Mark Hicks always has been big for his age, but now, as an Edmondson linebacker, he is considered a big-time player.

"When Mark makes a tackle, he really brings it," said Edmondson assistant coach Dante Jones. "You're going to know when he makes a tackle because he just runs through people."

Jones is a former linebacker who played alongside former Florida State and present St. Louis Rams linebacker Tommy Polley on Dunbar's 12-0 Class 2A state championship squad of 1993.

"To me," Jones said, "Mark is the closest thing to Tommy Polley that I've ever seen in the city.

"Mark is the total package as far as not missing tackles, blitzing and making plays in the backfield and covering backs out of the backfield. Mark can do it all."

Only a junior, Hicks is the centerpiece of an Edmondson defense that is allowing just over five points a game. But his fourth-ranked Red Storm (11-0) will be tested Saturday at 1 p.m., when it takes on second-ranked Hereford (11-0) in a Class 2A state semifinal game at Poly. Winners of 24 straight games, the Bulls are averaging 42.5 points a game behind their wing-T offense.

Hereford coach Steve Turnbaugh, whose team is after its second straight and third overall state title, said Hicks has figured heavily into his scouting report.

"When you try to prepare for a Mark Hicks using your scout team, you have nobody on your team that can imitate him. That makes him that much more difficult to prepare for," Turnbaugh said. "He's a player who makes plays in every game, and I've seen him do so much. He's a kid who can make a tackle from this sideline to the other sideline. How do you block somebody like that?"

Edmondson registered its sixth shutout last week, defeating City, 14-0, in a quarterfinal game. The 6-foot-1, 220-pound Hicks has a team-high 155 tackles this season - 117 solo - and is credited with 27 sacks.

"Coach Jones is always telling me to scan the field, take the right angles to a play, how to fill the gaps and take on blocks," said the 16-year-old Hicks. "I like how you can gain respect by putting somebody on their back or running through them. In this game, you either hit or you get hit. As a linebacker, I like to hit. I feel like the position's meant for me."

Edmondson coach Pete Pompey, who coached Polley when he was a freshman at Dunbar, has received inquiries regarding Hicks from Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and North Carolina State.

"You don't find high school kids in Baltimore City who love the weight room like he does," Jones said of Hicks, who bench-presses 245 pounds and runs a 4.7-second 40-yard dash. "They only come around once in a great while."

The linebacker always has been bigger than those his age. He played "street ball" as a youngster in the streets of Baltimore, and was still a year away from his first year of organized football when, as a sixth-grader, a middle school administrator thought he was two years older.

"She made me go to the office where they found my name and said, 'Yep, you're in sixth,' " Hicks said. "When I was 8, everybody thought I was 10. People have asked me if I had failed or stayed back a grade, and I say, 'Nah, I'm just a big guy.' "

Hicks caught on to football quickly. After only two years of Pop Warner football and a full season working his way from the JV to the varsity, Hicks started his first varsity game against Northwest of Montgomery County in the quarterfinal round of the 2000 playoffs.

"I was the only freshman in there with all these seniors - [2000 Defensive Player of the Year] Jason Murphy, Curtis Mitchell, Anthony Tucker. I said, 'Why would they put me out here when I could crack under pressure?' " Hicks said. "But with nine seconds left on the clock in the fourth quarter, I hit the quarterback and he fumbled. I had like 12 tackles and a tipped pass. I told myself, 'Hey, maybe I can be a top player.'

"Now a lot of coaches look at me and they're like, 'This kid's 16 and in 11th grade? He's going to be a problem.' "

Hicks said he is constantly hearing comparisons to Polley, a two-time All-Metro Player of the Year, and Rayton Leak, Edmondson's 1999 All-Metro Offensive Player of The Year. He earned the nickname "Baby Ray Lewis" from teammates.

"Maybe my game is similar to those players, but really, I'm just me," Hicks said. "And me being me is a lot better than wanting to be somebody else. Those players have had their turn, now it's my turn to keep the legacy going in Baltimore City. I'm the future. That's how I feel."

Game facts

Matchup: No. 2 Hereford (11-0) vs. No. 4 Edmondson (11-0) in Class 2A state semifinal

Site: Poly (1400 West Cold Spring Lane)

When: Saturday, 1 p.m.

Admission: $4

Coming up

Here are the publication dates for The Sun's All-County teams:

Field hockey: Tuesday.

Volleyball: Tuesday.

Soccer: Wednesday.

Football: Dec. 3.

The Sun will publish its All-Metro teams Dec. 9.

The winter preview section will publish Dec. 4.