Aumavea-Laulu heads the JCGridiron Top-100 Rankings

With just a handful of days remaining before signing day, JCGridiron.com presents its version of the top-100 JUCO players in America. Navarro’s Malaesala Aumavea-Laulu heads the list for the class of 2019.

At JCGridiron.com we rank players by position throughout the year and often times will stray off the beaten path from the national guys. This season is no exception, as some of the top-10 from the Rivals.com national rankings will be missing in ours, and vice versa. We all have our reasons, and the best barometer won’t be measured for a couple of years.

This year’s class of JUCO players is shaping up to be the largest ever. The Rivals.com database shows close to 770 guys with offers to mostly D1 programs, with over 500 already giving a verbal or signing during the early signing period. This is the JCGridiron.com Top-100 JUCO Rankings for the class of 2019.

The top guy in the rankings is one of the biggest players in the nation with the longest name. Therefore, we aren’t even going to try and pronounce it. All we can tell you is that Malaesala Aumavea-Laulu is a beast and if he could declare for the NFL Draft right now he’d likely go in the first two rounds. At 6-foot-7 and 345 pounds he’s an absolute road-grader for the Bulldogs. He had offers from just about every program you could want, including Oregon, Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma, USC…you name it. Aumavea-Laulu made a commitment to Oregon in June and quickly made it known that he was shutting down his recruitment because he was 100% committed to the Ducks. On film, he’s a total destroyer, throwing around defensive linemen like rag dolls. His feet are quick and his lower half is overpowering. He’s the real thing!

If there’s one thing you can count on every season, it’s Lackawanna College producing some of the best offensive linemen in the nation. The Eagles had three listed in our offensive tackle rankings alone, led by Anthony Whigan. At 6-foot-5 and 295 pounds, Whigan had 16 offers to choose from and gave a verbal to Penn State before the season started. Whigan took visits to Louisville and South Carolina in June and has been to Penn State three times since May, taking his official visit in December. He’s the top offensive lineman on what is arguably the best offensive line in the country, and if you watch his film you know why. Whigan is extremely athletic, plays with intensity and could probably run with the wide receivers.

Eastern Arizona’s Dreshun Miller seems like a nearly perfect combination of size, physicality and production on the field. Miller is 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, and had a great year playing in one of the tougher conferences in the country. The scouts agreed as Miller reeled in offers from West Virginia, Tennessee, Auburn, Kentucky, LSU, Houston and Texas Tech, taking visits to Texas Tech and Houston in June and a late visit to West Virginia in December. He ended up signing with West Virginia in December, giving him an early start to getting on the field in 2019. Miller finished with 44 tackles, one interception and 12 pass break-ups for the Gila Monsters this past season. On film, he’s big enough to take away fade patterns in the red zone and quick enough to jump a route in the flat. He looks great!

Bamideli Olaseni is the latest in a string of athletes that have made the trip across the pond to play American football as he clicked his heels to arrive in Kansas after growing up in London. Olaseni has a monstrous frame, standing 6-foot-8 and 320 pounds. He’s got great feet for a big kid as he ran track & field growing up and played in a senior league in Europe (19+) before heading to Kansas. Now with the Broncbusters, Olaseni has become arguably the most decorated JUCO player for the class of 2019, with 11 major offers to choose from. Olaseni has offers from Auburn, Texas, Arkansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas State, Utah, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Kansas and Tennessee and took a visit to Auburn in December. He’s also taken a visit to Utah and there was rumors at one point that a trip to Alabama could be in the works. In watching film on Olaseni, he’s got great feet for a massive frame and overpowers defenders.

At 6-foot-5 and 270 pounds, Riverside’s Nick Figueroa displays all the characteristics of a potential star at the next level. His size is perfect. His speed and quickness is off the charts. He left for USC in January and talks like a 10-year NFL veteran. The biggest question was where Figueroa was going to end up, and I hit that one dead-on in early December when I made the prediction on Fancast/Futurecast that Figueroa would end up at USC. With other visits to Tennessee and UCLA and offers from the likes of Oregon, Nebraska, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Colorado, Cal and you name it, Figueroa was a sought-after player this fall. He finished with 19.5 tackles-for-loss and 11.5 sacks playing in one of the toughest conferences in California, earning National Division Southern League Defensive MVP. On film he’s got great leverage and looks like he was shot out of a cannon when he finds a lane. With an early arrival at USC, he should make an immediate impact on a defense desperate for some physicality.

Atop the JCGridiron.com safety rankings was Lackawanna’s Jaquan Brisker, who seems like the perfect combination of size, speed and productivity on the field. Brisker is 6-foot-2, 200 pounds and had a sensational finish in 2018 when he recorded 64 tackles, 17 tackles-for-loss, nine sacks and five passes broken-up in being named the NEFC Defensive Player-of-the-Year. He had offers from 14 different programs, including Penn State, Alabama, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Utah, West Virginia and a number of others before signing on the dotted line with Penn State in December. He took an official visit to Alabama in September but spent as many as five days at the Penn State campus, with his official visit just before the signing day. On film, Brisker is big and physical with enough agility to cover in space. He looks like the real thing.

Mesa’s Soni Fonua is a guy that has risen quickly in the Rivals.com rankings and received our nod as the No. 1 guy at weak-side end. He’s like watching a whirling dervish on the field, never giving up on a play and always playing until the whistle. At 6-foot-4 and 255 pounds, Fonua is bordering on strong-side weight but when you see him move you know why he’s listed as a weak-side guy. Fonua had 121 tackles and 26 tackles-for-loss in two seasons for the Thunderbirds, facing mostly double-teams as a sophomore. He’s got offers from Oklahoma State, Kansas, Arizona, Hawaii, Central Florida, Louisville and a handful of others and visited Nebraska, Central Florida and Oklahoma State over the past three weeks. Fonua’s film is off the charts. He’s crazy quick off the line, very strong for his size and once he gets a runner in the crosshairs the play is over. The only drawback is a late arrival, which likely hurt his offer list a bit.

The top guy in the JCGridiron defensive tackle rankings was Highland’s Jahkeem Green. At 6-foot-4 and 305 pounds, Green was a one-man gang in the middle for the Scotties. He finished with 67 tackles, 7.5 tackles-for-loss and 2.5 sacks playing in one of the more competitive conferences in the nation, but was somehow snubbed from the All-Jayhawk Conference First Team at season’s end. Green wasn’t snubbed from the people that matter, however, as he gave a verbal to South Carolina in March and also has offers from Alabama and Georgia. On film, Green is big and physical with good feet and vision.

Nobody had a bigger season than Cerritos’ Rhamondre Stevenson. At 6-foot-1 and 230 pounds, he’s a feature back in any offense and can do it all. At No. 1 in our running back rankings, Stevenson rushed for 2,111 yards and 16 touchdowns this season, averaging an eye-popping 9.5 yards-per-carry playing in one of the better conferences in Southern California. Stevenson had the offers to back it up as Texas, Oklahoma, USC, Utah, BYU, Kansas State, Hawaii and Middle Tennessee all offered, with Michigan showing interest. He ended up taking a late visit to Oklahoma and signed with the Sooners in December. On film, Stevenson can run past you or run over you. He’s big, fast, physical and can hit the home run. Dynamite!

At No. 2 in our weak-side end rankings, Jermaine Johnson is a guy that passes all the eyeball tests and looks like a guy destined for the NFL at some point. At 6-foot-6 and 240 pounds, he’s got room to grow and has a ton of star quality. The thing that kept Johnson out of the top spot in the JCGridiron weak-side rankings was production, as he finished with just 38 tackles, six tackles-for-loss and 4.5 sacks this season at Independence. Nonetheless, his sheer athleticism is hard to deny. Johnson was one of the more decorated JUCO players in the country this season. He had well over 20 offers from the biggest and brightest programs in the nation, signing with Georgia in December. He took other visits to Colorado and Oklahoma last June, but once he gave a verbal to Georgia in August he never really waffled from his commitment. On film, Johnson has sensational feet and a long wing span, with serious closing speed in the open field.

The rest of the JCGridiron.com JUCO Top-100