Hickory High School in Catawba County hosted the third 2025 Carolinas Coaches Combine in North Carolina.

The combine is a joint venture between the North Carolina Coaches Association, North Carolina Football Coaches Association, NCCA East-West All-Star Game, the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas, and some coaches associations from South Carolina designed to identify the players who will be selected to the all-star games.

Coaches on the staff of the upcoming Shrine Bowl and East-West All-Star Game were on hand to evaluate the players, which mostly came from central and eastern North Carolina schools.

Princeton High School hosted the first combine event in late March and Page High School hosted the middle event.

Mooresville High School quarterback Brody Norman dominated the testing, measuring in with the top vertical (43.6″, a record for this combine at any location), the top broad jump (10’3″), and a tie for the top short shuttle (4.25 seconds). South Point’s Gavin Smith and Statesville’s Tyreek Carter also tied for the best short shuttle, but Smith won the award as he had a better second time.

Palisades lineman John Dilone had the most bench press reps with 37.

Brevard running back Braylon Thompson ran the fastest laser-time 40-yard dash with a 4.45 second run.

The top linemen awards went to Stateville’s Josh Terry for offense and Jay M. Robinson’s Aiden Black for defense.

Zach Cullen of Sun Valley won the top offensive combo award and Mount Pleasant All-State player Ethan Dempsey was named the top offensive skill player.

A.L. Brown High School’s Jamere Martin won the top defensive back award and Stuart Cramer High School’s Chris Wurster won the top defensive combo award.

HighSchoolOT was able to speak with nine of the players at the Hickory, including event MVP Gavin Barber of Mooresville High School.

Gavin Barber, Mooresville TE

Brody Norman, Mooresville QB

Josh Terry, Statesville OL

Ethan Dempsey, Mount Pleasant ATH

Cason Jones, Mountain Heritage ATH

Braxton Batchelor, Mountain Heritage OL/DL

Jamere Martin, A.L. Brown DB

Braylon Thompson, Brevard RB

Hunter Pittman, McDowell RB/LB