Live from CMS prospect day: Big transfer, big stars, lots of coaches
One of the biggest surprises of Monday’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ high school football “prospect day” was seeing former West Mecklenburg High star Elijah Littlejohn working out with West Charlotte.
Littlejohn, ranked No. 11 in the state by The Charlotte Observer and No. 14 by 247sports.com, transferred to West Charlotte in March after spending most of his junior season at West Mecklenburg. Littlejohn began his high school career at West Charlotte.
“I had to move houses to come back,” Littlejohn said after West Charlotte’s workout Monday at Mallard Creek High School.
Littlejohn’s mother had worked at West Charlotte when he was a sophomore. When she was moved to another school, he was placed in the school of his living district (West Mecklenburg) before transferring to Charlotte Christian.
“He had some opportunities with an NIL situation to go to a private school,” West Charlotte coach Sam Greiner said. “And he tested the waters in the summer and it wasn’t what he wanted.
“His family had to move for him to come back and now he’s back with us.”
Littlejohn has thrived on the field at both schools; he had 86 tackles, 12 sacks and 18 quarterback hurries in 2023 for West Charlotte’s 9-4 Class 3A third-round playoff team. Last season, Littlejohn had 84 tackles, 14 sacks and 24 hurries for West Mecklenburg’s 3-7 team.
A 6-foot-2, 205-pound edge rusher, Littlejohn’s skill has drawn the attention of many of the country’s top college football programs.
He said on Monday that he will make his decision official in July, when he chooses from among Ohio State, Penn State, N.C. State and Virginia Tech.
KD Cotton still available
K.D. Cotton, a 5-9, 178-pounder ranked No. 45 in the state by 247sports.com, had been considered a 100 percent commitment to N.C. State.
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On Monday, Cotton said he has not committed to any program yet.
He said he will commit on June 26, with Duke, N.C. State, East Carolina, Kentucky and Wake Forest his finalists.
College coaches enjoy
Monday’s event was organized by Palisades head coach Jonathan Simmons; 70 coaches, including three NCAA Division II head coaches, were in attendance.
Ardrey Kell, Berry Academy, Chambers, Garinger, Hopewell, Mallard Creek, North Mecklenburg, Olympic, Palisades, South Mecklenburg, West Charlotte and West Mecklenburg went through non-contract drills and scrimmage sessions.
“If not for rain, we’d probably have gotten more coaches,” Simmons said. “Some of our own CMS schools pulled out because of the weather.”
N.C. State was represented by defensive line assistant Elisha Shaw, defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot and assistant head coach/wide receivers coach Joker Phillips.
“I’m from Georgia and you see this a lot in Georgia,” Shaw said. “It’s good to get out and see so many players in one place. It’s like a ‘one-stop-shop’ for us. With multiple teams and multiple players, you can see how they practice and how they work.”
A pair of local schools coming off different types of seasons also were there: Johnson C. Smith and the Charlotte 49ers.
Johnson C. Smith had the first 8-0 start in school history before finishing 8-2 last fall.
“I’m glad to be out here and glad to be seen,” Golden Bulls associate head coach Kevin Thompson said. “We’re still fighting some old ideas about J.C. Smith. Now we’ve got to go out there and do it again.”
Defensive analyst Tariq Drake and offensive line coach Allen Rudolph represented the Charlotte 49ers. Head coach Tim Albin inherits a program with one winning season in its 12-year history.
“I think this is great for the high school kids just because they get a chance to show off their skills,” Drake said. “For us as coaches, we get to see everybody in the area at one place.”
Thie event will return
With heavy rain falling earlier in the day, the event was moved from Chambers’ natural grass field to Mallard Creek’s turf field. Even as rain fell intermittently throughout the workouts, the teams each completed 45-minute workouts.
“Coach Simmons did a great job of putting this together,” Mallard Creek coach Kennedy Tinsley said. “What this does is help the college coaches, who are trying to see kids all over the country, come to one place and see a lot of kids all in one place.”
Tinsley and Simmons said they hope there are more events like Monday’s.
“This is what we want to do,” Simmons said. “As high school coaches, we want to scrape every avenue to give our kids opportunities to get recruited.”
“And for the college coaches, this is a confirmation of what they’ve already seen. They know these kids are good ballplayers and they’ve seen them on film so now they’re setting them on the field.
“We wanted to start this year to share this vision. Now my goal is to share it with (Mecklenburg County) parks and rec and do events for our kids and for our future.”
This story was originally published May 12, 2025 at 9:17 PM.
