Florida Class of 2024 Rankings: Who's at the top?

<p>The first drop for Florida rankings are out where<a href="https://prepdig.com/florida/rankings/florida-2024-rankings/"> I ranked the top 100 players in the state</a>. The plethora of talent in the state made the decision making for the top 100 a vigorous process. Months of watching teams compete in USAV qualifiers, AAU's, and film study is what really helped me find and break down the skills and overall talent of the class. </p>   <p>The biggest question everyone is probably asking is who made the top 10 and who just missed the cut. The decision making process when establishing my rankings is mainly based on the translatable skills that player presents for college programs, not just the typical athleticism and size threshold. Although those are important aspects to the college game, there are a lot of skillsets and aspects of their game that I really honed in on. Just for example one of those skillsets would be the volleyball IQ shown through their play, no matter the position. I will be presenting two players both from the top 10 and just outside of the top 10 that I thought really stood out at their position. </p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">#3: [player_tooltip player_id='411367' first='Jackie' last='Taylor'], OH/MB, Miami Hype</h2>   <p>Jackie is an intriguing player to watch in person, and an absolute highlight reel on film. Jackie has one of if not the best swing in her class in my opinion; her ability to swing fast while getting a high contact is impressive in itself. But, what really makes her different is the control she has over the ball no matter where she is hitting the ball from. Her hitting technique and range really set herself up at the top of her class, let alone the fact that she uses her height and athleticism to hit over the block at times. The other aspects of her game aren't ignored either, she is a 6 rotation player no matter whether she's playing outside hitter, opposite, or even middle. I want to send my congrats to her and the Tar Heel program. </p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">#6: [player_tooltip player_id='411369' first='Dakota' last='Arnette'], OH, Boomers Volleyball Academy</h2>   <p>Dakota is a powerhouse from the pin position. She uses her physicality and athleticism to really separate herself from her peers. She has an elite ability to step-close to the ball to create more angles for her to take advantage of. Once her feet are to the ball, if the block leaves anything open she is going to use it to her benefit. You can consistently see her taking what the defense is giving to her to help the team score points. What makes Dakota stand out for me is her ability to take over a game not just with her offense but with her blocking and digging on defense. I can understand why the Boomers, Team Florida, and Lehigh University found Dakota to be such an asset and focal point to each of their programs.</p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">#14: [player_tooltip player_id='411375' first='Maria' last='Happ'], MB, OTVA</h2>   <p>Maria's film and live game play was one of the smoothest and easiest to watch. Her footwork off of the net in transition looks smoother than butter; no extra steps and always open to the ball and her setter. Although having [player_tooltip player_id='359348' first='Taylor' last='Parks'] (#4 player in our rankings) as your setter makes her job easier than some others, her skill and ability to play the middle position still stood out amongst her peers. She may not be the most athletic, but she makes it up with a different level of volleyball IQ and overall footwork that put her as my #4 middle in the state. While watching film, Maria is exceptional at making quick decisions when hitting on offense as well as blocking on defense. When you put high IQ along with fantastic footwork, it creates so many opportunities for her and her team to take advantage of. </p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">#19: [player_tooltip player_id='411379' first='Mckayla' last='Theleus'], OH, Wizard Volleyball Academy</h2>   <p>Watching Mckayla's film was one of the many bright spots and surprises I experienced while going through the ranking process. Her film shows the level of play that she's able to execute no matter the talent on the other side of the net. Although her height doesn't compare to a lot of the talent in her position, she uses all of the God given abilities that's presented to her. She's not only a dynamic athlete but uses it both to speed the ball up and to slow the ball down to throw off the defense she's playing against. In one of the plays I was fortunate to watch, she was playing against A5's top team and was able to execute a 360 tip from behind her head for the kill, and knew exactly what she was doing throughout the play. Small examples like that just show the level of IQ and athleticism that Mckayla presents to her opposition. </p>   <p>The rankings for this class is so close that a lot of the tiers I would make would be filled with almost 20 players. The small differences and my own personal preferences when scouting talent really pushed players up or down on my board. I'm very excited to get started on updating the rankings, so if I missed you on this update make sure I don't miss you on this next one! Please feel free to email me at dustincarrier@gmail.com if I missed out on your amazing talent. Congrats to these 4 and the other 100 players for making the first drop of Prep Dig rankings for the 2024 class. </p>

The first drop for Florida rankings are out where I ranked the top 100 players in the state. The plethora of talent in the state made the decision making for the top 100 a vigorous process. Months of watching teams compete in USAV qualifiers, AAU's, and film study is what really helped me find and break down the skills and overall talent of the class.