Five 2028 standouts that will splash as sophomores

Thousands of sophomores, members of the 2028 class, will start on high school football teams this season. Some will have already made waves as freshmen while others still will be making their varsity debuts. Here are five such sophomores that we think will make a splash this fall:

RB Chris Davis, Hewitt-Trussville (Ala.)

Forget about the stats from last season because we think Chris Davis is going to put up big numbers for Hewitt-Trussville this fall. With the kind of attention Davis is currently drawing, its completely realistic to think that this rising sophomore could be in line for a 1,000-yard plus kind of campaign.

Davis stands at 5-foot-10, 180 pounds and is continuing to add more size to take on would-be defenders. After rushing for 327 yards in 2024, there’s no reason to think he couldn’t triple or possibly quadruple that number.

Colleges have absolutely taken notice of the tailback as Davis already holds offers from programs such as Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Georgia, Florida State, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Washington.

S Ace Leutele, Mater Dei (Calif.)

You have to be very talented for one of the country’s best teams to put you on the field as a freshman, and that’s exactly what Mater Dei did by trusting Ace Leutele, part of the 2028 class, to roam the defensive backfield last season.

The Monarchs featured one of the top defensive units in all of California in 2024 and Leutele was a key part of that effort. The standout logged an interception against Corona Centennial in the opening week of the 2024 season and never looked back. Though Leutele’s numbers from last year don’t jump out at you, his play on the field does and if he blossoms the way we think he will, opposing offenses might want to think twice before they throw his way.

Leutele already has college overtures from Arizona, Arizona State, Georgia, Miami, Nebraska, North Carolina and Texas A&M.

QB Jayden Wade, IMG Academy (Fla.)

The 6-foot-3, 190-pound signal caller saw limited playing time behind Ty Hawkins last season, completing 19-of-28 passes for 362 yards and six touchdowns. Now with Hawkins gone and off to SMU, Jayden Wade is next in line at IMG Academy and will need to perform against some of nation’s best high school football teams.

Wade’s debut as the Ascenders’ starter will come on Aug. 15 when they travel over to Orlando to face The First Academy Royals in a showdown between two Florida powers.

EDGE Jackson Vaughn, Bergen Catholic (N.J.)

If people thought the kind of havoc Jackson Vaughn caused opposing offenses last year was something, wait until they get a load of the sophomore this season.

The 6-foot-3, 220-pound 2028 edge rusher starred for Bergen Catholic, one of the Northeast’s top high school football programs, as a freshman and produced some solid statistics in nine games. Jackson tallied 16 tackles, 10.5 went for a loss and eight sacks. Not too shabby, right? We think the chances to double those numbers are there for the 2028 class standout despite playing against some of the nation’s most elite competition.

There’s no wonder Jackson has colleges already knocking on his proverbial door, with offers from programs like LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Texas already on the table.

WR Brysen Wright, Mandarin (Fla.)

If you watched the OT7 championships last week and over the weekend, you are probably already very familiar with Brysen Wright. The Northeast Florida wide receiver made quite the name for himself competing against some of the country’s best and is primed for a breakout sophomore season at Mandarin.

Wright played alongside Jaime Ffrench last season and feasted when teams tried to bracket the four-star Texas signee. He hauled in 31 passes for 646 yards and scored eight touchdowns as a freshman, with his best performance coming in a takeover against Oakleaf where he caught four passes for 114 yards and two scores

Now with Ffrench off to Austin and Wright building a strong rapport with fellow sophomore quarterback Knox Annis, the wideout is a prime candidate to be one of the absolute best in the 2028 class.