2017 Nicholas Petit-Frere
OL, Berkeley Prep Buccaneers

The eternal question when it comes to offensive line play is how do you grade a player in isolation. An offensive line is a group of five tight-knit players that don’t really compile measurable stats that you can use to base performances on. As a result it is often the case that a good offensive lineman struggles to stand out unless he is truly dominant.

In 2017, Nicholas Petit-Frere was beyond dominant.

There is a reason that Petit-Frere is ranked by some recruiting services as the No. 1 player in the country at his position. The 6-foot-6, 272-pound left tackle is absurdly athletic for his size and he has already shown the ability to put his athletic traits to work on the football field.

Petit-Frere is that offensive tackle that defensive ends just hate playing against. With most tackles you can either bull rush them – trying to push directly through to the quarterback – or you can try to use a spin move or some other finesse attack to get the tackle off balance on blow by. Petit-Frere showed in 2017 that he has the skills to stop all types of pass rushers as he is simply too strong for the bull rush to be effective and he has the footwork and quickness to combat any alternative method to get to the quarterback.

The Berkeley Prep Buccaneers may have finished just 5-4 this season, but their win total would have been dramatically impacted if Petit-Frere had not played in those games. There were times when the big tackle seemed to be locking down two and even three defenders on his own, giving time for his quarterback and running backs to do their thing and pick up yards.

While the season may not have resulted in the win total that Petit-Frere would have liked, it was still a notable year where the big senior stood out from the local crowd, as well as the crowd of offensive tackles around the country.