Following a season that saw him haul in over 1100 yards and 19 touchdowns, Ed Small has finally earned a long overdue ranking from 247 Sports. The recruiting site graded Small as an 89, a single point off from a 4 star, and also has him ranked as the 40th best receiver in the country and the 42nd best player in the state of Texas.
The rankings are high praise for Small, but it’s well deserved and is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his recruitment. The junior is already committed to Texas for baseball, but it remains to be seen which sport he plays in college. He’s already hauled in offers to play football at Texas State and TCU (dual sport offer) and is likely looking for somewhere that will allow him to play both sports.
When asked about the ranking, Coach Hatcher told me that he believes Ed’s “at least a 4-star, close to 5-star guy,” citing the fact that defenses are constantly using three or even four guys to cover him. You can’t just slap your number one cornerback on Ed and expect to stop him. We’ve seen teams use combinations of linebackers, corners, and safeties to slow down Small, but even with that type of attention, he still had over 100 yards a game this year.
One of the reasons Ed is so dominant is that he “understands coverages” according to Hatcher. Small’s ability to read the defense on the fly and get to holes in the zone is key, and it’s a skill that’s tough to teach. Hatcher described Ed as having “that ‘It’ factor”, and when watching the Trojans play, it seems like he’s just a level above almost everybody else.
Ed’s the type of player that makes everybody around him better. With the defense often keyed on him, it allows other receivers to get open for easy completions, and he’s great about communicating that to Brady. He knows when they’re shading coverages his way, which other receivers are going to be open, and where Brady needs to hit them. His football IQ is just off the charts.
What really sets Ed apart from a lot of great high school athletes though, is the type of person he is off the field. Coach Hatcher brought up a story, telling me about how Coach Busby saw Ed over by the filmers at 6:15 one morning, thanking them for coming out and filming practice every day. “It’s the stories like that that you like to hear about kids, that they go up to other people, people that nobody really thinks about like the filmers,” Hatcher said.
Now that football season is over, Small will move on to the baseball diamond before returning to the gridiron for his final season as a Trojan next fall. It’s easy to get lost in his dominance on the field, but don’t overlook the type of person Ed is. That’s what truly allows him to reach his full potential as an athlete.
