Scouting Elijah Staley

My first impression of Elijah Staley was: wow, he's big. On a high school field, he towers over all the other guys on the field, at 6'-7" tall. That made him easy to spot as well as his tennis-ball-green colored shoes.

In this game Wheeler (Staley's high school team) played Sprayberry - over here in Georgia. It was a dominant effort for Wheeler as at one point they scored five touchdowns on six plays.

I would've liked to have seen Staley run a little bit, but that wasn't necessary in this game. By far the biggest highlight from him was a 55 yard touchdown pass he threw on the team's second drive. It was an effortless throw, and he got plenty of air under it, hitting the receiver near the 15 yard line. You could tell from that throw, he has plenty of arm strength.

On the night, Staley was 5 of 6 for close to 160 yards and 3 TD. I couldn't really get a good feel for Elijah's skill set because Sprayberry didn't present much resistance, so he didn't have to do much. Plus his RB Devontae Jackson went wild with two 95+ yard TD runs. Wheeler was up 41-0 with five minutes to go in the 1st half so they went ahead and took him out of the game. The other touchdowns I didn't mention were on underneath routes. Here's a Vine I took of one of them...

Notice how big Elijah Staley is in that video. Coming in I was expecting a tall, lanky kid, but he is not that. Apparently I missed where he was 231 pounds at Big Dawg Camp (h/t engie). The Clarion Ledger and 24/7 report him as such while Scout has him at 205 and Rivals at 213. But I'd say the 230 is more accurate. He has big legs but still room to put on more weight. I could envision Balis wanting him to get up near 250 - almost the size of Cam Newton.

Speaking of Newton, that is kind of who Staley reminded me of on the sidelines (Auburn Cam, not pro, ha). He is a very excited player who is vocal and you could tell loves to have fun playing the game. He is definitely the leader of his team and I saw him pumping up the crowd on several occasions.

Staley is a two sport guy who is planning to play basketball for Rick Ray as well. That may be interesting to see as far as the weight goes, whether he will put more on or not because of basketball. Either way I think he can be a force in maroon and white if he continues to work hard. Even though I didn't see too much here, I came away impressed with what I did see. I think the Dawgs have a good one in Elijah Staley.

S/o to all the Mississippi St fans that was in the stands tonight ! I appreciate the love #HailState

— Elijah Staley (@ES14_) August 24, 2013