Here are 10 Dallas-area seniors, including five on The Dallas Morning News’ top 100 recruits list for the class of 2023, who outplayed their preseason recruiting ranking in 2022.
Denton Guyer QB Jackson Arnold
Preseason top 100 ranking: 8
Okay, hear us out.
Arnold entered his senior season as a top 10 recruit in the area, The News’ reigning offensive player of the year and the preseason offensive player of the year. He was already committed to Oklahoma and had a Elite11 MVP honor under his belt.
Is it possible for someone with those kind of credentials to somehow still be underrated?
Arnold, who was named the National Gatorade Player of the Year in January, very well may have been.
The 6-1, 205 pound quarterback passed for 3,476 yards and 33 touchdowns for Guyer, which lost to DeSoto in the 6A Div. II state semifinals. He emerged as one of the area’s best dual-threat quarterbacks, too, with 921 rushing yards and 24 scores on the ground. He was, at times, a one-man offensive wrecking crew with his arm and legs, and led a Guyer offensive which looked unstoppable until it ran into the eventual state champions.
Arnold rose to No. 2 in The News’ top 100 by seasons’ end, and became a consensus five-star recruit according to major recruiting services. 247Sports.com ranked him as the No. 8 overall player nationally in the class of 2023.
Wylie East RB Terrell Washington Jr.
Preseason top 100 ranking: 64
Washington’s recruitment picked up some steam in the summer before his senior season when Washington State and Purdue offered him scholarships, but after a season in which he played like one of the Dallas area’s most versatile weapons, he landed a spot on a team that’s been a frequent face in the AP top 25 over the last half decade.
A 5-9 running back, Washington led an upstart Wylie East team in catches (42), receiving yards (604) and receiving touchdowns (13), and also finished second in rushing yards (598) and rushing touchdowns (9).
His versatility caught the eye of Iowa, which offered Washington a scholarship on Dec. 14. He signed with the Hawkeyes seven days later.
Frisco Reedy WR Kaleb Smith
Preseason top 100 ranking: 75
Smith entered his senior season with just one scholarship offer from Texas Tech. That’s not necessarily a surprise, as Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire has said in the past that his staff will recruit players that they believe will fit their culture and scheme even if the prospect is unheralded.
But as Frisco Reedy’s stock rose this past season, so did Smith’s. Eventually Notre Dame — which offered the 6-0, 175 pound pass catcher a scholarship on Nov. 2 — decided that Smith fit their culture and scheme, too.
Smith caught 79 passes for 832 yards and 7 touchdowns for a Reedy team which went undefeated in the regular season and knocked off area power Lancaster in the postseason. He signed with the Fighting Irish in December.
DeSoto CB Caimon Mathis
Preseason top 100 ranking: 77
The son of DeSoto head coach Claude Mathis and a three-star recruit, Caimon Mathis was one of the area and state’s best defensive backs in 2022.
The 5-11 defensive back made 51 tackles, intercepted 4 passes and broke up 19 others for a DeSoto team that played in the state’s most-loaded district and won its first state championship since 2016. He was named to The News’ all-area defense team, and was named the Padilla Poll Coaches 6A Defensive Player of the Year for all of Texas.
Mathis signed with Georgia Southern on Wednesday.
Trophy Club Byron Nelson WR Landon Ransom
Preseason top 100 ranking: 91
Rice was the first college to offer Ransom a scholarship, back in February of 2022.
They may be getting a steal.
Ransom, who committed to Rice in June, was one of the Dallas area’s best wide receivers in 2022. He caught 78 passes for 1,337 yards and 16 touchdowns for Trophy Club Byron Nelson, which led all Dallas-area 6A teams in total yards per game (561) and scoring (49.38 points per game).
In a region with plenty of four and five-star wide receivers, Ransom stood out as the focal point of one of the state’s best offenses. He was named to The News’ all-area offensive team.
South Oak Cliff LB Dylan Brown-Turner
Preseason top 100 ranking: N/A
Maybe we should have predicted that a South Oak Cliff defensive player would blossom.
Brown-Turner, who committed to Florida State on Monday, is one of eight South Oak Cliff seniors on the defensive side of the ball who’ve either committed to or signed with Division I colleges. Despite playing in that crowded defense brimming with superstars, Brown-Turner still finished second on the team in tackles with 120, and led South Oak Cliff to its second-straight 5A Div. II state championship.
He committed to North Texas and March, and didn’t back off his pledge until Florida State offered him on Christmas Eve.
North Crowley TE Ka’Morreun Pimpton
Preseason top 100 ranking: N/A
Sometimes a change of scenery can do wonders. Pimpton is proof of that.
In his first season at North Crowley after transferring from Fort Worth Brewer, Pimpton broke out and established himself as one of the nation’s best tight ends. He caught 49 passes for 951 yards and 16 touchdowns on a team which went undefeated in the regular season, and turned from an unranked recruit in a four-star prospect that earned scholarship offers from Texas, Auburn, Iowa and others.
Pimpton, 6-6, entered the season committed to Vanderbilt but signed with LSU in December. He also had the steepest rise of any player on The News’ top 100, going from unranked to No. 26.
Mansfield Lake Ridge DL Rylan Kennedy
Preseason top 100 ranking: N/A
Kennedy outplayed his ranking with ease. Especially because he never had one to begin with.
A 6-4, 210 pound edge rusher, Kennedy played his first and only season of high school football for Lake Ridge last fall, totaled 5 sacks and 61 tackles and held scholarship offers from Texas, USC, Auburn and others by the time early national signing day came. He eventually signed with Texas A&M in December.
An all-district basketball player at Lake Ridge, Kennedy only held one Div. II offer at the conclusion of his senior season of football.
“I think we just barely scratched the surface here at Lake Ridge,” Lake Ridge defensive coordinate AJ Sheppard said. “He’s going to benefit from being in a program like Texas A&M.”
Arlington Martin WR Jeremiah Charles and TE Ismael Smith Flores,
Preseason top 100 rankings: N/A
This one is a package deal for a few reasons.
Both played at Arlington Martin. Neither had played high school football before the 2022 season. Both signed with Nebraska last week.
Charles and Smith Flores, both of whom were unranked recruits before the 2022 season, combined for over 800 receiving yards and 8 touchdowns for Martin as seniors, and showed enough to leave former Martin coach Bob Wager wanting more. Wager, who was hired as Nebraska’s tight end coach in December, recruited both Charles and Smith Flores once he reached Lincoln.
Keller Timber Creek CB Levar Thornton Jr.
Preseason top 100 ranking: N/A
Thornton held just a few scholarship offers from the likes of Incarnate Word, Navy and Sam Houston before his senior season.
By December, he’d signed with Baylor and shot up to No. 40 on The News’ top 100.
An elite athlete with a 6-10 high jump personal best and times of 22.02 in the 200 meter dash and 49.42 in the 400 meter run, the 6-2 athlete went from unranked to a top-30 cornerback in the country, per 247Sports.com.
On Twitter: @McFarland_Shawn
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