No. 3 IMG Academy (Fla.) playing its brand of smashmouth football

BRADENTON, Fla.- There’s a certain identity that first-year IMG Academy head coach Greg Studrawa was always going to bring with him to the Ascenders: Smashmouth football.

If you were on hand for Saturday’s 38-14 win over East St. Louis (Ill.), it’s easy to see why the former Ohio State offensive line coach would lean into that style of play. Studrawa has the guys up front to bully opposing teams around and they have a battering ram of a running back in senior Le’khy Thompkins (Louisville commit) to do what they want on the line of scrimmage.

Is it exactly the most exciting way to win football games? Maybe not to people who want to watch a high-flying, Air Raid-style offense but to Studrawa, he’s going to lean on what he knows will work best with this specific IMG Academy football team.

“We’re going to run the ball,” Studrawa said of the IMG Academy offense.

“That’s who we are and that’s who we’re going to be. We’re going to run the football with (Le’Khy Thompkins). We’re going to be physical.”

When you’re running the ball the way that the Ascenders are right now versus the kind of competition they see on a weekly basis, why not? Thompkins unofficially is at 962 yards rushing with 11 touchdowns and sets the tone for the IMG offense on a weekly basis.

Looking back at since the Ascenders’ first game on the road at Hoover (Ala.), Studrawa and his staff have made it be known to opposing defenses that they’re going to run, run and run the ball some more via Thompkins.

The running back against the Buccaneers in a 34-13 nationally televised victory rushed for 164 yards and scored three touchdowns. Following week in Ocean City, New Jersey against Winslow Township, Thompkins was superb once again, going off for 188 yards and two scores as they pulled away with a 35-14 win.

“I’m blessed,” Thompkins said of the offensive line. “I’ve never had a big line before. Back home, I’ve always been bigger than all my offensive linemen. Now, they’re all bigger than me so that’s a blessing.”

The offensive line group is as good as any around, with USC commits Keenyi Pepe (6’7, 325) and Breck Kolojay (6’5, 320) leading the way up front for the Ascenders.

It has been that kind of consistency on a weekly basis, leaning on one, if not the, best offensive lines in the country.

“I’m glad about the physicality,” Studrawa said about their physical play on offense. “I am glad about the togetherness of the team. I’m glad about the seniors, the older guys leading the way.”

“I’m really happy with the culture. (The players) have bought into everything that we’re doing. I’m really happy with what the kids are doing and how they’re working.”

For all the dominance that IMG Academy has shown week in and week out, there’s just one thing Studrawa feels like they’re missing as a team and that’s making plays through the passing game consistently.

Sophomore four-star quarterback Jayden Wade has been solid behind center in his first full season starting for IMG Academy, throwing for over 1,200 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Though the passing attack has had nights when they are on point, like Wade’s 11 of 11, 350-yard performance against Phenix City Central a couple weeks ago, there’s times when the Ascenders can fall off track through the air.

Studrawa points to the passing game finding weekly consistency as the last, final piece to the proverbial puzzle as they head into the last couple games of the season against Hun School (N.J.) and rival St. Frances Academy (Md.).

“We got to make more plays in the pass game,” Studrawa added.

“We have talented kids out there and we got to find ways to get them the ball along with keeping the physical running game. I think we have to work on that and some games, we do a really good job of it and others, we don’t. Yes, I feel like that’s the last missing piece. I feel like if we get that fixed, we’ll be pretty hard to beat.”

IMG Academy finished 7-2 a season ago, transitioning from Billy Miller, who is now an assistant at the University of North Carolina, to Studrawa, and they now have a chance to do something they haven’t done since 2023 and that’s finish with a 10-0 mark.

Last fall, the Ascenders got tripped up by Corner Canyon, St. Frances Academy and in 2022 it was a regular season opening loss to Miami Central that threw the high school football on its head.

Studrawa looks one game at a time and it’s a return to the Northeast to play another New Jersey opponent in Hun School, the No. 3 ranked team out of the Garden State. If there’s anything the Raiders of Princeton can expect from the Ascenders, it’s that they’ll come ready to run the ball and be physical.

That’s been the way Studrawa and IMG Academy wants to play and they’d have it no other way.

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