It may have only been week two in the state of South Carolina for public schools, but the matchup between the Gaffney Indians and the Dorman Cavaliers, which took place on Friday night from The Reservation in Gaffney might have been the most anticipated game of the season. The game lived up to expectations, producing an instant classic, as the Indians got their revenge, holding on to win 30-29 on a missed field goal from the Cavaliers with no time remaining. Involved in this fantastic shootout were our two Heel Tough Blog scoutees for the week, 2021 3✮ WR commit Kobe Paysour and 2021 4✮ DT target Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins. Both had strong nights to help the Indians pull out the victory.
Let’s start with the current Tar Heel commit. In the second game of his Gaffney career, Paysour had another big game, helping Gaffney’s offense move the ball consistently throughout the night. He did most of his damage in the first half, catching five of his seven first half targets for 50 yards, before the Indians offense became run heavy from the middle of the second quarter on. After a quiet start the second half, Paysour came up big when the Indians needed him the most, catching his only two targets of the second half on the final drive, including the eventual game-winning touchdown with 1:47 to go in the game on a contested ball in the endzone. Paysour finished the night with seven catches for 96 yards and the late touchdown.
Paysour is an impressive player and got to showcase his wide-ranging skillset on Friday night. The first half saw a lot of his targets come on short routes, where he was able to short his ability to make things happen after the catch, a big part of the Phil Longo offense currently at North Carolina. He did record one drop on the night, but having seen him a few other times in games that we have scouted, he has some of the more reliable hands of the receivers that the Tar Heels have been recruiting. One thing he does a better job of than any of the three receivers that the Tar Heels have committed in this 2021 class is create separation, something he did a great job of again at times on Friday night. With guys like Sam Howell, Jacolby Criswell and Drake Maye throwing him the football when he gets to Chapel Hill, he’ll be able to show that off even more than he is doing at the high school level right now. Paysour’s best attribute, though, might be what he showcased on the game-winning touchdown. While it wasn’t quite like some of the balls he had to go up and get in the 3AA state semifinal game against Charlotte Catholic a year ago, he still did a great job of getting inside of the defender to position himself and jumping to make the grab, despite a defender being draped all over him. His ability to go up and get the football is something that will give him a chance to be a red zone target for the Tar Heels when he arrives on campus next year if he can navigate through the loaded wide receiving corps.
As for Ingram-Dawkins, he wasn’t quite as effective as he was in the season opener against Boiling Springs, but that was in large part due Dorman’s constant double-teaming of him throughout the night. Even with that, Ingram-Dawkins was still able to piece together three total tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss and 1.0 sack on the night. Ingram-Dawkins had some really strong reps, showing good quickness of the line of scrimmage allowing him to beat some the tackles to their insides a couple of times each. He also was able to showcase his strength at times, throwing aside lineman, one instance of which came on his first tackle of the game. Those reps also showed how he was able to utilize his long arms to keep offensive lineman from being able to get their hands on him and allowed him to make some plays in the run game. The double teams were able to neutralize his affect pretty well, though, and are something that he would have to get used to in the Tar Heels system if they want to use him at nose tackle. Ingram-Dawkins does bring a strong pass rushing ability at his size and is an impressive athlete, the concern would just be if he is physical enough to be able to control the middle of the defense.
Overall, this was a great look at one of the Tar Heels commitments in the 2021 class and one of the team’s two remaining targets in the cycle. Both guys are exciting prospects and with a limited schedule for Tar Heel targets in the fall, might be guys that we circle back to later in the year. As for next week, nothing has been set in stone just yet, but the goal is to scout 2022 4✮ OT Collin Sadler.