In a yearly tradition, the top talents from throughout the Hoosier state gather around to celebrate their placement on the Indiana Preps Pre Season All State team.
This year, the players and their families gathered at the Colts’ Gridiron Hall at the Indiana Farm Bureau Center for the celebrations.
Coming off a state-runner up finish at the 5A level, Decatur Central is poised to make some noise once again with this elite defensive backfield with Mykul Campbell, Kasmir Hicks and Fa’rel Carter as well as Bo Polston commanding the offense.
“We are just keeping that in the back of our mind this offseason,” Polston said. “That is our motivation [to keep us grinding] so we can bring the first ring back to Decatur.”
Polston, a Toledo commit, is coming off a 19 touchdown sophomore campaign.
“The relationships I had with the Toledo coaches [led me to commit], Polston said. “Those are the most genuine guys I have talked to. My recruiting process started fairly early, so once I knew and had the feeling it was home I wanted to pull the trigger.”
As for the three-headed monster in the defensive backfield, they were confident on where they rank amongst other groups in the state.
“I would definitely say we are the best defensive back group in the state,” Hicks said. “We all got offers and we play hard together, it is like a brotherhood.”
While the Hawks are looking primed for another trip to Lucas Oil, the rest of the top underclassmen spoke to me about their early recruitment and who they are as a player.
Starting with Speedway running back Jazz Coleman, who is coming off a phenomenal sophomore season where he had 1100 total yards and 10 touchdowns offensively to pair with his 122 tackles on defense.
“Making the pre-season team is something just where we are in the moment, I have a lot more to work on right now and the goal is to make the post-season all state team.”
Although a slow start to his recruiting process, Coleman holds an offer from Toledo and is a recruit to keep an eye out as he is starting to hear more from Big 12 and ACC schools.
Coming off an all-state nod in track, Fishers defensive back Carsen Eloms has seen his recruitment explode over the summer as he is poised for a breakout junior campaign.
“I love both sports,” Eloms said. “I am going to Eastern Michigan on [July 26th] to see how I fit in there and I have some more visits lined up once the season starts. When I got my first offer and going to tell my mom, it was a great feeling.”
With the release of the new EA Sports CFB 25, these top underclassmen chimed in with what his ratings would be if there was a high school football video game released.
“I feel like I would be a solid 89 [overall],” Coleman said. “I am an elusive back, so my juke move would be up there in the 90’s and I think the break tackle would be in the 80’s.”
Staying with the elusive athletes, Polston was quite confident with his improvising ability.
“I would say a 90 overall,” Polston said. “My best attribute would be improvising, I have a strong arm and can get out the pocket and run for a bit.”
On a more humble approach, Michigan City defensive back Damon Thomas shared a lower rating than most.
“I would give myself an 82-85 overall,” Thomas said. “I would give myself the ‘one step ahead’ attribute, since I am always on top of the receivers I cover. And I would give myself 97 speed, 99 man-to-man and play recognition [at] 96.”
These underclassmen have a lot of football left to play and will continue to shine under the bright lights.
Stay tuned for the Small School and Big School All State Stories coming soon.