In the month of April, HSOT Insiders will receive daily articles to preview the 2025 high school football season in North Carolina.

Today, we have a breakdown of the 5A N.C. High School Athletic Association returning receiving threats.

Since players often don’t play the same number of games, we break our stats down into averages.

For wideouts and tight ends, we have yards per game, yards per reception, touchdowns per game, and touchdowns per reception.

To have players featured in these articles, teams either must post their full stats online or send them to Joel.

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Top Returning 5A Defenders: Sacks Per Game

Minimum: 6 games, ties broken by games played

• De’zhian Roberts, senior DL, St. Pauls — 1.56 Sacks/Game
• Christopher Bispham, senior DL, Havelock — 1.0 Sacks/Game
• Kenneth Best, junior DE, Atkins — 1.0 Sacks/Game
• Antwan McKoy, junior DL, St. Pauls — 0.91 Sacks/Game
• Dontez Leach, junior LB, St. Pauls — 0.88 Sacks/Game
• Daniel Honeycutt, senior DE, Oak Grove — 0.83 Sacks/Game
• MarShaun McCullen, junior LB, C.B. Aycock — 0.75 Sacks/Game
• Micahis Lee Jones, senior DL, Rocky Mount — 0.75 Sacks/Game
• Cutter Bryant, senior DL, Croatan — 0.73 Sacks/Game
• Kaleb Lauffer, senior DL, East Lincoln — 0.73 Sacks/Game
• Landen Harding, sophomore DL, Jay M. Robinson — 0.67 Sacks/Game
• Nasramien Knox, senior DL, Forestview — 0.56 Sacks/Game
• Mike Lindsay, junior DL, Southern Guilford — 0.55 Sacks/Game
• Carter Abalos, senior LB, Croatan — 0.55 Sacks/Game
• Jeremy Johnson, senior DB, C.B. Aycock — 0.5 Sacks/Game

Top Returning 5A Defenders: Interceptions Per Game

Minimum: 6 games

• Gavin Smith, senior DB, South Point — 0.82 INT/Game
• Brett Rowland, senior DB, Hickory — 0.79 INT/Game
• Jayden Jones, senior DB, Western Alamance — 0.71 INT/Game
• Matthew Smoot, junior DB, Northside-Jacksonville — 0.67 INT/Game
• Bubba Sims, senior DB, Southeast Alamance — 0.58 INT/Game
• Markell Carter, senior DB, Havelock — 0.54 INT/Game
• Zyking Patillo, senior DB, Havelock — 0.43 INT/Game
• Lawson Reynolds, senior DB, Erwin — 0.42 INT/Game
• Daylin Foard, senior DB, Eastern Alamance — 0.4 INT/Game
• Patrick Miller, senior DB, Seaforth — 0.4 INT/Game
• Caleb Tipton, senior DB, Dixon — 0.38 INT/Game
• Prince Handsford, junior DB, Northeast Guilford — 0.38 INT/Game
• Chris Simmons, sophomore DB, Southern Guilford — 0.38 INT/Game
• James McCaskill, senior DB, North Forsyth — 0.38 INT/Game
• Braylen Loftin, sophomore DB, Fike — 0.36 INT/Game

Top Returning 5A Defenders: Forced Fumbles per Game

Minimum: 6 games

• Patrick Miller, senior DB, Seaforth — 0.5 FF/Game
• Alex Anderson, junior LB, Southern Guilford — 0.5 FF/Game
• Raiden Flowers, senior LB, Seaforth — 0.375 FF/Game
• Ibrahim Barrie, junior DL, Southern Guilford — 0.333333333333333 FF/Game
• Titus Duff, senior DB, Northeast Guilford — 0.333333333333333 FF/Game
• Noah Braswell, senior DL, South Granville — 0.3 FF/Game
• Jayden Royal, junior ATH, Southern Guilford — 0.285714285714286 FF/Game
• Mason Hughes, senior DB, Cedar Ridge — 0.285714285714286 FF/Game
• Carter Abalos, senior LB, Croatan — 0.272727272727273 FF/Game
• Dontez Leach, junior LB, St. Pauls — 0.25 FF/Game
• Zayden Larson, senior DL, Dixon — 0.25 FF/Game
• Christopher Bispham, senior DL, Havelock — 0.214285714285714 FF/Game
• Cameron Napier, senior DB, Northside-Jacksonville — 0.2 FF/Game
• Ryan Jones, senior DB, Rocky Mount — 0.2 FF/Game
• Kenneth Best, junior DE, Atkins — 0.2 FF/Game
• Austin Ingram, senior DL, Seaforth — 0.2 FF/Game
• Judah Harris, junior DL, Hunt — 0.2 FF/Game
• Mikelis Hobgood, senior LB, J.F. Webb — 0.2 FF/Game
• Ashur Tesh, junior LB, East Rowan — 0.2 FF/Game
• Terren Miranda, senior DL, Northwest Cabarrus — 0.2 FF/Game

HSOT Insiders should stay tuned to the site throughout the spring and summer months for more football preview articles.