Thursday night began the three night conclusion of the spring football season in the state of North Carolina, as, for the final time, eight teams in the state would take home state championships across the four classifications. Amongst those in action this weekend is a Tar Heel signee and two other major targets spanning across the 2021, 22 and 2023 recruiting classes. The first of those to play for a title was Kamarro Edmonds, the Tar Heel running back signee from the 2021 class, who was hoping to take home a state title before heading to Chapel Hill. Here is our look at his performance from Friday night in the Havelock Rams loss to the now four-time consecutive state champion Charlotte Catholic Cougars.
Edmonds entered the game having rushed for 916 yards and 15 touchdowns in just eight games, but the Cougars were able to keep Edmonds in check following a career performance against Western Alamance in the state semifinals. Edmonds finished the night with 17 carries for 66 yards and struggled to find holes to run through the entire evening as just five of his carries on the night went for more than three yards.
Edmonds may not have had the best night of his career statiscally, but we would be remiss to address the fact that he played banged up the entire second half after being carried off the field late in the first half with a lower leg injury. Despite that, he returned to the game in the 3rd quarter with a clear limp and still did all he could to help the Rams move the football. Edmonds still ran hard in this one, even though there wasn’t much space, and the holes that were available to run through he was able to hit. He does a good job of putting his foot in the ground and making quick, decisive cuts, but there was just no room to run in this one. Edmonds has solid speed, but he wasn’t able to get to the edge all night against this athletic Charlotte Catholic defense. He wasn’t much of a factor out of the backfield as a receiver or as a pass protector, but as he’s shown before, he has the ability to do both of those things at a productive level. This was likely not the way that Edmonds was hoping to end his prep career, but as he showed on Friday night, he will likely do everything he can to compete for a role in the backfield when he arrives to Chapel Hill in the summer.
This is just the start of our looks at the Tar Heel targets that are playing for state championships this weekend. Stick with us throughout the weekend as we give a breakdown of 2022 5✮ DT Travis Shaw and 2023 WR target Noah Rodgers in their respective state title games.