blake bates

Andy Olds has to go back nearly two decades to find a player that compares to Blake Bates.

“Eric Louallen made a jump from his junior to senior season in the early 1990s so remarkable that it still stands out in my mind as the greatest jump in performance that a player has made in one year during my time at Kings,” Olds said. “Blake has matched and surpassed that this year.

“He has transformed himself into a Division I prospect in one offseason, and I mean that sincerely. He got in the weight room, understood that this was his last chance and jumped at it. He will be a difference maker for us on defense.”

Check out the rest of Scot Hayes article at the Pulse Journal.

Not only is Coach Old’s noticing Blake’s transformation but his hard work paid off this summer, check out this summary from OhioVarsity.com on his performance at the National Underclassmen Combine in Columbus where Blake was a Top 20 Standout/All-Combine Team member:

Bates builds on strong combine performance

Steve Hare
OhioVarsity.com

Earlier this spring Blake Bates was among the top performers at the National Underclassmen Combine-Columbus. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound linebacker from Kings High School in Cincinnati, Ohio used that performance as a springboard into the summer camp season. Already he’s impressed coaches at Ohio and has several more camps on the schedule.