Name: Khali Saunders
Position: Outside Linebacker/Defensive End
High School: Immaculate Conception
Graduation Year: 2019
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 210 pounds
Video Link
My impressions of Khali Saunders: I've been able to see Khali Saunders a handful of times in person over the past two years. Saunders, along with his twin brother Khalil have been active on the camp and combine circuit especially last spring and summer.
Evaluation of Khali Saunders: Saunders is a tall, long, lanky athlete who is still growing and physically has a tremendous amount of upside for the college level. Saunders has played both defensive end and wide receiver for the Knights over the past two seasons and shows plenty on both sides of the football on his season highlights. Saunders runs well, can and will go sideline to sideline to make a tackle and also seems to be able to fight off traffic and make plays. Saunders also shows good overall ball skills on offense and on defense seems to be a strong finisher.
Questions or possible room for improvement for Khali Saunders? Saunders for me is one of those recruits who no question has a high level of talent and even higher potential, especially from a physical standpoint. I can see schools wind up adding Saunders to play say OLB/DE and even possibly as a TE? Regardless, I find Saunders overall potential really strong and watching his growth (especially physically) over the next 12-18 months will no question determine a lot in regards to a final evaluation. In short...Saunders for me is still very much a recruit "under construction" physically in many ways. Saunders will need to add more weight/size and especially strength at the next level. Schools, especially the higher level Big 10 schools I'm sure will also want to see Saunders run sometime this spring/summer.
Projected level: Not a cop-out whatsoever here, but I still feel that Saunders has a long ways to grow before I can eventually get a better handle on his level and effectiveness. Just off of his physical tools, smarts and work ethic I see Saunders at worse a mid level D1 name which makes sense since he's already adding multiple offers from the Mid American Conference level this winter. Saunders no question will have a big 4-6 months ahead of him from a development standpoint and I'm excited to see how well he develops.
Ranking? Again this is an initial ranking so I'll start him as a mid to high 3 star ranked recruit who I will revisit again this spring. I would not be shocked to see a much different (and hopefully higher final ranking) for Khali Saunders.
Position: Outside Linebacker/Defensive End
High School: Immaculate Conception
Graduation Year: 2019
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 210 pounds
Video Link
My impressions of Khali Saunders: I've been able to see Khali Saunders a handful of times in person over the past two years. Saunders, along with his twin brother Khalil have been active on the camp and combine circuit especially last spring and summer.
Evaluation of Khali Saunders: Saunders is a tall, long, lanky athlete who is still growing and physically has a tremendous amount of upside for the college level. Saunders has played both defensive end and wide receiver for the Knights over the past two seasons and shows plenty on both sides of the football on his season highlights. Saunders runs well, can and will go sideline to sideline to make a tackle and also seems to be able to fight off traffic and make plays. Saunders also shows good overall ball skills on offense and on defense seems to be a strong finisher.
Questions or possible room for improvement for Khali Saunders? Saunders for me is one of those recruits who no question has a high level of talent and even higher potential, especially from a physical standpoint. I can see schools wind up adding Saunders to play say OLB/DE and even possibly as a TE? Regardless, I find Saunders overall potential really strong and watching his growth (especially physically) over the next 12-18 months will no question determine a lot in regards to a final evaluation. In short...Saunders for me is still very much a recruit "under construction" physically in many ways. Saunders will need to add more weight/size and especially strength at the next level. Schools, especially the higher level Big 10 schools I'm sure will also want to see Saunders run sometime this spring/summer.
Projected level: Not a cop-out whatsoever here, but I still feel that Saunders has a long ways to grow before I can eventually get a better handle on his level and effectiveness. Just off of his physical tools, smarts and work ethic I see Saunders at worse a mid level D1 name which makes sense since he's already adding multiple offers from the Mid American Conference level this winter. Saunders no question will have a big 4-6 months ahead of him from a development standpoint and I'm excited to see how well he develops.
Ranking? Again this is an initial ranking so I'll start him as a mid to high 3 star ranked recruit who I will revisit again this spring. I would not be shocked to see a much different (and hopefully higher final ranking) for Khali Saunders.
