Happy Labor Day and Week 1 to all of you. Football season is finally underway and the best time of year is officially upon us.
This was also a big week in high school football.
Bryce Underwood, the nation’s top prospect, opened his season while Julian Lewis, the USC commit, got a big win over a rival.
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Let’s dive in.
Bryce Underwood
School: Belleville (Mich.) High
Committed to: LSU
Ranking: No. 1 nationally, No. 1 QB
Underwood’s mission has been to deliver Belleville another state championship after the Tigers lost in the finals in 2023.
It was close Friday night, but Underwood is off to a 1-0 start after a thrilling 35-28 season-opening win over Clarkston. Underwood scored the game-winning touchdown on a 55-yard run with about 90 seconds to play, weaving in and out of traffic before sprinting down the Belleville sideline and into the end zone.
welp Bryce Underwood 55-yard TD run to regain the lead pic.twitter.com/AsAF3CduWt
— solvingfootball (@solvingfootball) August 30, 2024
He also had this 37-yard run earlier in the night, showing how dangerous he can be with his stop-and-go speed.
LSU commit Bryce Underwood 37-yard TD run pic.twitter.com/2MYtCTPSjw
— solvingfootball (@solvingfootball) August 30, 2024
The LSU commit rushed for 177 yards and threw for 90 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, per MLive.com.
Underwood committed to the Tigers and coach Brian Kelly in January and hasn’t seemed to look back since.
“LSU — just me looking from the outside in — stood out right away because they showed a lot of interest in him from Day 1,” Belleville coach Calvin Norman said this spring. “The more they kept coming by, I knew that was gonna be the fit for him.”
Tavien St. Clair
School: Bellefontaine (Ohio) High
Committed to: Ohio StateRanking: No. 6 overall, No. 2 QB
After opening the season with a 27-point win last week, Bellefontaine dropped a 35-14 decision to Bellbrook on Friday night.
St. Clair did his part, throwing for 300-plus yards and two touchdowns, per Cleveland.com, but the Chieftains went scoreless in the second and third quarters.
St. Clair and Bellefontaine hope to bounce back on Friday against Westerville Central in what should be a manageable matchup. Westerville Central went 2-9 in 2023 and is off to an 0-2 start this season.
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Not that St. Clair will take any opponent for granted.
“It’s just a great blessing when your best players are your hardest workers, and he epitomizes that,” Bellefontaine coach Jason Brown said last week. “He’s truly a rising tide for us, and we say all the time in our program that rising tides raise all ships. And he does that for us.”
Keelon Russell
School: Duncanville (Texas) High
Committed to: AlabamaRanking: No. 13 nationally, No. 3 QB
Duncanville opens its season on Friday night against South Oak Cliff. The Panthers finished the 2023 season with a second consecutive state championship and will enter the 2024 season as one of Texas’ top teams once again.
The Alabama commit was asked last week about his team’s quest for a third straight championship. Not surprisingly, his confidence level is quite high.
Ofc‼️🤷🏾♂️ https://t.co/AHB7GnqPmv
— Keelon “Dot em” Russell (@Pres1dential) August 28, 2024
And it’s easy to see why after watching him make throws like these:
#Alabama QB commit Keelon Russell has posted highlights from his recent scrimmage.
The 5⭐️ prospect continues to show why he’s one of the top signal callers in the nation 🎯
Join the discussion on the BOL Round Table! ➡️ https://t.co/4H5Jo6bM5f#RollTide pic.twitter.com/IlRo6DNDhV
— BamaOnLine (@BOL_On3) August 25, 2024
Julian Lewis
School: Carrollton (Ga.) High
Committed to: USCRanking: No. 16 nationally, No. 4 QB
Carrollton and Lewis continue to roll, picking up their third win of the season on Friday night against rival Rome. Lewis, the USC commit, did not disappoint in the Trojans’ 44-22 victory. He threw for 352 yards and five touchdowns while completing 30 of 35 attempts. He also picked up his first rushing touchdown of the season, accounting for all six of the Trojans’ scores.
Through three games, Lewis is 59-of-76 passing for 752 yards with 12 touchdowns and one interception. He has completed 77.6 percent of passes after finishing with a 66.4 completion rate as a junior in 2023.
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After Friday’s game, Lewis credited his offensive line — which had a freshman stepping in for an injured player — for helping him get the job done.
The linemen will have a special treat waiting for them first thing Monday, he told Georgia Public Broadcasting.
“Monday, they’ll get donuts,” he said.
Congratulations to @JuJuLewis10, tonight's @GACottonComm Player of the Game! @osgnelson caught up with the @Carrollton_High senior QB and @uscfb commit, about his impressive game tonight 🏈
He threw for over 350 yards with five passing touchdowns and one rushing 🎉. #GPBSports pic.twitter.com/8oeS3VGK4w
— GPB Sports (@GPBsports) August 31, 2024
Deuce Knight
School: George County (Miss.) High
Committed to: Notre DameRanking: No. 29 nationally, No. 5 QB
Knight’s senior season started with a bang on Friday night when George County beat East Central, 33-7.
George County scored two rushing touchdowns, one passing touchdown, one TD on a kick return and another on a pick six — making it an easy night for Knight.
The bigger storyline around Knight, who has been committed to Notre Dame since September 2023, was his pregame towel choice.
Deuce Knight ready to take the field for the first time as a senior. He’s sporting an Auburn 🐯 towelhttps://t.co/quducrG5m6 pic.twitter.com/zZ3ectil4l
— Sam Spiegelman (@samspiegs) August 31, 2024
Knight warmed up with an Auburn towel just ahead of his visit to see the Tigers this past weekend. He switched to an Ole Miss towel in the third quarter.
4⭐️QB Deuce Knight sporting the Ole Miss 🦈 towel for this third quarterhttps://t.co/quducrFxwy pic.twitter.com/GeZDjz8R4I
— Sam Spiegelman (@samspiegs) August 31, 2024
There is chatter that Knight might be on the verge of flipping to Auburn.
Husan Longstreet
School: Centennial (Calif.) High
Committed to: Ranking: No. 35 nationally, No. 6 QB
Longstreet didn’t play in Centennial’s season opener against Mater Dei due to a foot injury, but he made his 2024 debut on Friday in a game he’ll want to flush as soon as possible. Centennial is now 0-2 after losing to Santa Margarita, 31-15.
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Santa Margarita picked off Longstreet twice, per a local report, on a night when Centennial scored just one offensive touchdown.
After the loss, Longstreet made his way to College Station to see Texas A&M take on Notre Dame.
Exciting day yesterday @AggieFootball didn’t get the result we wanted but it’s EVIDENT THAT OUR FUTURE IS BRIGHT!#GigEm #ELKOERA
— Husan Longstreet (@HusanLongstreet) September 1, 2024
Centennial will look to pick up its first win of the season on Friday against Timpview High School from Provo, Utah.
Matt Zollers
School: Spring-Ford Area (Pa.) High
Committed to: MissouriRanking: No. 41 nationally, No. 7 QB
Spring-Ford Area lost to East Area 49-7 on Friday — and it was not a great night for the Missouri commit. Zollers completed 7 of 17 passes for 84 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions. His 41.2 percent completion percentage was his lowest mark since his freshman season, and the three interceptions were more than he threw all of last season (two).
Zollers said last week that he has been getting used to a new style of offense this season after Spring-Ford lost its speediest receiver to graduation. It appears it’s still a work in progress.
Spring-Ford plays Downingtown East next week.
George MacIntyre
School: Brentwood (Tenn.) Academy
Committed to: TennesseeRanking: No. 58 nationally, No. 8 QB
A week after MacIntyre threw a crushing interception in the final moments of Brentwood Academy’s season-opening loss, the Eagles picked up their first win on Friday, a 16-6 victory against rival Brentwood High School.
MacIntyre threw for 291 yards, per The Tennessean, and led Brentwood Academy to only its third win over the past two seasons.
“They were 2-10 (last year),” newly hired Brentwood Academy coach Paul Wade said last week. “Worst record in school history.”
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Wade said Brentwood Academy has done everything it can to take the pressure off of MacIntyre, who has all eyes on him at all times as a four-star Tennessee commit.
Next up, Brentwood Academy plays Christian Brothers out of Memphis this weekend.
Ryan Montgomery
School: Findlay (Ohio) High
Committed to: GeorgiaRanking: No. 77 nationally, No. 9 QB
Montgomery, the Georgia commit, announced last weekthat he tore his ACL in Findlay’s season opener and will be out for the rest of his senior season. Here’s to wishing him a smooth recovery.
Madden Iamaleava
School: Warren (Calif.) High
Committed to: UCLARanking: No. 114 nationally, No. 10 QB
Warren is 0-2 on the season after losing 36-0 to Junipero Serra.
But the bigger storyline surrounds Iamaleava’s future with the program.
Per Tarek Fattal of SBLiveSports in California, Iamaleava wasn’t at the game amid rumors that he may be leaving the program. Iamaleava’s father told Fattal that Madden had not “checked out,” but as one UCLA reporter noted, Iamaleava is no longer listed on Warren’s roster on MaxPreps. Stay tuned.
Bonus
SMU may have lost its initial quarterback commit when Russell flipped to Alabama, but the Mustangs wasted no time picking up another — flipping four-star Ty Hawkins from nearby TCU.
Hawkins, the nation’s No. 171 prospect and No. 14 quarterback, plays at IMG (Fla.) Academy. He lost his first game of the season against Corner Canyon (Utah) High but still threw for 260 yards and three touchdowns. This week? IMG picked up its first win of the season, and Hawkins was back at it. He threw for 260-plus yards and accounted for four touchdowns.
(Photo of Tavien St. Clair: Lori Schmidt / Columbus Dispatch / USA Today Network)
Grace Raynor is a staff writer for The Athletic covering recruiting and southeastern college football. A native of western North Carolina, she graduated from the University of North Carolina. Follow Grace on Twitter @gmraynor
