2018 Elite 11 filled with playmakers

The common theme in this year’s The Southeast Sun/Daleville Sun-Courier Elite 11 team is that it’s filled with a group of playmakers from New Brockton, Enterprise and Daleville.

The Elite 11 Offensive Player of the Year is Daleville running back Jalen White, who exploded onto the Wiregrass football scene as a sophomore in 2017, but in 2018 became one of the top running backs in Class 2A.

White rushed for 1,745 yards and 18 touchdowns in his junior campaign, while also scoring another touchdown receiving and leading the Warhawk defense with 78 tackles, three tackles-for-loss and three sacks at safety.

“Jalen is a great, great football player,” Daleville coach Trey Woolf said. “He works hard and really carried the load for us at the end of the year.”

In the playoffs, White rushed for more than 500 yards and five touchdowns in just two games.

“I felt like at the beginning of the season we had something to prove because a lot of people didn’t think we could go as far (in the playoffs) as we did,” White said. “I knew what we were capable of and I wasn’t shocked by our success. I think we should have gone farther in the playoffs, but we proved a lot of people wrong.”

While White and Woolf gave credit to an improving offensive line late in the season, White also said that something inside of him drove him to the success he had in the playoffs.

“It was just something that drove me,” White said. “I just wanted a state championship so bad, and when we got to the playoffs something struck me. Every time I ran the ball I ran it like it was my last time.”

Coming into 2018, both Woolf and White said that he needed to become a leader of the Warhawk locker room.

“He’s a quiet kid but he goes out there every single day and does what he’s supposed to do,” Woolf said. “A quiet leader for us and just a really good football player.”

White also set an individual goal of 2,000 rushing yards in 2018, a mark he just missed, and he said that will be his goal again in 2019, but he has a much bigger goal in mind, as well.

“I didn’t reach my goal this year of 2,000 yards, so I’m going to attack that again next year,” White said. “We’re going for a state championship, though. That’s my ultimate goal.”

Daleville senior defensive end Gabe Elrod had to fight through excruciating pain on his way to earning the Elite 11 Defensive Player of the Year in 2018.

During the preseason, Elrod tore his ACL but after originally being told he would require surgery to repair the injury, was cleared to play with a brace.

“I went through a lot of pain and a lot of suffering with my ACL injury, but I pushed through and God was with me all the way,” Elrod said. “It was great to get to see my mom and my family at every game this year and the season was just great all the way around.”

Fighting through that injury, Elrod totaled 41 tackles, 18 tackles-for-loss and four sacks, but he saved his best performance for late in the year. Elrod recorded 11 tackles, four tackles-for-loss, two sacks, a forced fumble and a huge fumble recovery that set up a Warhawk touchdown against Reeltown in the first round of the playoffs.

“Elrody played all year with a torn ACL and that just goes to show you what kind of kid he is,” Woolf said. “He just wanted to play that bad. He also hurt his elbow late in the year and I joked with him that he was wearing more braces than pads.

“I was really pleased with him and so proud of the way he fought through that adversity and helped out our team.”

Elrod said the injury, while painful, was a humbling experience for the 6-foot-4-inch, 320-pound defender.

“It was very humbling but God is great,” Elrod said. “There was a chance I wasn’t going to get to play at all. When I got here I was really cocky and then I got injured and felt like I had lost everything.

“Then God gave it all back to me and I was able to finish the year strong.”

The Elite 11 All-Around Player of the Year Josh McCray, of Enterprise, also had to fight through adversity in his sophomore campaign.

Despite dealing with nagging injuries all season, McCray totaled 979 all-purpose yards and 15 total touchdowns as the definition of “athlete” on the Wildcat offense.

McCray led Enterprise with 45 catches for 558 yards and three touchdowns, while also leading the rushing attack with 12 rushing touchdowns. McCray also led Enterprise as a kickoff returner and punt returner.

“Josh is an unbelievable athlete and a good, hard-nosed kid,” Enterprise offensive coordinator Joe Thornton said. “He has such a bright future in front of him. He came to work every day and played hard and got better each and every week despite the injuries.”

McCray started two games as a freshman at running back in 2017, but was moved to slot receiver where he spent the majority of 2018.

“Coach (Shane) Corley and Coach (Justin) Jones did an unbelievable job getting him coached up and investing a lot of time into him,” Joe Thornton said. “He took the coaching and was really able to transition to wide receiver and did an unbelievable job for us.”

With new Enterprise coach Rick Darlington likely bringing his run-oriented “single wing” offense to the City of Progress, McCray could very well see a return to running back and if that is the case, he could become Enterprise’s featured back. McCray already holds scholarship offers from Tennessee, UAB and Troy among others.

Joining Elrod and White on the Elite 11 from Daleville is sophomore quarterback Peanut Bloodsaw.

The first year starter completed 45-of-105 passes for 917 yards and 11 touchdowns with just three interceptions along with 511 yards and nine more touchdowns on the ground.

“Peanut did a really good job for us, especially this being his first year as a starter,” Woolf said. “He made some really good plays and I was really pleased with him.”

As the season progressed, the Daleville offense got to open up a bit more as Woolf and the coaching staff trusted the young quarterback more in the passing game and he had his best performances late in the season.

“We just had to pick our spots,” Woolf said of the passing game. “We tried to be a run first team but Peanut did a really good job with the play action and he made some big plays for us in the running game, too.”

Quarterback Grant Thornton, linebacker Tyler Van Alstine and safety Romaine McFarland join McCray as Enterprise representatives on the Elite 11.

Thornton ended 2018 breaking the Enterprise single-season passing record by completing 168-of-285 passes for 1,893 yards and 14 touchdowns with eight interceptions. 

“Grant did a great job coming in every day and working hard and being a ‘watch me’ guy for the younger kids,” Joe Thornton said. “He set an example for the younger guys in what hard work, dedication and what being a good teammate is.”

McFarland had to transition to a new position, from cornerback to safety, during the offseason but embraced the move leading Enterprise with 66 tackles, 2.5 tackles-for-loss, an interception and five pass breakups.

“Romaine had to move to a couple of positions for us, but he probably would have been better as a natural cornerback,” 2018 Enterprise defensive coordinator Tracy Buckhannon said. “We had to ask him to move to safety because of some injuries and he really adapted to that and did everything we asked him to do. He learned to play the position and did it to the best of his ability.”

McFarland was also one of the leaders of the Wildcat defense in 2018, along with Van Alstine.

Van Alstine was second on the team in tackles with 54 tackles along with two tackles-for-loss, two sacks, an interception, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble.

Van Alstine’s responsibility, as a linebacker, was calling the defense on the field and making sure his teammates got lined up right.

“Tyler had to come in and learn a new defense and also be able to call the defense for us,” Buckhannon said. “I thought he did a tremendous job for us and getting people lined up. He’s a great student of the game and did every single thing I ever asked of him.”

The New Brockton Gamecocks are also well represented on this season’s Elite 11 team with freshman quarterback Kaden Cupp, senior running back Drew Simon, junior defensive end Josh Cardwell and junior tight end/punter Russell Weeks.

Cupp led the New Brockton offense and ended the season by breaking the single-season passing yardage and touchdown record with 1,774 yards and 18 touchdowns. Cupp did all of that despite being just a freshman with zero varsity starts.

Simon led New Brockton’s ground attack for the second consecutive season with 948 yards and 15 touchdowns along with 294 yards and two more touchdowns receiving.

Simon was the hard-nosed runner that the Gamecocks leaned on when they needed to pick up tough yardage throughout the season.

Weeks was second on the team in receiving with 28 catches for 416 yards and six touchdowns, but also was a brutal blocker with 52 pancake blocks in the running game.

Cardwell fought through injuries in 2018 and managed to record 46 tackles, a team-leading nine tackles-for-loss, four sacks, 10 quarterback hurries, one pass breakup and a fumble recovery.

Cardwell and White are the only repeat Elite 11 players on this year’s list.

New Brockton sophomore receiver Colton Marsh also receives honorable mention on this year’s Elite 11 as he led the Gamecocks with 34 catches, 578 yards and six touchdowns along with 15 punt returns for 182 yards and another touchdown despite coming into 2018 having never played receiver.

Marsh started multiple games in 2017 as a freshman quarterback.

Enterprise linebacker KD McCray also receives honorable mention as one of the leaders of the Enterprise defense.

KD McCray totaled 45 tackles, a team leading nine tackles-for-loss and three sacks despite playing in just five games after suffering an ACL tear in week five.

Daleville’s honorable mention goes to senior linebacker Gabe Gordon who ended up second on the team with 74 tackles, five tackles-for-loss, an interception and three forced fumbles.