Spring Football Practice Report: Reagan

Smith, an NC State baseball commit, started the final six games of the season. He threw for 961 yards, 10 touchdowns, and four interceptions. Moore rushed for 915 yards and eight touchdowns over those same six games. Moore is a speedster who could end up as a high 4.3s or low 4.4s guy by his senior year. He only stands at about 5-foot-8 now, so there is plenty of room for his stride length to grow. Both of the young players have begun to assume leadership roles on the team.

Joining Moore in the backfield will be junior H-back Nazeir Blackman and junior rusher Aaron Gutierrez. Reagan is high on both. They both have good physicality. Moore and Gutierrez were terrors together on JV last season and Gutierrez continued to dominate after Moore got pulled up. Guitierrez was named the JV MVP.

Rising senior Cassidy Harvin is Reagan's top returning passing target. Harvin will move inside to more of a lot role this season. He has good size and strength and figures to be able to use that to his advantage against smaller slot corners. Jerry Summers was an 8-quarter guy for Reagan last season. The 6-foot-3 downfield threat was Reagan's top receiver on the JV team and will be an instant contributor on varsity. Players like Harvin and Summers are going to be especially important this season because there won't be as much time for Smith to throw early on.

Reagan will be young this season. On offense, the Raiders will start at least six sophomores.

The biggest question for this team comes at the offensive line spot. Reagan is currently set to start four sophomores there. This will look a lot different from a 2022 line that featured a Notre Dame signee signee in Sam Pendleton, NC A&T signee Spencer Webb, and other quality seniors. The leader of that group will be junior Isaias Gonzalez, who comes in at about 6-foot-3 and 280 pounds. Gonzalez could be an all-conference player this fall. The sophomore guys certainly have potential, bit it's hard to say that we will see them absolutely reach that potential in 2023.

Reagan has one of the state's best sets of cornerbacks. Duke commit Landan Callahan is back to lead that room. Callahan has good size at 5-foot-11 and 175 pounds. Callahan is a long, sticky corner. He loves man coverage. He's also a very impressive leader who went out of his way to help teammates understand concepts multiple times in practice. Good fit for Duke. Rising senior Stephon Scales Jr. has decent size and is an above-average 4A corner in his own right. The Raiders have a key transfer in from Glenn High School named Carter Powell who will play some at the nickel spot. He can also play at outside linebacker. They are very excited about him.

The same inexperience issues on Reagan's offensive line will also apply to the defensive line. But again, these are not bad young players, they are high potential guys. It's just going to take a little bit for them. The Raiders' interior linebackers also won't have much experience.

Ryder Lawson, Reagan's kicker, has an argument for best kicker in the Central Piedmont 4A Conference.

Reagan brings back six players on both sides of the ball. The Raiders are going to be a good team in 2023. They will contend for the top of the Central Piedmont again.