The Recruiting Guy

Lakeside junior D-I material

Lakeside junior Maurice Bradford is a major college prospect, according to Coach Jared McBride.

Lakeside Coach Jared McBride has coached 12 years in the high school ranks and believes junior athlete Maurice Bradford is the best he’s coached and is a Division I prospect

McBride's resume includes being the offensive cooridnator at Fayetteville, Bryant, Springdale and Captain Shreve in Shreveport.

“I’ve coached a lot of kids and he’s as good as I’ve coached,” McBride said. “I think he can play for anybody,”

Bradford, 6-1, 185 pounds recorded 42 receptions for 686 yards, 4 touchdowns along with 43 rushes for 224 yards and 6 touchdowns this season. Video highlights CLICK HERE

“He plays slot receiver which kind of entails tight end tendencies for us,” McBride said. “He can be an inline blocker. We snapped the ball to him some as a quarterback as a runner.”

Defensively, he had 54 tackles, 3 sacks and received fumble at linebacker.

“He’s really got a good nose for the football,” said McBride, who lettered at Arkansas as a quarterback in 2000. “He’s in on all the plays, He just has a knack for making tackles.”

Bradford is also outstanding in the classroom and has a 4.0 grade point average and scored a 24 on the ACT.

He’s an unknown because he didn’t attend any college camps during the summer, but has plans to make several combines and camps in the spring and summer.

“He’s a kid that has tremendous upside and continue to grow,” McBride said. “He has the frame everyone is looking for. I don’t know if he’s an offense or defensive player. He has great tendencies on both sides of the football.”

McBride said Bradford held his own while blocking highly regarded Hope defensive end McTelvin Agim in the Rams’ 48-21 victory on Oct. 17.

“He was playing the kid from Hope by himself,” McBride said. “He has really good feet and understands leverage and using his hips.”