The Next Charlton Great
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The Next Charlton Great
By Matt Osborne
SouthernPigskin.com
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At six-foot, 205 pounds, and with a frame that one scout referred to as “that of a 22-year old”, Andrew Lee is like a man playing amongst boys when he lines up at running back for the Charlton County Indians in Folkston, Georgia.
Simply put, Andrew Lee is far from your typical 10th grade football prospect.
At six-foot, 205 pounds, and with a frame that one scout referred to as “that of a 22-year old”, Lee is like a man playing amongst boys when he lines up at running back for the Charlton County Indians in Folkston, Georgia.
Despite not even being halfway through his high school career, Lee already puts up staggering numbers in the weight room. Utilizing the advantages presented to him by his exceptional frame, Lee has posted personal bests of 255 pounds on power clean, 405 pounds on squat and 275 pounds on bench press. All of that, amazingly, took place even though he was severely hindered in the weight room for a lengthy period of time due to a nagging injury.
Just stepping off of the bus can be an overwhelmingly intimidating sight for Lee’s opposition. Even amongst elite players, he stands out as an athletic specimen that can be rivaled by few.
Many high school defenders are admittedly afraid of making square contact with Lee because of his raw combination of size and power.
The good news for those defenders, however, is that it is nearly impossible to make square contact with Lee because he is just as fast as he is strong.
At the recent Explosive Southern Pigskin Camp in Waycross, Lee turned in a blazing 4.47 40-yard dash, while being honored as the camp’s top performer in the shuttle with a time of 4.06.
“I feel like I did pretty good,” Lee said of his camp performance. “I only went to one camp as a freshman, so it felt good to do it again and to perform well. The camp instructors told me that I am pretty good and that I need to keep up the hard work.”
With such remarkable physical attributes at his disposal, the question certainly may be asked: Why is Lee not already a household name?
The answer to that question, it turns out, is quite simple.
“I didn’t even start playing in games this past season until the final three games of the regular season,” Lee recently told Southern Pigskin. “I broke my arm as a freshman, and I had surgery to have plates put in it. At the beginning of my 10th grade year, I took a risk and when out in full pads when I probably wasn’t ready, and I broke it again. After that, I had to sit out seven games until I was healthy enough to play.”
While he was forced to miss 70 percent of the regular season due to his injury, Lee wasted no time in making his impact felt for the Indians. Playing only the final three regular season games and all of the playoff contests, Lee finished his sophomore campaign with 127 carries for 1,157 yards and 14 touchdowns. He is the main reason that the Indians went from being a slightly above-average team during the regular season, to a team that ultimately reached the Georgia Dome to play for a state championship.
Now playing at 100 percent health, Lee is poised to become one of the star recruits in the class of 2016.
Running backs with his combination of size, power, speed and agility simply don’t grow on trees, making him a commodity to college coaches across the country.
The good news for those college coaches is that they still have time to enter the mix for his services, as he is currently focusing all of his attention of being the best high school player he can be.
“To tell you the truth, I always tell people I’m just trying to make it out of high school first,” remarked Lee. “I want to focus my attention here before I look at my college decision.”
Right now, one thing is certain: When he does get around to making his college decision, he will have plenty of options from which to choose.
Charlton County is a football powerhouse with a rich tradition of producing talent for the collegiate level.
Before all is said and done, there is little doubt that Andrew Lee will be regarded as one of the top prospects to ever come out of the South Georgia school.