Green Run Looks To Playoff Return
by Kellen Owings, recruit757
Tequan Mayfield (Photo: Andy Hilton/recruit757)
Coming off a 5-5 season, the Green Run Stallions will look to rebound and play more like the teams that went 10-2 and won playoff games in 2007 and 2008. Coach Shawn Wilson is tasked with replacing 17 seniors from last year’s squad, including ten major contributors.
Gone are running back Dejor Simmons, who committed to JMU, and quarterback B.J. Waters. Defensive ends Jamal Wallace and Jagger Blehm bring their pass rushing skills to Duke and ODU respectively. Zach Dunston who lined up all over the field for the Stallions, will play at Marshall in the fall.
Wilson believes he has the personnel capable of replacing the departed stars. “We’re replacing some guys, but we have a lot of guys back. We also have some good young kids coming up from last year’s undefeated (7-0) JV team,” Wilson said.
Senior quarterback Tequan Mayfield (5-9 170) returns to steer the offense for a full season. He played four games last year while filling in admirably for Waters after B.J. suffered from an injury. Junior Mark Hall (6-1, 180) has been shining at TE, catching plenty of balls during the summer scrimmages and practices. Dre’quez Lambert (SR 5-10 180) shifts to running back from receiver. He’s working on exploding into his carries, but coach Wilson thinks,”(He) is going to do an excellent job for us this year.” Junior RB Kuawane Hodges (5-8 160) will also see some carries, but coach Wilson says he has “Four or five backs who can run the ball and are good backs who can keep us in the game.”
The entire receiving corps graduated or moved to other positions, but coach Wilson doesn’t see that as a problem. “Our receiving corps wasn’t very good last year, so having new guys will be OK.” The offensive line only lost one starter but will be anchored by All-Tidewater guard David Dean (SR 6-2, 265). “David is gonna do the job for us, everyone pretty much knows that,” Coach Wilson said.
The defense is anchored by a solid group of returning starting linebackers. Senior Kyle Backus (6-1, 220) and juniors Derek Wilson (5-10 190) and Mark Hall form a tough, hard-hitting group that’s one of the best in the Beach District. David Dean will be the run stuffing cog in the middle, freeing up the linebackers to make plays. Senior Demarre Matthews (5-9, 170) moves to cornerback, where he is joined in the secondary by Mayfield and Lambert. Quinton Hinton moves to defensive end, and while he has been playing well, his conditioning has been a problem. “We need to get him in a little bit better shape right now. We’ve been going at it for a while with hard practices. He’s dragging right now, but making plays when he’s coming,” Coach Wilson said.
David Dean (Photo: Andy Hilton/recruit757)
Most of the recruiters coming to Green Run have been focusing on David Dean, but with his commitment to UVA, the focus has turned to some of the Stallions other stars. Mark Hall has been getting looks from Virginia Tech, Virginia, and Maryland. Mayfield is drawing some interest from Hampton and ODU and Dre’quez Lambert, who excels in the classroom as well as the field, has been getting looks from William & Mary. Guard Darius Bickham (SR 6-2 210) is also an interesting prospect, but will likely be going the junior college route due to grades.
Throughout the summer practices and scrimmages, Coach Wilson has been impressed with his team and their ability to absorb what he and his staff are trying to instill. “I’m pretty pleased with what we’re doing. We got to get the ball in the end zone a little bit more though. We’ll have productive season if we keep doing what we’re doing and the kids listen to what we tell them to do. We’re doing a lot of coaching, coaching them up. They keep listening and taking it all in. We haven’t even gone over our goal line defense (until recently) and we’ve stopped teams down there so that’s good.”
As for coach Wilson’s goal for the season, he’s keeping it small. “Two wins,” he said jokingly, so don’t fret Stallions fans. “Obviously the ultimate goal is always to get to the playoffs and do what we need to do to get to the playoffs. Once you get to the playoffs anybody can beat anybody. Get to the playoffs, do what we need to do in the Beach District and win games week in and week out, that’s our goal.”
If the young Stallions come together, execute as planned, and play up to their talent, a playoff berth out of the Beach District is possible. Last year, the Beach District sent five of its eleven teams on to the playoffs. Green Run will look to get in the mix this year.
- Kellen Owings
WVU Works Hampton Roads Through Beatty
Jay Parchman, Contributing Correspondent
Chris Beatty (courtesy WVU Sports)
If you monitored high school football in Hampton Roads in the mid-2000s, you certainly remember the name of Chris Beatty. Beatty had success as the head coach at Salem High before moving to the same position at Landstown High School. It was at LHS where Coach Beatty really made his mark leading the Eagles to three state championship game appearances and one title.
Now the recruiting coordinator at West Virginia, Coach Beatty has made “home” a prime recruiting priority. Already this year, WVU is in double digits for scholarship offers to local players. Unfortunately for the Mountaineers, several have already committed to Atlantic Coast Conference schools. Those include three to Virginia: Clifton Richardson (Menchville), Caleb Taylor (Phoebus), David Watford (Hampton), and David Dean (Green Run). In addition, Daquan Romero of Phoebus is a North Carolina commitment.
It appears that Mike London’s arrival at Virginia has impacted WVU’s effectiveness with local players. However, it would still be a mild surprise if WVU is shut out since there are several outstanding offers to prime area players such as Travis Hughes of Kempsville (LB 6-1 230), Quinta Funderburk of Oscar Smith (WR 6-5 205) and Demetrius Nicholson of Bayside (WR/DB 5-11 170). All three of those players have double digit scholarship offers. Hughes and Nicholson have kept their recruitment open to this point, but Funderburk recently narrowed his list to five: West Virginia, Florida, Michigan, Penn State and Arkansas. Outside of WVU, there’s not a regional school in the bunch for Funderburk.
Expect to see the Mountaineers offer more local players as Coach Beatty understands firsthand the quality and depth of talent that exists here. WVU’s commitment list is only around five players right now, so they’ll have the room to add.
Beatty made a splash with the 2009 class in obtaining signatures from three local players: Shawne Alston and Domenik Davenport of Phoebus and Logan Heastie of Great Bridge. Though Davenport and Heastie have departed Morgantown, their signings did make a buzz that carries over. WVU is also recruiting other parts of the Old Dominion.
WVU is hot after prized prospect Lafonte Thourogood, Quarterback at Ocean Lakes High School. His style of play would seemingly be a natural in Morgantown. As we have reported, David Watford, QB at Hampton committed to Virginia this past weekend. Without defections at UVa or position reassignments, this would have to work in WVU’s favor in recruiting Thourogood. As it stands now, UVa looks to have a glut of young QBs.
Thourogood has already announced that he’s narrowed his list, leaving just two others in competition with Arkansas and Virginia Tech. Though Arkansas can offer a spot to play in the Southeastern Conference, arguably the best college football conference in the nation, Fayetteville, AR is well over 1,000 miles from home. Logically speaking, it looks like a Hokies vs. Mountaineers battle that was a classic rivalry on the field when Tech was still a member of the Big East. Thourogood might be tempted to play far from home, but the smart money would be on a team closer to home.
- Jay Parchman
Clifton Richardson and David Dean Commit?
#10 Clifton Richardson (Photo: Diane Cebula)
UVA had another Junior Day this weekend and initial word out of Charlottesville is that they received a couple of commitments over the weekend. About 40 juniors from all around the state came for the festivities. The typical events are campus tours, a basketball game (in this case a loss to #22 ranked Maryland), and lots of camaraderie among the prospective recruits.
The biggest news coming out of the weekend is regarding Menchville athlete Clifton Richardson (6-1 195). According to sources, the Peninsula District burner with 4.4 speed has given a verbal committment to the Cavaliers. Richardson’s father, Clifton Sr., was quoted in the Daily Press as saying that his son had made a “soft committment” but that the younger Richardson hadn’t committed yet.
Richardson has the tools to become another Percy Harvin, so he would certainly add some needed punch to the Virginia offense. Richardson’s impact on his Menchville squad has been hard to measure since the Peninsula District is loaded with highly competitive teams. Menchville hasn’t been able to fight its way to the top of the district, but there’s no doubt that Menchville would be far worse off without him.
David Dean (6-1 270) of Green Run is a Defensive Tackle that Mike London has had his eyes on for some time now. Dean is a force on the D-Line for the Stallions and had claimed UVA as his leader weeks ago. Dean is also now rumored to be a Cavalier commit, which would give Virginia four commitments for the 2011 class.
All of this is unbinding, so you can expect that other teams could still make a run at both Richardson and Dean between now and National Signing Day eleven months(!) from now. It’s happened time and time again. Recruits make early commitments, change their minds, situations change… there are any number of things that could happen over the next eleven months. The commits are a feather in Mike London’s cap. He’s off to a good start. Just don’t count your chickens yet, Cavs fans. There are more offers and more recruiting battles to come.
Green Run DE Dean Leans to Cavs
David Dean (Photo: Virginian-Pilot)
David Dean is one of the rising stars of the Beach District. While defensive ends often lack the sex appeal of a blue chip wide receiver or quarterback, college programs need linemen too.
Dean (6-1 270) of Green Run High School is in a good position. Despite his team’s failure to make the playoffs in 2009, he got noticed in his junior year. Green Run High School sent four seniors from the 2010 class off to college scholarships, including RB Dejor Simmons to JMU, DB Zach Dunston to Marshall, DE Jagger Blehm to Old Dominion and DE Jamal Wallace to Duke. Wallace committed early to Duke, but the remaining three committed not long before National Signing Day. That’s good for the football program, and especially good for juniors like Dean.
Colleges come calling often when there’s college ready talent to be harvested. When college coaches are coming in for seniors, you can bet they’re taking an accounting of the juniors that will be “on the block” soon after signing day. Now it’s David Dean’s turn to be noticed.
Dean already has offers from Duke, Louisville, Virginia and West Virginia. All four schools have gotten players from the area and are recruiting regulars in these parts. Duke even nabbed Dean’s teammate Jamal Wallace last season. But Dean has Virginia on his mind.
Dean is the first DE that Virginia has offered for the 2011 class. It doesn’t hurt that Head Coach Mike London is new to the job at UVA and he’s fired up about recruiting The 757. That’s music to David Dean’s ears. The 2010 class for UVA was soft on linemen, so the Cavaliers will need help there in 2011. Morgan Moses was the only blue chip lineman in the 2010 class for Virginia, and he’s an O-Lineman that prepped a year at Fork Union.
Dean has four offers, but more may be on the way. Virginia Tech and North Carolina are also showing interest in Dean, so don’t count them out. It’s early, but it looks like David Dean will have plenty of choices for playing college ball.