Friday night, the Heel Tough Blog hit the road for the third time in a week to see a Tar Heel commit in action. The Tar Heels only commit of the 2021 class, Dontavius Nash, began his junior season in front of a home Hunter Huss crowd against Rocky River High School. While he had a tough night offensively, the 4✮ athlete had a strong night on the defensive side of the football. Let’s breakdown Nash’s performance from Friday night.
Nash started under center for the Huskies with starting quarterback Zo Wallace out due to injury and lets just say, he will not be playing quarterback at the college level. That’s not to say that Nash was awful; he did enough to get Hunter Huss their first win of the season. Nash finished the game 1-3 of three yards and carried the ball six times for -8 yards and had trouble cleanly handling under center snaps all night. The situation is unfortunate, but the Huskies did the smart thing by putting their best athlete at quarterback. For selfish reasons, we wish that we could have seen Nash at wide receiver on Friday night, but it’s understandable why the Huskies need him at the most important position on the field right now.
The good news was that we did get to see Nash at corner, the spot that he stared at last year for the Huskies. Nash was targeted just three times on Friday night, with just one resulting in a catch. The other two times he was targeted, he had strong coverage, including a perfectly defended deep pass where he legally face-guarded the wide receiver forcing an incompletion. Nash was primarily in Cover 3 and off-man coverage the entire night and did a great job of staying in his assignments all night. His closing allowed him to cover ground quickly, which helped him finish with four big tackles, all of which came in the second half. Nash has very fluid hips, something you always want to see from corners and that allowed him the ability to stay with Rocky River’s quick and shifty receivers all night. Nash showed why he will be a good fit in Tar Heel secondary at corner a couple of years down the line.
While Nash was the focus for the Heel Tough Blog for the night, there were other players that had big nights for both squads. Hunter Huss safety James Seigle and fullback Jalen Ledette both had strong performances, as did Rocky River running back Kalib Jennings.
This Friday, the Heel Tough Blog will head to Charlotte Catholic in Pineville, NC, as we will take an in-depth look at Tar Heels 2020 3✮ OG commit Malik McGowan.