Ranked No. 28 in the West Rankings and Oregon’s top-ranked player, Axton Rutherford will make a Division I program very happy when they land him. Looking at my notes from Naptown and the Iron Bowl, he stood out in transition: gobbling groundballs on the first hop, getting up and out, drawing in transition, and using both hands to get away from pressure and feed teammates. At Showtime, he stood out off the ball—showing toward the ball to make dodgers think twice, then covering ground and scrapping back to his matchup to kill advantages. He also capitalizes on a ton of doubles on rollbacks that kill possessions. On the ball, his arm strength stands out in how he lifts his arms to jar the ball loose.

Axton Retherford (pictured) is an absolute pest on defense due to his length, relentlessness, and instincts. He stays all over his opponents hands and gives them very little room to operate. He also has the ability to land big checks or hits, which can force the rock out of his opponent’s stick. And he knows to push the pace from there. Overall, there’s a lot to like and he still has plenty of time to keep developing.