Strong, powerful, and explosive up the middle with length, athleticism, and attitude at the tackles this group proves we definitely have a “type”
We know a bit about evaluating high school talent. If we were wanting to put together a football team it would be very hard to improve on this particular offensive front five. These guys all move well, are well put together, are explosive, powerful, and devastating at the point of attack. The tackles have plus length and are hard to flank with the way they use that length and the quick, nimble feet demonstrated through this point of their playing careers. This list may look different at year’s end. Who knows what the future might bring, even the immediate future? However, that aside, if you’re asking us to put together an All-State, small school (1A, 2A, & 3A) OL, we are rocking with these guys.
HB Lyon, Scouting Director, KPGFootball
We will begin with the center position and work our way outside. We have a particularly skilled OC on this preseason team who is quite athletic. He is a recent Air Force commitment and is slated to move outside to tackle at the Academy. He will play center for Lexington Christian Academy this Fall.
Offensive Center (2025): Hayes Preston, 6’3,” 265-pounds, Lexington Christian Academy
It isn’t everyday you see a high school center who has the length and the mobility of Preston. The Falcon commitment is lengthy and sturdy, bench pressing 325 while squatting a cool quarter-ton (500-pounds). What is perhaps more impressive is his mobility.
Centers have to get down the field and eat up second, and sometimes, third level defenders. Preston can do just that with his 4.6-second agility shuttle, 7.4-second L-cone, and 9’1″ long jump. That is tremendous explosion, burst, and change of direction speed and agility.
Centers must also be smart. Preston’s 4.21-GPA will make his admission into the United State’s Air Force Academy a foregone conclusion. Heading into ’24, if this isn’t the best OC at the 1A, 2A, or 3A levels, I would like to meet his superior!
Left Guard (2026): Bo Wolford, 6’3,” 285-pounds, Belfry High
If you are attentive, you will notice a trend especially among the three interior guys. We like powerful, explosive, athletes manning the interior posts. Big pressers and squatters, guys who can punch a defender off his intended path and work over a pass rusher from low to high with core strength, power, and explosion. Our two guards, especially this guy here, are the poster children for this concept.
Bo Wolford is a guy who should be in the “Mr. Football” race next year and I am not kidding. Running the rock at Belfry High is a science and, practically, a religion. This guy here will grade the road for a team, making the inside running attack impossible to contain.
There’s no way around this cat, you just have to whip him and we can’t imagine anyone in the KHSAA who can profess themselves sufficiently capable. Wolford squats 535 pounds, presses 355, power cleans 290, and made the FBU Adidas, All-American team. He didn’t allow a single sack in ’23. Might be the best OG to come through these parts in several years.
Right Guard (2026): Sawyer Hall, 6’0,” 290-pounds, Breathitt High
Bluegrass Sports Nation, Highlights
Going along with our established trend for interior, upfront guys, allow us to introduce you to Sawyer Hall from Breathitt. Hall is a kid for whom our magazine are succors.
Hall is a slightly undersized dynamo whose performance, everywhere but stature, is simply sublime. Hall bench presses 360-pounds and may well be easily among Kentucky’s strongest lineman. Hall squats 520-pounds while still carrying a 4.0 GPA.
Like Wolford on the other side of him, Hall is a ’26 kid and it is really too early for either of them to have already pledged to a college program like some of these seniors. Hall will definitely play college ball, even if that weren’t true, there is no doubt he is an elite interior guy in the small-school classifications of Kentucky High School football.
Left Tackle (2025): Ben Stotts, 6’5,” 302-pounds, Christian Academy-Louisville
Stotts is committed to play for the Governors of Austin Peay when his HS eligibility exhausts. Stotts has plus length and athleticism and plays behind his pads, with good core strength to sink and meet the defender at his level without having to lunge.
Last year, Stotts was instrumental across a line of scrimmage which helped account for a 14-1 mark, a state title at 3A, and 626-points scored in 15-games. The Centurions passed for 4,382-yards and 61-TDs while rushing for 1,546-yards and 23-ground scores. Eighty-four (84) TDs scored passing and rushing is nothing at which to sneeze.
Stotts is listed among Kentucky’s top prospects by virtually every ranking service which covers Kentucky. Getting a D-1 ride playing in one of Kentucky’s smaller classifications is not an easy undertaking. This guy is legit.
Right Tackle (2025): Jake Darby, 6’4,” 295, Lexington Christian Academy
Darby is exactly what one needs at right tackle in that he is one Hell of an athlete and is a two-sport star at LCA also thriving in wrestling. Darby has been offered by both the United States Military Academy, at West Point, and EKU among many others.
Darby won the offensive line MVP at Army’s, West Point, Football Camp this summer. He has excellent footwork, sink, his punch is devastating, and he pounds the ground like a Budweiser Clydesdale.
Oakley Watkins, associate head coach and OL guru, said the following about his prospect. “[Darby] is a big time prospect with multiple offers. [Darby] continues to light up the camp scene.”
Watkins went on to offer, “[Darby] is a legit 6’4,” 295 with a frame which can easily add good weight. [Darby] is only 16-years old-young for his class [Excellent “growth potential”]. [Darby has] elite character!”
Coming off the bench but worthy of preseason All-State selection
We did want to mention that LCA has two additional linemen who very easily could have made this preseason list and, therefore, we are including them. Trefor Thomas is committed to the United States Naval Academy and is a 6’4,” 245-pounder with some filling out to do. Thomas sports a 4.28 GPA and a 29 on his ACT.
Brooks Kerwin is a 6’3,” 275-pounder who has been offered by EKU, Davidson, Wayne State, UT Martin, and Marian University. Kerwin sports a 4.33 GPA and a 28 on his ACT.
If you are spotting a theme here, four OL from off the same offensive line, you are pretty sharp. Fact of the matter is Lexington Christian Academy (LCA) has the best and most ballyhooed offensive line in Kentucky football, small or big school. LCA has four (4) OL, out of five slots, carrying multiple Division 1 offers to play collegiately.
This group has an opportunity to be one of the best and most decorated units across the board we’ve seen in a long time
Doug Charles, HFC, LCA
We caught up with head man, Doug Charles, about this fact. Coach Charles told us…”This group has an opportunity to be one of the best and most decorated units, across the board, we’ve seen in a long time. I’m not sure I’ve heard of four (4) OL guys from the same school holding multiple D1 offers before the start of their senior seasons.”
Well, we’ve covered this sport, extensively, for just a hair short of a decade. We know we haven’t covered a school in Kentucky, at any classification, which boasts four of its five down linemen with D1 offers. It is certainly a first for us.
This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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