even though they face off against top rated Bleckley County tonight, they have secured the #4 spot for the playoffs. Rainge’s impact certainly has made a difference, and that can be attributed to the improvement he has made over the last year.
“I improved the most at my defensive level and Being able to put up my points for the team.” Rainge then continued to talk about his goals for the playoffs, “The goal for the rest of the season is to lead my team to a state championship.”
Bainbridge wound up winning a state title 3-4 years ago with a similar record heading into the playoffs, so anything is possible. On the recruiting front, Rainge says that his recruitment has been going decently. At 6′ and 185 lbs. the 2022 safety prospect has good instincts attacking the offense and shows excellent acceleration breaking on the football plus good open-field tackling too.
If you watch his senior film up above, you’ll realize that Rainge consistently finds himself around the football, especially in pass coverage getting his hands on the pass, but also scoring a good bit for a non-offensive player. Without knowing his stats on the season it seems like Rainge is a lock to make the 2A All-State team in some capacity.
With it being his final games of high school football up ahead, we asked Rainge to reflect back on what he loved the most playing on Friday nights.
“My favorite part about Friday night football is letting everything go on the field.. pain and anger. Plus, proving everybody wrong is the best feeling.”
You can see the passion that Rainge plays with. There is a true fire with his tackling and you can see that the offensive player feels it after the fact. The 2022 is an underrated athlete for sure, he has grown nearly 3 inches and gained 20 lbs since the summer of 2020, and there is still a lot of room to improve in the weight room, so we think he can fill out more and get closer to 200 lbs. at the next level. Colleges interested should go ahead and check out his Recruit Georgia profile for more info HERE.
