2025 Pre-Season Secondary Position Rankings

Strong safety:

1. Pat Hamilton 🐂- Should have been the ICFL’s defensive MVP last year. 2nd in tackles at 70. 2 sacks. A blocked kick. 11 freakin’ deflections! And 11 forced turnovers is insane!!! Oh, and he also scored twice. Maybe the best defensive stat line in ICFL history. But didn’t win MVP cuz someone had 3 more tackles than him. Travesty. 😒 

2. Nick Dottellis 🔱- The next 2 are relatively close. This guy had 39 tackles, 1.5 Sacks, forced 2 turnovers and scored. One of the smarter football IQ guys on the field, athletic, a leader, a hitter, can play any position on the defense, and might not even end up here… oh, and did I mention he starts both ways? Just a flat out football guy through and through. 

3. Kory Peterman🏺- He’s gonna be pissed he’s here, trust me I heard about it last year too, but it really is a compliment in a stout group. Kory might be the best cover guy of the top 3. He doesn’t come up with a lot of picks, but he doesn’t give up many catches either. He’s not quite the hitter the other 2 are, but an extremely sure tackler. Nobody really gets away from him. 30 tackles, 2 INT. Ex-Tide captain takes his talents over to a star studded defense with the Aztecs. They say he’s might play some Outside backer too just to make room for all the talent. 

4. Robert Jackio 🐅- A long time corner with the defunct Oilers, and most recently an equally chaotic Ducks team. The most athletic of the group so far, but also the biggest liability. He was known to give up 9 balls at corner. Moving him here allows the Sabers to hide him from the Go Ball, while letting him lock down slot recievers. He hits better than you’d expect for someone his build too. He will spend time at several positions this year. 

5. Andrew Woolsey 🐺- Was a touted RB last season buried on a deep depth chart led by the Leagues MVP. He was too athletic to sit on the bench, so this year they move him to contribute full time on defense. Last season he finished with 14 tackles and 2 picks. 

6. Jake Tolman 🪽- The best, and only, Guardian to make any of these lists. Long time leader on both sides of the ball, and coaches son. Not really great at anything, but pretty good at everything. Big, lanky, physical, and pretty good hands. He’s honestly an underrated player. 

7. Cody Rowley 🔱- We’re really excited about this young Buck. Fresh out of Nampa High, playing LB. A little undersized for the box, but quads bigger than your head. Moves and covers like a DB, but rowdy like a backer. Wirey kid that we will probably move all around the defense. It feels criminal to rank him this low, but rookies gotta earn their flowers around here. 

8. Regan Sondermann ✈️- He’s gonna take this as a slight, being 8th, but he shouldn’t. It’s just a deep position group. Regan has really impressed me the last couple years. He was his teams 3rd leading tackler at 25 (and both guys ahead of him are no longer on the team). 2 picks and 9 deflections ain’t too shabby either. A little thin to be considered a hitter, but plays above his weight class. 

9. Zach Trammell ⛏️- I don’t know anything about this new guy except that the Diggers say he’s been taking the most reps at Strong so far. It’s still early, so whether he stays here remains to be seen. He could move up the list, or off it all together. 

10. Isaac Garcia 🪄- Yes. That’s a wand for team Gryffendor. There’s no Griffin emojis. Find me something better and I’ll use it. This is another guy I didn’t get much info about. Just getting the name of the guy in this position was kind of a pain, so I don’t have much to say about him other than his name, team, and position. Sorry bout it Garcia.

Free safety:

1. Zack LaBarbera 🐂- Still the best true Free Safety in the league. The most knowledgeable of the group, always in position, and the best ball hawk. 18 tackles and 7 picks last year puts him 2nd All-Time with 26 career INT. 3 trophies under his belt, and an annual 1st team All-Star. 1st ballot Hall of Famer in my opinion. 

2. Zach Peterson 🏺- A physical freak still learning to play the position. He’s definitely the best athlete of the group, a hard hitter, extremely fast and lanky, great ball skills, just not experienced enough to have the natural instincts. He had 19 tackles and 2 picks last year. Now he moves over to an already crowded secondary with the Tecs, where they will assuredly make room for the future Hall of Famer (on offense). They say he may find his way into the box a little more than years past. He’s definitely physical enough. 

3. Trevone Martin 🏺- Looks the part, big, athletic, and talented. They just had 3 guys playing 1 spot last year. Looks to be more of the same this year. Just too crowded to truly shine. They’ve already moved Garcia and Trost out of the way, so either they’ll play a 2 high, the last guy will move into the box, or this guy will find himself at corner. Either way, he’s too good to sit the bench. Last year he had 20 tackles while splitting time. 

4. AJ Hunter ⛏️- Starts at QB, but FS is his best position. I’m not sure which one he will do this year, maybe both. But until they say he’s not playing here, he’s on the list. 

5. KJ Joiner 🐅- Another true corner that often makes the big play, but also gives up the big play. He’s a ball hawk, and he can be physical. He’s playing a new position now, so time will tell. I’ve been told him and the next guy are neck n’ neck, but KJ gets the nod for his leadership. The Sabers 2 starting safeties, might be 2 of the leagues best corners. That’s either a big vote of confidence in the other corners, or questionable coaching. We will see. 

6. Chance Hudson 🐅- Was the lone bright spot on a very bad team 2 years ago. Came in last year with a lot of hype, but quickly to be derailed by injuries early in the season. Fresh start this year, 2nd on the depth chart. Which I suppose bodes well for a talented Saber secondary. No matter what, they’ll find a spot for him. Too good not to. A lot of personalities in the Saber secondary. Could be peanut butter on jelly on gold (if you’re winning)… or it could be a toxic dumpster fire (if you’re not). 

7. Jaymond Dyer 🐺- Had his bright spots on a pretty decent Alpha defense. Led the group with 30 tackles, which isn’t necessarily good for FS, but he also had 2 picks and scored on defense. He’s a pretty good ball player, he just has a few other really good ballers in front of him. 

8. Ayden Snow ✈️- The Warhawks rave about him. They really like him. I think he’s alright for the most part. He is lanky and athletic. But the collective disagreed a bit. Some of the other contributors felt he’s often found out of position, and a weak spot they intentionally target. They wanted him a couple spots down, so compromised here. 

9. Nico Jamie 🔱- This guy is pretty talented. A Mt. View grad with a State Title under his belt. The only reason he’s so low is because I want him to play offense. If he does end up here, he will be splitting time with the guy below him. So how can I put a new rookie, splitting time at a position, ahead of the true returning starters? I honestly have no idea who’s playing Free Safety for us right now. But one of them will sky rocket up this list. 

10. Jaymon Barrus 🔱- Another extremely talented player that I know for sure will be a huge part of the offense. Also a Mt. View grad with a State Title under his belt. He really wants to do both. Maybe he can be Travis Hunter. He is ultra talented. But again, I don’t know that he will be here yet. So let’s just hide down here and let the vets have their time in the sun, yeah? 

11. Austin Villalobos 🪄- The Griffins have said this player might, maybe, potentially, play some Free Safety this year. So here he is. Just in case.

Cornerback:

1. Juan Blancas 🐺- The best man to man lock down corner in the league in my opinion. He’s extremely underrated as most owners don’t even vote for him in their top 6 for All-Stars. It’s pretty ridiculous in my opinion. I’ve been super impressed by him. But what do I know? 

2. Joey Driscoll 🏺- The most experienced corner left in our league. Not the most athletic, but much more athletic than you’d think. A few of the guys I do this with wanted him #1. I wanted him #3. So here he is. No matter what, he’s unquestioned as an All-Star caliber CB. 

3. Jr Sandoval 🔱- Young kid fresh out of Nampa High. Probably the most aggressive of the corners. He’s small, but plays very big. I haven’t seen a corner get this angry about giving up little catches since Matt Fisher. This kid is one to watch. I think he could easily be at the top of this list at the end of the season. 

4. Junior Pigott 🐂- A really talented CB that sometimes gets beat deep. I don’t think he gets beat because he’s bad. I think sometimes he’s trying to bait the QB and it just gets away from him at times. He could move up, but he’s too talented to move down. 

5. Mark Olmos ⛏️- Was, I repeat WAS, a top corner in this league, 5 years ago. He’s extremely underrated, still could be, I just wanna see it. A lil’ older, but he’s been around the game coaching at the highschool level. You’re not gonna outsmart him. 

6. Willie Garcia 🏺- Maybe the most talented FS in the league that gets pushed out of his spot to make room for others. Broke the record for INT’s in season at 8 playing FS (only to be broken again last year). Can he be as effective at CB? Maybe? 

7. Marquez Cummings 🐂- Athletic for sure. Maybe not as aware as some of the others. He will run with you all day. But can at times be caught out of position a bit. His talk game is A+, but his field play is more like a solid B. Not bad by any stretch. 

8. TJ Cothran 🔱- Has seen his share of ICFL ball. Spent time with the Trojans and Matadors. Now he’s with BT. He’s always been a very decent CB. He’s getting some really good coaching right now, and I come away from almost every practice impressed with TJs improvement.

9. Joey Anguiano 🐅- The Sabers had me convinced to rank him much higher, for a bit. Then I remembered some of these other guys are pretty damn good, and I don’t know who this guy is. But I can tell you, they are really really high on him. Put yo money where their mouf is.

10. Sigi Rodriguez ✈️- Was the most athletic player in Warhawks history at WR a few years back. Took a couple years off, now he’s back, but on the defensive side. I know he’s a gamer, but I don’t know if he can cover… yet. The dude has legit potential to sky rocket. 

11. Davis Eckebrecht ✈️- Another solid WR turned corner due to need. Took the league by storm for the first few weeks of the season at wideout. But was needed on defense, so made the switch. Looks like he’s there full time now. 

12. Michael Cabello 🐺- The starter opposite Blancas. I don’t know much about this new player except that the Alphas have pretty high expectations for him. 

13. Taylor Trost 🏺- Another victim of the Aztec shuffle. The stars are gonna star, so we gotta find a place for the former safety. Sounds like he will get some corner work. But I don’t see him getting the start over Driscoll and Garcia. Still, a pretty savvy player that’ll make a spot for himself. 

14. Brandon Garrett 🐂- High production, not so athletic. The Dors are good at putting Garrett into spots where he can shine, and he takes advantage of them. All he needs is an opportunity, and he seems to come up with plays you might not expect him to. 

15. Andrew Rivas 🪄- Probably the best player in the Griffin secondary. Originally listed at Strong Safety. But I can imagine how difficult it is to start a new team, so they’re moving guys around. At the moment, they’ve moved him to corner. 

16. Keagan Vincent 🪄- The Griffins say this corner is their # 1. They think they have a gem here. For now he gets the low level rookie treatment. No shade, just wanna see ya prove it first fella. 

17. Joseph Johnson 🐅- The Sabers say this kid is good too. And he better be if they’ve moved Jackio/Joiner out of their traditional spots. Kids got big shoes to fill. Let’s see how he holds up. 

18. Laurant Mkubaya 🐂- I actually don’t know for sure that he is on this team. They haven’t turned in an agreement for him. And I know somewhat recently he was checking out 3 different teams. Either way, this kid is pretty talented, just raw. Would really benefit from good coaching, and experience. 

19. DeAndre Jones ⛏️- A guy in battle for the spot opposite Olmos. They aren’t set on it for sure, but it’ll be one of these 2 guys. Gut says this one has a slight edge in the battle. 

20. Koltyn Taylor ⛏️- The other contender. They listed Jones ahead of Taylor when I asked. Maybe it was coincidence, maybe it was foreshadowing. Who knows. But the Diggers always have a solid defense, so 1 of these 2 better be ok.

secondary roundup:

1. Aztecs 🏺(56 points) Driscoll, Peterson, Peterman, Martin, Garcia. The most talented unit. But a lotta dogs wanna eat here. Aztec shuffle forces a lot of guys out of position. There’s infinite potential, but there’s questions. Week 1 will answer most all of em. 

2. Matadors 🐂 (42 points) Hamilton, LaBarbera, Pigott, Cummings, Garrett. 2 safeties combined for a staggering 16 INT’s. Corners will have better chemistry returning everyone in the same system. I actually expect these guys to be the best secondary. 

3. Black Tide 🔱 (32 points) Dottellis, Sandoval, Cothran, Rowley, ?. Will be better once they figure out FS. They have the pieces, just need it all to come together a bit. Whatever happens, they’re locked into the Top 3 just based on talent alone. Depth could be a problem though. Will they land another big 🐟 soon? 🤷🏼‍♂️

4. Sabers 🐅 (26 points) Jackio, Joiner, Anguiano, Hudson, Johnson. Undoubtedly the most pissed off group right now. And they have validity. They have a ton of talent here. But they have a lot of big new personalities playing new positions. There’s a lot of question marks to go with the hype. When I did Top 5 only, they were #6, and that felt way too low. When I switched it to Top 10 they moved up 2 places, which just shows their depth. 

5. Alphas 🐺(25 points) Blancas, Woolsey, Cabello, Dyer. Solid unit. A lot of potential depending on Woolsey and Cabello. Won’t be the best or worst. Pretty assuredly middle of the pack. Pack… get it? Whatever. 

6. Diggers ⛏️ (20 points) Olmos, Hunter, Trammell, Jones, Taylor. They’re getting a small boost for Hunter, which I’m not ever sure is playing safety. But Jones/Taylor prob rated too low, so it balances out. Thaxton will prob get in the mix too. 

7. Warhawks ✈️ (17 points) Rodriguez, Eckebrecht, Sondermann, Snow. Not a very good secondary overall, but definitely not the worst. How will this defense recover from losing DMVP Roach. He covered up a lot of holes last year. Just ask the Invaders. Sigi helps, but losing Jr was big. If Snow can silence the doubters, it’ll go a long way!

8. Griffins 🪄(6 points) Rivas, Vincent, Garcia, Villalobos. Just based on potential alone they get the nod over Guardians. They’re going to have a rough welcome to the league. But you gotta start somewhere right? 

9. Guardians 🪽 (5 points) Traditionally expected to give up 60 on the weekly. I haven’t seen anything to make me think otherwise yet.