Under the Lights: Elijah Gooden
Boling (TX) athlete Elijah Gooden and his 2-0 Boling Bulldogs ranked No.3 in Division II 3A took on the Hallettsville (TX) Bramahs on Friday night. The Bramahs are ranked No.9 in Division I 3A.
Cougar commit Elijah Gooden put the Bulldogs up 7-0 late in the first quarter, but Hallettsville rallied back scoring 28 unanswered points to leave Boling with the 28-7 win over the Bulldogs.
In this installment of 'Under the Lights' I'll talk about some takeaways I have after watching Gooden live in action, followed by a post-game interview on the field where he talks about his team's performance, updates us on recruitment and more.
My first impressions of Gooden upon entering the stadium were he is one of those players that passes the eyeball test with flying colors. At 6-foot-1, 205-pounds he's a multifaceted athlete for Boling. He was used in a variety of ways on Friday night including running back, linebacker, slot receiver, kick return and punt coverage.
He's a pretty good high school running back, very physical runner with enough speed to make opposing defenses pay, but where he really punishes you is with his physical strength. He doesn't look like you're typical high school kid, imagine an Ed Oliver playing running back if you will.
The problem on offense is he plays so much on defense that Boling head coach Stephen Dorr spreads the carries around between Gooden, and two other players.
As good as he is at running back I think he is likely more suitable playing the defensive side of the ball at the next level. He's a fast, explosive and physical linebacker that really hustles to the ball. You could tell that Hallettsville did their homework because they made a pretty good effort to take him out of the game as Gooden saw quite a few double-teams on the night, something you don't see all that often on a linebacker in the high school ranks.
I think he may be a bit underrated which probably comes with his location and level of competition of which he plays. There haven't been very many athletes rated from Boling, Texas. If he was at a Manvel, Pearland or Katy type of program he might have gotten a lot more attention and quite possibly could be ranked a little higher than where he's at now.
Watching him play both sides of the ball, kick return and punt coverage for four quarters of action I can tell you he's got the motor and work ethic that Houston head coach Tom Herman wants out of his players. All traits that likely led to the Cougars offering the Boling standout a scholarship after participating in Houston's mini-camp at TDECU Stadium in June.
Catching up with Gooden After the Game