Isaac McDonald (6'6 214, 4.59), from Champagnat Catholic HS in Hialeah FL (near Miami) committed to Clemson today after being wowed on Junior Day last weekend. He has offers from Louisville, UNC, SC, S. Fla, Stanford and West Virginia. None of the big Florida schools have offered him yet, but have shown interest. I don't see all 3 offering. He's currently unrated by most services, and will probably end up with a 3-star marker as an Athlete. Clemson is taking him as a WILL LB.
McDonald is really the first of our 3 commits that I would take, considering we're on a tighter scholarship budget this year. He plays FS for his 2A HS squad, and really isn't fluid enough in the hips to play there at the next level, but I think he could be a really good OLB. He's slated for WILL because of that pass coverage ability (compared to MIKE or SAM, WILL should be better in space). His frame is big enough that he could possibly bulk up to a WDE, but for now is being offered as a LB. Getting him to 230-240 would not be a problem, or at least 225 after a RS year, provided we had a good S&C program. Personally I would have him at DE as a speed rusher.
His film shows some of that hip stiffness and change of direction in deeper coverage but his speed is good and its really his combo of frame size and speed that the coaches are after. He is a quality tackler in what little I've seen, but he's such a tweener and doesn't have elite speed so that he won't be rated very highly by any of the services, and he'll need to get his pad level down more. If he had played more DE in HS, I suspect he'd get up to 4-star ratings.
Film after the jump..