Middle school sports are the most unlevel playground in existence because of the tremendous variation of puberty onset. Some kids start in 5th grade while others in 8th grade still have not begun that growth process which begins to level the playing field by the time these kids are usually into their SOPH season.
With that in mind, it is premature and not very relevant as 8th graders to "rank" these kids at this stage. Very few 8th graders have ever been in the weight room even one time which will be another big separating factor once they become SOPH's and JR's. Finally, most middle regular season schedules are limited to just conference games and so unlike with basketball, it is difficult to get a true comparison on how kids rate to other kids across the state when you are playing most of your games against kids from schools within a 75-mile radius. About the only way to get a good feel for these things with statewide schools are through early season 7-on-7 competition(May or June) and/or through the middle school playoffs in October.
So with all of that serving as a disclaimer(especially the puberty component), I have been fortunate enough to see about 50 teams over the last two seasons of middle school football. But most of these teams are based in Central KY and those 50 teams probably only comprise 20% of the middle schools across the state, so again, so my observations are based on a very limited sample size.
Below is a list of the most talented current 8th grade kids that I have observed. I have not listed them by positions as most of them play multiple positions nor have I listed height or weights as that info is not available. I only am listing their schools and all of these players' names are listed in alphabetical order by last name so there is no ranking within this list:
Kaelin Drakeford--King MS(Mercer Co)
Kyle England--Union MS(Ryle)
Brady Holleran--Elkhorn(Franklin Co)
Malachi Jackson-Georgetown(Scott Co)
Wilson Kelly--Boyle MS(Boyle Co)
Zach Labhart--Anderson(Anderson Co)
Jamisen Lewis--Elkhorn(Franklin Co)
Dale Martin-Clark Moores(Madison Cen)
Cade McKee--Scott Middle(Scott Co)
Jalen Montgomery-Elkhorn(Frankin Co)
Jake Sloan-North Pulaski(Pulaski Co)
Reese Smith--Boyle Middle(Boyle Co)
Cameron Yates--Boyle Middle(Boyle Co)
These kids have all been standout players over the last two seasons and it will be interesting to see how many of them will still be impact players in 3 years as a JR in high school. But I know from experience that probably half of this list will not be anymore and there will be other kids by that time who have stepped up and developed through hard work, weight lifting and puberty.
I will be interested to hear any other observations from other forum members who have seen any of these kids play. And again, I apologize for leaving out other kids that I just have not personally seen.