Northeast Spotlight: Who is the next great …… ?

Rivals national recruiting analyst Ryan O’Bleness looks at five Northeast prospects who are going to be the next big thing in college football.

THIS SERIES – THE NEXT GREAT …. Midwest | Southeast | Mid-South | Florida | West

Notre Dame has a strong history of producing NFL offensive lineman, and Black has the potential to be the Fighting Irish’s next cornerstone offensive tackle.

Black, out of Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Conn., is an athletic player in the trenches with excellent size and length at 6-foot-7, 295 pounds. He has all of the tools to be a great offensive lineman at the college level and beyond.

Black, a top-50 ranked overall prospect, is still relatively new to football. He is originally from Canada and did not play the sport until his freshman year of high school. Black has a background in multiple other sports, including hockey, basketball and lacrosse. His upside on the football field is off the charts, though, and as long as he puts the work in and develops, expect Black to make his mark in South Bend.

In the 2024 NFL Draft, head coach Marcus Freeman and offensive line coach Joe Rudolph saw offensive tackle Joe Alt get selected by the Los Angeles Chargers in the first round with the No. 5 overall pick and offensive tackle Blake Fisher get taken in the second round (No. 59 overall) by the Houston Texans. It goes back to well before Freeman took over the reins, too.

Several other Notre Dame offensive linemen are currently in the league, such as Aaron Banks, Liam Eichenberg, Zack Martin, Quenton Nelson, Mike McGlinchey, Ronnie Staley and more. Black is on track to add to that group in a few years.

Penn State currently has several offensive linemen committed in the 2025 class, including Rivals250 offensive tackle Malachi Goodman, who looks to be in line to have a very strong career with the Nittany Lions. With that in mind, PSU fans should also be very excited about what’s to come in the future with Brown — an in-state prospect who could be in discussion for five-star status in the future — already pledged.

While Brown won’t even arrive in Happy Valley until 2026, he already looks like the real deal. The 6-foot-5, 270-pound Brown impressed this past summer in the Rivals Five-Star event in Jacksonville and was one of the standout performers there despite competing against several national 2025 and 2026 recruits.

Brown has a strong build, great feet and plays with a mean streak in between the whistles. Since head coach James Franklin hired offensive line coach Phil Trautwein, Penn State has seen seven offensive linemen whom Trautwein coach at PSU get drafted to the NFL, including first-rounder Olu Fashanu (No. 11) in the 2024 Draft. With continued development, Brown certainly appears to be heading toward the trajectory of being a future professional football player.

Clemson has had some excellent running backs come through its program. Head coach Dabo Swinney has coached C.J. Spiller (who is currently the running backs coach for the Tigers), Andre Ellington, Wayne Gallman, Travis Etienne and Will Shipley at the position — all of whom were NFL Draft picks (with Spiller and Etienne being first-rounders).

Davidson, Clemson’s class of 2025 four-star commit, is a dominant high school football player at Liberty Christian Academy in Virginia. In the future, he could have the opportunity to do something at Clemson that hasn’t been done since 2018 when Etienne did it with 1,549 yards: lead the ACC in rushing yards.

Coming off of an incredibly productive junior year in 2023 with more than 2,700 rushing yards and 46 touchdowns on his way to National Player of the Year honors, Davidson stood out at the Rivals Five-Star in June. Now, just five games into his senior year, Davidson has already accumulated listed stats of 933 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns. He also scored his 100th career touchdown in the second game of this season, returned a couple of kickoffs for touchdowns on the 2024 campaign and is a strong defensive player as well (first-team All-state selection as a safety in 2023).

More importantly to the humble Davidson, though, is that he has helped lead the Bulldogs to a 5-0 record to begin the 2024 campaign. In fact, Liberty Christian Academy is 42-1 in games that Davidson has played in, which he credits his coaches and teammates for accomplishing.

Obviously the competition level will go up tremendously in college, but Davidson has a chance to be a great running back at the next level, not only at Clemson, but in the conference as well.

Washington is an in-state prospect who was an Elite 11 finalist. He will often beat defenses with his arm talent and his football IQ, but he can also make things happen with his legs when needed. Maryland fans are very excited about Washington, and for good reason, as he is a dynamic playmaker and natural leader.

Maryland transitioned out of the Taulia Tagovailoa era and into the Billy Edwards Jr. in 2024. It’s hard to follow in Tagovailoa’s footsteps, as he set program records for career passing yards (11,256) and passing touchdowns (76). He also rushed for 13 additional scores.

Statistically, Edwards has been solid with 1,740 passing yards, 11 touchdowns, three interceptions and three rushing touchdowns through six games this season. However, the Terrapins are off to a slow 3-3 (0-3 in Big Ten play) start, including back-to-back conference losses to Indiana and Northwestern, with a tough test versus USC coming up this weekend. The Terps’ issues certainly aren’t all on Edwards, but it seems likely that Maryland is not going to be taking a step forward this season.

Washington is in the midst of a terrific senior campaign with Archbishop Spalding and is the conversation to potentially re-enter the Rivals250 in the near future. He will arrive in College Park in 2025 with Edwards likely still on the roster, but he is the future of the Maryland program. The vision that head coach Mike Locksley has for Washington, and the young quarterback’s desire to stay in his home state take Maryland to the next level are reasons why he believes the Terrapins will be a national contender during his career.

Wilson showed off at the Rivals Five-Star event a few months back and subsequently saw a huge jump in his ranking, moving up 45 spots to No. 85 overall in the 2025 Rivals250.

Oklahoma as a program has a strong track record of producing disruptive defensive lineman, and current OU head coach Brent Venables and associate head coach /co-defensive coordinator/defensive tackles coach Todd Bates put a ton of defensive linemen in the NFL during their time at Clemson. Bates has been an ace recruiter for the interior defensive line for the Sooners, landing a commitment from Wilson this cycle and signing five-star defensive tackle David Stone and four-star defensive tackle Jayden Jackson out of IMG Academy in the 2024 class.

Wilson is powerful and athletic with good explosion out of his stance. He has the versatility to align in different techniques across the defensive line. Wilson could be the next star in the interior for the Sooners, and pairing him with Jackson or Stone could cause nightmares for opposing offensive lines in the future.