Blue White Illustrated

WHAT HE DID A three-year letterman and two-time team captain, McGraw helped Elkhart go 24-10 during his three seasons with the varsity squad, including an 18-4 record as an upperclassman. A;er totaling 45 tackles and four sacks as a sophomore, he essentially doubled his stats in 2019, 8nishing his junior season with 73 tackles and nine sacks. Despite playing fewer games in 2020, he had an even better senior year, totaling 91 tack- les, 22 tackles for loss and nine sacks. WHAT HE WON McGraw was a three- time Class 6A Northern Indiana Athletic Conference All-League selection. He was also a two-time All-City honoree. Mc- Graw was named a three-star prospect by Rivals.com. He's the 23rd-ranked weak- side defensive end and No. 8 overall prospect in Indiana. WHERE HE VISITED McGraw earned an o:er from Penn State in September 2019 and visited a month later, attending the White Out game against Michigan. He ended up committing to Indiana in Jan- uary 2020 but continued to stay in con- tact with Penn State throughout the spring. Then, following a coaching change on Tom Allen's sta:, McGraw 9ipped his commitment to the Nittany Lions in May. Overall, he earned 13 schol- arship o:ers. Michigan and Indiana were the two other schools he seriously con- sidered, with Boston College, Michigan State, Purdue and Wisconsin also ex- tending o:ers. QUOTABLE Elkhart head coach Josh Shattuck: "What me and my wife and our whole family are really excited about is that he's going to be in a place where he doesn't have to have so much responsi- bility for so many other people. He doesn't live like an 18-year-old kid. He lives like I do, being responsible for other people. He's got people depending on him. He's working on top of balancing home, school, football and recruiting, all that. Now, moving forward, there's going to be a lot more work when it comes to football and academics, but he's got the resources now and can stay in one place. He doesn't have to worry so much about how he's going to feed himself or how he's going to take care of this or that. His life should calm down now, allowing him to focus on the things that are going to de- termine his future and where he's going in life. That's what I'm so excited about. He's never had that opportunity before." PHIL'S TAKE McGraw had a sensational senior season, emerging as one of the top two defensive linemen in Indiana for the Class of 2021. Listed at 6-4, 250 pounds, he's just beginning to physically mature. RISING FORCE McGraw en- joyed an im- pressive senior season, finishing with 91 tackles, in- cluding 22 tackles for loss and nine sacks. Photo by Ryan Sny- der Ryan Snyder RODNEY McGRAW RIVALS ★★★ | POS DE | HT 6-4 | WT 250 | HOME Elkhart, Ind. | SCHOOL Elkhart Central >>

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