’26 OL is ranked at top (or near it) by most national services in KY for his graduating class
We went to watch 4-star Martels Carter play, one night, by invitation of the Tilghman radio broadcast team on the West Kentucky Star. We were impressed by the UK commitment. However, we thought “old No. 70” was THE BEST HS OL we had ever seen. You talk about dominant. Seventy was pancaking every lineman he encountered, taking out entire sides of the defensive scrimmage line and not just the guy across from him. His movement, feet, and dynamic punch defied belief. We looked at Tilghman’s play by play guy (Bret Larimer) and said, “Who in the Hell is that guy wearing No. 70?” Well his name (was) is “Jarvis Strickland” and it is high time you HS football enthusiasts get out your pens and write that name somewhere you can get your hands on it later.
HB Lyon, Scouting Director, KPGFootball
Paducah, KY: There is no better time than the present to anoint another Independence Bank, Revolutionary Player of the Week. Independence Bank is proud to sponsor a weekly article highlighting players in the areas where Independence Bank flourishes who embody the same type of revolutionary service to their respective football teams which has made Independence Bank unique and special in the banking industry.
Today we honor a ’26 OL many, around the commonwealth, believe to be the very best prospect in Kentucky in his graduating class at any position. This week’s recipient had an incredible sophomore season and is soaring into his junior year compiling offers at an incredible rate. This is one of the very best football players in all of western Kentucky. Today we honor Jarvis Strickland, ’26 OL, from Paducah, Kentucky’s Tilghman High.
Independence Bank is proud to sponsor a weekly article
Independence Bank
Paducah Tilghman is located just down the road from today’s featured branch. We are featuring the branch located on Jefferson Square, 3143 Broadway Street, Paducah, KY 42001.
Get on by the Paducah area locations today and see our friends. Learn why Independence Bank‘s products, people, and services have started a revolution in the Kentucky banking industry.
We were invited by the broadcast crew of the West Kentucky Star to watch the Hoptown @ Paducah Tilghman game a year ago. We went on air with Bret Larimer in large part to publicize our then fledgling, weekly podcast produced and distributed by NewsRadio 840WHAS out of Louisville.
The point was to see the 4-star safety, Martels Carter, playing for Paducah. Carter was both widely and nationally being recruited. Carter has since committed to Kentucky. Carter was scintillating.
We were there to watch Martels Carter; came away as impressed with Jarvis Strickland
Friday Night Fletch
However, there was another player who caught our eye. He wore No. 70 and he was as destructive a force along an offensive front as we have EVER seen play at the high school level.
If you had taken a high school all-stater and put him in a junior pro game he wouldn’t have demolished a front any more significantly than what we saw. He was a bull in a china shop. Nothing but waste and destruction lay in his wake.
His name was (and is) Jarvis Strickland. Strickland is a 6’6,” 290-pound man who transferred in, with Martels Carter, from Chattanooga’s Brainerd High School. We believe, but have not confirmed, the two of them may be related, by blood or marriage, but can’t swear to it.
Here is an understatement for the reader…Strickland is being highly recruited. The rising junior already sports offers from Tennessee, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Alabama A&M, Georgia Tech, South Carolina, Michigan State, USF, Old Dominion, Troy, Tennessee State, Toledo, Memphis, Vanderbilt, Tulane, Liberty, Charlotte, Austin Peay, Louisville, and Eastern Kentucky.
Strickland sports offers from the likes of Tennessee, UK, Ole Miss, South Carolina, and Michigan State, among many others…
Rivals.com
He adds to this list seemingly daily. By the time this is published, Strickland will have added many more to this ever growing list of suitors.
Strickland is somewhat of an anomaly. He doesn’t just have a college ready frame. Strickland appears to us to already have a college ready game. You don’t see that often among young players his size.
He plays football with an angry disposition. Strickland arrives at his intended target in a very foul mood. Ranking services have taken notice.
Strickland is rated by 247Sports.com the top prospect in Kentucky in the ’26 class. Rivals.com has him at number five. Both services list him as a three-star, a rating almost certain to substantially increase as his junior year moves along toward what Tilghman hopes will be a 4A Kentucky title.
Strickland’s performance, both over his sophomore year (’23) and the one we know he will render in ’24, as a junior, is (and will be) well deserving of this week’s recognition from the fastest growing bank in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, our friends at Independence Bank.
This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for Kentucky Prep Gridiron, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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