Meet the kid who just played the most unfair spring game in high school football history
BRADENTON, Fla. — In its annual spring football game, IMG Academy beat East Ridge High School on Thursday by a final score of 49-20.
IMG is a prestigious prep program and features a roster full of 4- and 5-star talent on its way to the collegiate level. East Ridge is a run-of-the-mill public school about 20 miles west of Orlando.
The result was borderline meaningless, of course. IMG, which will play a regular-season schedule of state champions and regional powers across America in 2017, needed a sacrificial lamb to put a bow on spring ball. East Ridge was looking to challenge itself against the best of the best and get some much-needed exposure.
In all likelihood, nobody slept better upon crawling back into his own bed than East Ridge rising senior Josh Colston.
A two-way warrior for the Knights, Colston lined up at left tackle on offense and right end on defense. East Ridge only dressed about 40 players for the game, while the Ascenders on the opposite sideline had more than 70.
From start to finish, no one drew tougher assignments than the 6-foot-2, 235-pound Colston. When he was on offense, across the line of scrimmage was 5-star defensive end Xavier Thomas. According to the composite rankings at 247Sports, Thomas is the top pass rusher in the country and No. 2 recruit overall for the class of 2018.
At 6-3 and 263, Thomas is an inch taller than Colston and outweighs him by 28 pounds. He’s twice as quick, too.
Needless to say, Thomas got the better of Colston more often than not. East Ridge quarterback Zack Conde barely had enough time to take a three-step drop before being pounded by IMG’s defensive line snap after snap.
Credit: Will Ogburn-Saturday Down South
Believe it or not, blocking Thomas one-on-one might have been easier than what Colston had to do defensively. When rushing the passer, he was repeatedly going up against offensive tackle Daniel Faalele. If you haven’t heard Faalele’s name before, he’s a 6-foot-8, 400-pound import from Australia who’s new to football.
Incredibly mobile for a kid his size, Faalele already has 19 scholarship offers, including seven from SEC schools.
Faalele is currently a 3-star recruit, not 4- or 5-stars, because he is still yet to participate in an actual game. He’s been dominant on the camp circuit, but the spring contest against East Ridge is the closest he’s come to the real thing.
Recruiting sites like 247Sports — along with Rivals, Scout and even ESPN — aren’t perfect, but they’re right more often than they’re wrong. While IMG is loaded with talent on both sides of the ball, East Ridge has but one blue-chipper. Wide receiver Justin Watkins is a 4-star recruit and committed to Texas.
Nearly every other Knight has gone unranked by the recruiting services, including Colston. He didn’t back down once, though.
“They’re just great players,” Colston told me. “You just gotta rise up to the occasion sometimes. You’re always gonna have a good player against you sometimes in certain games. You just have to rise up to the situation, and that’s the big thing about winning football games. Great players have to rise up to the occasion and just be great.”
In addition to Faalele, Thomas battles a bevy of top prospects in practice every day. Center Verdis Brown is 6-4, 295. Guard Curtis Dunlap is 6-5, 385. Tackle Reuben Unije is 6-6, 310. Thomas is on his way to defending national champion Clemson.
“He’s a terrific player,” Colston said. “I give all my respect to him. Great hands, great length. He did a really good job.”
First Colston got torn to pieces on offense by Thomas for three downs — East Ridge didn’t move the ball much early and was down 28-0 by the second quarter — and then flipped over to defense to get beaten into the turf by Faalele for an entire scoring drive. The Aussie was the biggest human being he’d ever seen in his life.
“Oh, yes, by far,” Colston said. “He’s one big fella.”
Credit: Will Ogburn-Saturday Down South
Still, every time he got knocked down, he got right back up. Colston even has a scouting report now on the relatively unknown Faalele.
“You just gotta stay low,” Colston said. “You gotta stay flat back. You gotta keep your arms locked out, because if he gets his hands on you, you’re done. That’s just what happens.”
Had IMG been able to build its lead to 35 points or more in the second half, the officials would’ve instituted a running clock — Florida high school football’s version of the mercy rule. At 28-0, it seemed all but inevitable.
But the Knights got on the board with a 65-yard touchdown pass late in the second period. On the old hook-and-ladder play, Conde fired quickly to Sammy Becorest, who then lateraled to Watkins. The future Longhorn did the rest, outrunning 4-star cornerback and Nebraska commitment Brendan Radley-Hiles to the end zone.
Although the Ascenders were ahead by 28 on three occasions, East Ridge refused to go down 35 and initiate the running clock.
Spring drills are now over for both teams. IMG, which hasn’t lost a game since 2014, should be in the running for a national title this season. The Knights, 6-4 last year in class 7-A, have goals a lot less lofty.
For Colston, even if he never plays beyond East Ridge, he may have just spent an evening competing against a pair of eventual first-round draft picks. Thomas will soon join a Clemson squad that churns out defensive linemen for the NFL. Nobody knows how great Faalele can be until he actually learns how to play.
College coaches from far and wide were in attendance. They were all there to see the team in black. But nobody played harder than No. 54 in gold.
* This column has been update to reflect that Sammy Becorest caught the original pass on the hook-and-ladder play, not Josh Colston.
