Clearwater running back Adarius Lemons thinks he's the best 2017 running back in talent-rich Florida.
"I don't see nobody beating me," he told SB Nation's Bud Elliott at this weekend's Orlando regional camp for The Opening, the popular Nike event. "Nobody. That's how it is. That's how it's going to be."
In the class of 2017, Lemons is the 12th-rated back in the state, according to the 247Sports Composite, which pegs him as the No. 29 player overall in Florida. The four-star prospect said he models his game after James Wilder Jr., a local legend who came out of Henry B. Plant High School in Tampa in the class of 2011 and went to Florida State.
"Watching him play, man, he was just too big," Lemons said. "Nobody could tackle him. It's like people were scared of him. He ran with that. He ran like he had a purpose, so that's what I like."
Lemons, who's been listed at 6'2 and 185 pounds, said he weighed in over the weekend at 194 pounds – and that looks like good weight, not bad weight. He's eager to put it to use, working out twice daily between Mondays and Thursdays and gearing up for a college career that will start in about a year.
"The best part of my game is running hard, you know? Not scared," he said. "I love contact."
Lemons claims offers from a long list of schools, including Auburn, Ohio State, Michigan, Florida, LSU and North Carolina – 24 scholarship offers in total, he said.
"It's a blessing," Lemons said. "Every offer I get, even if it's from Bethune-Cookman, I'm going to take it, because it's a blessing. It's a blessing to play for somebody."
Here's some tape on Lemons from his junior season.