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Oil City’s Ethen Knox is the next Braggalone!: Update: season over

The Spin Meister

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An altered state
This running back from Oil City is leading the nation in yardage and has five games of over 400 yds. In eight games he has 2,957 yards and 33 TDs! He is a 6’ 1” junior and weighs 190 lbs(one site says 180). He was a QB and DE as a freshman, moved to running back as a sophomore. Took him a while to learn the position and had a mere 1,800 yds.

Ran the hundred meters in track at 11.9 as a freshman, got it down to 11.3 as a sophomore. Not bad speed for that size and should continue to improve. And he will likely add another 15-20 LBs.

His only offer so far is from Ohio U Bobcats and recently visited Pitt.

Five 400 yd games is a national record ....the previous record was four set by Derrick Henry.....and he could break Braggolone’s yardage record. Especially if they go deep in the playoffs. His team lost two games and has one cakewalk left and a decent game against Sharon to end the regular season.
 
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Same district as Journey Brown but he does not have Journey's speed.
This kid ran an 11.8 as a freshman and an 11.38 last year as a sophomore. Journey ran an 11.60 as a freshman and an 11.36 as a sophomore. According to the attached article his personal best last spring was 11.2 but the 11.38 was run at the District 10 championships. Let's see how Knox does this spring and compare it to Journey's 10.62 time as a Junior.

 
And against journey Brown’s old school Meadville, his team lost 35-0 and he ran for 97 yards. I’m not saying he can’t play D1, but Journey Brown is the exception, not the norm. He is playing against some of the worst competition in the state. I can attest to this, as we. played in the old Erie County League when I was in HS. I can think of a couple PSU guys from up that way besides Journey Brown - Terrence Philips, Drew Astorino, Gio Vandemia, Brian Siverling, Brian Milne, Jordan Kerner. Siverling was before my time, but the only other one that shined was Milne. I’m excluding kids from Erie city schools as the competition level is way different for them.
 
If he gets anywhere near that, he'll probably receive an offer. Has he camped here yet?
According to the article he has visited Ohio U and Pitt. I'm not aware of any camps he's done and the article states he doesn't have a recruiting profile setup on any sites so that probably means he hasn't camped anywhere. I posted factual data which shows his progression is similar to Journey's progression from freshman to sophomore year.

He also plays basketball and runs track and excels at both he's an athlete. This looks to me to be the type of player Joe would turn into a safety except his last name doesn't end in vowel.
 
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This kid ran an 11.8 as a freshman and an 11.38 last year as a sophomore. Journey ran an 11.60 as a freshman and an 11.36 as a sophomore. According to the attached article his personal best last spring was 11.2 but the 11.38 was run at the District 10 championships. Let's see how Knox does this spring and compare it to Journey's 10.62 time as a Junior.

He also plays safety so he doesn’t get much rest with all those carries per game. And half the games were blowouts so they probably played the second half under the mercy rule where the clock never stops so the game is really shortened.

Oil City is said to have a huge line. But he has to have some skills to rack up those yards. Have no idea how good he really is or where he will end up but he is getting some national press. And will get more as the season goes on.
 
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According to the article he has visited Ohio U and Pitt. I'm not aware of any camps he's done and the article states he doesn't have a recruiting profile setup on any sites so that probably means he hasn't camped anywhere. I posted factual data which shows his progression is similar to Journey's progression from freshman to sophomore year.

He also plays basketball and runs track so excells so he's an athlete. This is looks to me to be the type of player Joe would turn into a safety except his last name doesn't end in vowel.
Hey -
Andrew Guman broke that barrier!!! LOL
 
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Pennsbury has a good running back in Mulbuh (sp?). Saw him play against North Penn last week. 6’2” 210 lbs. Was pretty impressive in that game.
 
According to Maxprepps, Knox had over 400 yds Friday for his seventh 400 yd game. He now has over 3,300 yds and 33 TDs in nine games. Saw one write up that said he may have had ‘only’ 395 yds. One writer had him at exactly 400, one at 407.

Watched some film of his runs and he looks a lot like Allen in that he has amazing vision and makes a lot of cuts picking his way through any crease he sees. He has decent full speed but doesn’t have that explosive acceleration that great backs use to get deep. He also runs standing straight up and needs to use better form.

And his opposition is pretty weak so really hard to say just how good he is or will be. He is a junior and this is only his second year at running back so he should improve. He also plays safety and has several interceptions so he has to be in great shape. Plays basketball and runs track so an overall pretty good athlete.
 
 
And against journey Brown’s old school Meadville, his team lost 35-0 and he ran for 97 yards. I’m not saying he can’t play D1, but Journey Brown is the exception, not the norm. He is playing against some of the worst competition in the state. I can attest to this, as we. played in the old Erie County League when I was in HS. I can think of a couple PSU guys from up that way besides Journey Brown - Terrence Philips, Drew Astorino, Gio Vandemia, Brian Siverling, Brian Milne, Jordan Kerner. Siverling was before my time, but the only other one that shined was Milne. I’m excluding kids from Erie city schools as the competition level is way different for them.
In IM basketball my senior year I was the small forward on a team with 2 stars from a Williamsport state champion team, a former 6'7" Roman Catholic player who was a PSU cheerleader, and a guy who played at Harrisburg High.

I was 6"3 and maybe 150lbs. We played against a football player team in the final 4 and I got matched against Siverling. He scored maybe 10 or 12 points in no time posting me up on every play. I tried everything but just had no chance against a future NFL player!

Good times!
 
Have you watched any of his videos? What’s your opinion of his skills and future?
I can find his measurables but it looks like he's ~ 6-1 and 175 lbs. Like Journey, he'd be a "project". The video I saw was that the team blocks very well and he is faster than anyone on the field. It does look like he has great vision and follows the blockers really well. Can he change to a player when everyone is as fast as he is?

He'll have to get up to 210 or more and retain his speed. Then he'll have to adjust to the speed of the game.

I wonder if he can play S as well.
 
From what I see he could grow into a Mike LB. Kid has good hips, change of direction, and doesn’t get knocked off his feet on first contact. At this point he does not have Big 5 speed. Didn’t see him out runs any kids.
 
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Have you watched any of his videos? What’s your opinion of his skills and future?
It looks like he's an above-average athlete playing against subpar competition. At 6'-1" 190, he and his lineman dominate most defensive players they play against. He was averaging 400 yds a game going into the Meadville (undefeated) game a few weeks ago, his team was shut out and he gained 97 yds on 19 carries. His first carry from scrimmage was a 40 yd gain, he went on to gain 57 yds on 18 carries, not including this game he had averaged about 40 carries per game and 10 yds per carry.
 
Looks like he belongs at the Edinboro/Gannon level to me. He has an odd gait to his running as well.
 
In IM basketball my senior year I was the small forward on a team with 2 stars from a Williamsport state champion team, a former 6'7" Roman Catholic player who was a PSU cheerleader, and a guy who played at Harrisburg High.

I was 6"3 and maybe 150lbs. We played against a football player team in the final 4 and I got matched against Siverling. He scored maybe 10 or 12 points in no time posting me up on every play. I tried everything but just had no chance against a future NFL player!

Good times!
Siverling was a stud football and basketball player in high school. All state three times in basketball and set the career scoring record at his school. He was honorable mention all state his senior year in football as a QB. The dude was a ridiculous athlete.
 
How many white dudes from small, rural schools get FBS scholarships to play RB? 2?
He’s probably a D2 or lower level FCS player (Duquesne or similar)
 
Mapletown in Greene County has Landon Stevenson breaking school records right now. Mapletown probably graduates 30 to 40 kids a year.

Before you snicker, the records he is breaking are Derek Bochna’s. For those whose don’t remember, Bochna started at corner and safety 4 years for PSU. I think he also broke the home run record for the baseball team.
 
I 1st met Joe Paterno at a dinner honoring Ed ONeal. Ed was Warren High School's 1st and only all-American linebacker.
Sadly Joe typically ignored or under recruited the Erie schools and great athletes went to Notre Dame and Iowa and other places.
 
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Sadly, Oil City’s playoff run is over. And so is the record breaking season for Ethen Knox.

They played Slippery Rock Friday night and had a terrible start. The Rock scored on a 64 yd run on the first play of the game, recovered an onside kick, and scored six plays later ot take a 14-0 lead before the OV offense even took the field.

OC then ran six plays and had to punt. SR then drove down for a field goal.....17-0

Then Mr Knox exploded for an 80 yd TD on the first play after the kickoff but missed the extra point, 17-6. SR drove down for another TD, 24-6. OC got the ensuing kickoff only the 14 yd line but, on the next play, Knox took it 86 yds for another TD. And they failed on the two point conversion, now 24-12.

SR than drove for another TD and made it 31-12 with over six minutes left in the half. OC then had a ten play drive with Knox scoring from 14 yds and then he made a two point, 31-20 with 31 seconds left. SR made a few quick passes and got a field goal making it 34-20 at the half.

Knox scored on a short run late in the third and made a two point to make it 34-28. SR got another TD early in the fourth for a final score of 41-28. Knox ended with 343 yds and 4 TDs.

Not sure but methinks the junior running back ended the season with over 4,000 yds and 41 TDs. Five games of over 400 yards, one with 395.

 
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Hoping the Nits offer this kid even if he is no. 20-25 on the list. Give the kid a chance in 2024, James. He’s got to have some skill to develop. Stop the Florida train of prospects.
 
Hoping the Nits offer this kid even if he is no. 20-25 on the list. Give the kid a chance in 2024, James. He’s got to have some skill to develop. Stop the Florida train of prospects.
Let’s see how he looks in the spring during track season. If he is able to add some weight and increase the speed a bit then maybe we were talking.
 
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Look at some of the recruits Franklion has taken at the bottom of his classes. You mean to tell me they’re better than a kid that runs for 4,000 yds in a season? Come on man. I’d take a flyer on this kid just on his HS performance alone at #25.
 
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Be nice to get him at camp. See how he tests.

Let’s see how he looks in the spring during track season. If he is able to add some weight and increase the speed a bit then maybe we were talking.
At the minimum it is time to at least talk to young man and show some interest. Start a relationship. Then get him to a couple camps and check him out. Remember Journey Brown was from the same area and was a late offer.
 
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Look at some of the recruits Franklion has taken at the bottom of his classes. You mean to tell me they’re better than a kid that runs for 4,000 yds in a season? Come on man. I’d take a flyer on this kid just on his HS performance alone at #25.

Our staff is doing pretty good at evaluating RBs. Some of the ones they had highest on the board last year (Hampton, Pettaway, Judkins) are having really good true freshman years so far.

If they don't decide to offer, it's probably because the kid won't have D1 potential without extreme hard work. Look at Montgomery. He's rated top 300 or so and he had to work to get his offer. You can't gripe about losses to OSu and Michigan then be like "let's take a flyer on this kid."

PWO would be ideal if he doesn't blow up during track season.
 
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This running back from Oil City is leading the nation in yardage and has five games of over 400 yds. In eight games he has 2,957 yards and 33 TDs! He is a 6’ 1” junior and weighs 190 lbs(one site says 180). He was a QB and DE as a freshman, moved to running back as a sophomore. Took him a while to learn the position and had a mere 1,800 yds.

Ran the hundred meters in track at 11.9 as a freshman, got it down to 11.3 as a sophomore. Not bad speed for that size and should continue to improve. And he will likely add another 15-20 LBs.

His only offer so far is from Ohio U Bobcats and recently visited Pitt.

Five 400 yd games is a national record ....the previous record was four set by Derrick Henry.....and he could break Braggolone’s yardage record. Especially if they go deep in the playoffs. His team lost two games and has one cakewalk left and a decent game against Sharon to end the regular season.
He’s going to Lehigh?
 
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Here’s an update. Says he is pushing 200 lbs now. The article is a bit over the top but good info. Says he has 20 D1 schools interested but won’t say who.

In watching his film he looks a lot like K Allen. Quick moves, great vision, power. He has good top speed but seems a bit slow in acceleration and getting to top speEd.

 
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