Best Thurston recruit since Jonathan Stewart? Yelm’s Brayden Platt backing up the buzz
Opponents have not been able to slow down the South Sound’s top recruit in the 2024 class early on this fall.
Yelm High School four-star recruit Brayden Platt starts on both sides of the ball — at running back and linebacker — for a Tornados team looking to make a run at the Class 3A state title this season, and has been a key playmaker in back-to-back wins to open the season.
Platt has rushed for 266 yards, averaging 11.6 per carry.
He’s piled up 132 receiving yards, averaging 22 per catch.
He’s added 13 tackles on defense, including one for a loss.
Touchdowns? He has eight.
“He’s very, very special,” Tornados coach Jason Ronquillo said. “He’s the best player in the entire area, maybe in the state of Washington, particularly for his class. I don’t think we’ve seen a player like Brayden Platt since Jonathan Stewart went around.
“And that’s the honest truth, and I’ve been coaching since then. ... When Jonathan Stewart was playing, I coached against him while I was at Aberdeen — I was the defensive coordinator there — and I haven’t seen a player like him since then.”
Platt has “speed, athleticism, strength, the right attitude to be successful,” Ronquillo said, which has made him a standout player for the Tornados during his career.
“He’s the full package,” Ronquillo said.
That’s high praise, but Platt’s recruitment backs it up. Per 247Sports Composite rankings, Platt is indeed the highest-rated recruit playing for a Thurston County program since Stewart starred at Timberline. Stewart is still the state’s all-time rushing leader, was a five-star prospect in the 2005 class, went on to have a stellar career at Oregon, was a first-round draft pick in 2008 and play 11 seasons in the NFL.
Platt, listed at 6-foot-2, 235 pounds and projected as a linebacker at the next level, is considered the No. 3 recruit in the state in the 2024 class by 247Sports, and the No. 4 recruit in Washington by both ESPN and Rivals.
He is also ranked nationally on both the Top247 (No. 80 overall) and ESPN 300 (No. 242) lists, and considered a top-five linebacker in the junior class by both sites.
“He’s just your classic middle linebacker,” 247Sports National Recruiting Editor Brandon Huffman said. “He’s a three-down backer. He’s a good run stuffer, but he’s athletic enough to be in coverage. He can cover backs. He can cover tight ends. He’s physical.”
Platt currently holds nine Power Five offers from Arizona, California, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Mississippi State, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Washington State.
What would a Division I program add with Platt on the roster?
“A physical and fast player,” he said.
Following a shortened spring schedule his freshman season due to the pandemic, Platt had a breakout season for the Tornados as a sophomore last fall.
He earned 3A South Sound Conference first-team honors at both running back and linebacker, and was an All-Area first-team selection by both The Olympian and The News Tribune.
Platt piled up 1,152 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns last fall on offense, and was everywhere for the Tornados on defense, adding 78 tackles, five for losses, two sacks and two interceptions.
“His performance on both sides of the ball — he does it at a high level,” Huffman said.
Platt is being recruited primarily as a defensive player at the Division I level — he likes to be able to read plays and then go make a play — but expect him to continue to be a key contributor for Yelm on both sides of the ball.
“At the high school level, we’re going to hand him the ball as much as we can,” Ronquillo said. “ … Every offense would love to have a piece like we have.”
Platt has scored four touchdowns apiece in Yelm’s first two games — against two 4A Greater St. Helens League powers in Camas and Union, which have both won undefeated state titles in the past four seasons.
He rushed for four touchdowns of 14, 1, 11 and 85 yards in a 44-14 win over Camas — which won undefeated championships in both 2016 and 2019 — as Yelm made a convincing statement in its season opener.
Last week, the Tornados traveled to Vancouver, and Platt scored all four of his touchdowns — a 50-yard receiving score and rushes of 28, 41 and 5 yards — in the first 13 minutes of the game. Yelm cruised to a 46-6 win over the 2018 4A champions.
Beyond football, Platt has also been a standout athlete for the Tornados in both wrestling and track and field.
In his first opportunities to compete at the state level last school year as a sophomore after postseason events were canceled his freshman year, he placed third in 3A at 285 pounds at Mat Classic in February before winning a 3A state title in the shot put (personal-best 61-6) and adding runner-up finishes in the discus (personal-best 152-11) and javelin (191-9) at the state meet in May.
He also competed in the 2022 Nike Outdoor Nationals in June at Hayward Field in Eugene, placing second in the javelin (214-0 1/2) and seventh in the shot put (60-8).
Platt said playing multiple sports throughout the year helps him “be more versatile.”
“I think wrestling has helped me quite a bit to be more physical, and then track has helped me be more explosive,” he said.
He has goals to one day play in the NFL and throw in the Olympics. This fall, though, the focus is on helping pace Yelm’s football program back to the postseason.
With Platt as one of several talented playmakers the Tornados have back this season, Yelm is set to continue through its schedule with the hope of contending for a 3A state championship in December.
Yelm has made the state bracket four times in history, including each of the past three seasons — the Tornados advanced to the quarterfinals in 1987, quarterfinals in 2018, first round in 2019 and quarterfinals again last fall — and this year’s group is off to another impressive start.
“It just goes to show you the work that they put in,” Ronquillo said. “Not just this summer or last spring, but the years prior, everything that they’ve been doing — particularly the classes of ’23 and ‘24 — everything they’ve done since they came into the program is really coming to fruition.
“Because it does take a lot of work and it can’t just happen in a month or two. It takes years to get to a position where they’re at. … These kids have built this.”
“With most of our team, we’ve all grown up together and played together,” Platt said. “So, we’re all bonded together.”
