Owens Commits To Duke
by Andy Hilton, recruit757
Reggie Owens (Photo: Andy Hilton/recruit757)
In what should be the first of manyDivision I commitments from Ocean Lakes this season, Reggie Owens is the man to break the ice. Owens (SR 6-0 190) is a well-muscled and athletic DB who’ll be a great fit in the ACC. Duke nabbed a commitment from Owens after he had narrowed his choices down to Duke, East Carolina and Marshall. The Ocean Lakes defender had also claimed interest from Virginia, West Virginia, UConn, Richmond, Delaware and Old Dominion.
Duke is a program on the rise in the ACC. The arrival of Head Coach David Cutcliffe has sparked a winning attitude and a new level of fan interest in the program. Of course, Duke also offers significant academic advantages,which makes the opportunity to learn, play in a rising program and potentially play early attractive for Reggie.
Owens’ decision comes on the eve of football season kicking off. Ocean Lakes travels to Princess Anne tonight in what should be an interesting matchup, although recent games have been lopsided in the Dolphins’ favor. According to Ocean Lakes’ Head Coach Chris Scott, Owens was ready to get the decision out of the way and move on to playing his senior season.
Owens is a true student-athlete, carrying a 3.2 GPA at Ocean Lakes while excelling on the field for the Dolphins. He had eight interceptions in his junior season including two returns for touchdowns. You can see highlights of Reggie in action against Bayside in his recruit757 highlight reel here.
Ocean Lakes fans should still expect Lafonte Thourogood, Josh Mann, Chaz Lowery and Lamar Neal to make major college commitments this fall. The program is loaded full of talent and should be a recruiting stop for many colleges scouring the region for college ready talent.
- Andy Hilton
Menchville’s Richardson To Take Official Visits
by Andy Hilton, recruit757
Clifton Richardson (Photo: Andy Hilton/recruit757.com)
Clifton Richardson has been touted as one of the jewels in Coach Mike London’s 2011 class at Virginia. When Richardson (QB/FS 6-1 195)committed to Virginia back in March, the buzz was significant. Richardson was one of London’s first blue chip verbals in the 2011 class. At the time, his commitment was a hot topic and has since been clarified as a soft verbal.
In recruiting parlance, a soft verbal is hardly a commitment. In fact, a verbal commitment isn’t truly a commitment but it is a non-binding agreement between the college program and the player. A soft verbal means, “I really like you and I plan on coming there, but I might change my mind.”
In other words, Virginia plans on having Clifton Richardson as part of their 2011 class. Clifton Richardson plans to be there, most likely.
That being said, he’s still going to see what else is out there. We caught up to Richardson last night at the Grassfield scrimmage, and he’s still looking around.
“I’m going to make my final decision soon. I’m going to take some official visits and make my decision after that.” Richardson then went on to list the schools he plans to visit. “Tennessee, West Virginia, Maryland, UVA and probably South Florida. I like Virginia because of the coaching staff. They’re going to turn that program around,” said Richardson. Clearly, he’s impressed with Coach London and his efforts to rebuild the Cavalier Football program.
West Virginia also has his eye. “I like Chris Beatty. He’s a great running back coach.” Richardson would obviously fit the mold as a speedy slot receiver or running back in the Mountaineer program.
”With Tennessee, I just met the new coach a few months ago. Coach Chaney’s a good guy.” Playing in the SEC and joining Ocean Lakes wide receiver Justin Hunter at Tennessee would be appealing to Richardson. Tennessee has a bit of rebuilding to do as well, but unlike Virginia, Tennessee hasn’t suffered losing seasons and may make a quicker recovery in spite of playing tougher competition.
Richardson went on to speak positively about Coach Tom Brattan at Maryland and Coach Skip Holtz at South Florida. “I’m going plan to visit them too. I’m going to try to take all my visits and make my decision in the fall.”
While Virginia is still a strong possibility for Richardson, he’s definitely going to look around and be sure of his decision.
Academically, Richardson still has some work to do. He has to take a few more classes that will help him with his core GPA and he plans to take the SAT in September. From there he’ll know where he stands with the NCAA Clearinghouse. Richardson remains confident about qualifying and is determined to stay focused on the field and off the field. “I had a rough night tonight, but I’m going to work that out and cut out the mistakes.” Richardson fumbled the ball a few times while at quarterback Monday night.
His Menchville team will need the best Clifton Richardson they can get on Friday nights. His college choices are looking forward to a focused and ready Clifton Richardson on Saturday afternoons. That will come soon enough.
Bayside DB Nicholson Still Open
by Andy Hilton, recruit757
Demetrious Nicholson (Photo: Andy Hilton/recruit757)
Demetrious Nicholson has been a terror as a wideout and defensive back for Bayside. It’s gotten him noticed.
Nicholson was listed as the Southside’s top high school football player in the 2011 class by Larry Rubama of the Virginian-Pilot, and he’s the target of somewhere around two dozen colleges looking to sign him to a scholarship. Tra’s been hot for a while. You’d think he’d have his eye on a few schools in particular, right? Not so fast.
“I’ve narrowed (my list) down a little bit. I’m not really blocking anybody out, but school is about to start and I’m not going to have much time to think about it,” said Nicholson.
That’s surprising considering that he has a myriad of choices and they’re all good ones. The 5-11 170 speedster has skills that any school would covet. Who tops his list? “I don’t want to call them my top, but the schools I’m zoning into are North Carolina, UVA, Clemson, Virginia Tech and West Virginia. Probably Stanford too. I’m supposed to start my official visits on September 4 (Bayside’s bye week), and I’m trying to set a visit to Stanford and see what’s going on out there. That possibly could switch around, but those are the schools I’m zoned in on.”
With five official visits at a maximum, how is he going to pick from all of his choices? “Me and (Bayside) Coach Moore have talked about it a little bit, we looked at scheduling stuff on days I’m off so I can go out on visits. Carolina is one, Stanford is one, West Virginia is one of them… schools that I can’t drive to. Clemson is one of them…. So I’m going to go out to those schools and see what’s going on out there. I’m going to try to learn about them in the short amount of time that I have.”
Nicholson also talked about his role on the Bayside team that’s expected to do great things this season. The team was young last year and wound up winning the Beach District under the leadership of a freshman quarterback. They lost few players from last year’s team and should gain from the experience of last season.
Tra is excited about his senior season. “We have a pretty young team. I’m the oldest on the team and it seems crazy because I remember being the young guy on team. I like how we compete. A lot of these guys are inexperienced, but they fight well. All it takes is effort and a little bit of talent here and there. We’re like last year, but a little better,” said Nicholson.
If Bayside can keep their game at the level of last year’s team and perhaps be even a little better, they should go a long way.
Nicholson’s college choice will be a tough one for him. At this point, he’s keeping his options open as he narrows down the field.
- Andy Hilton
Alabama Tops Coaches Poll, VA Tech #6
by Andy Hilton, recruit757
Alabama QB Phillip Sims (Photo: Andy Hilton/recruit757)
The first official pre-season poll has been released and according to college coaches, Alabama is the best team in the land.
Who could argue? With local player Phillip Sims at the helm and a National Championship last year, where else would they be?
OK… we all know Sims isn’t going to start for the Tide this year and probably won’t even play a down, but it’s fun to be able to tie a local player to the number one team in the country.
Alabama overwhelmingly claimed the top spot in the polls by garnering 55 of the 59 first place votes. Ohio State was a distant number two with four #1 votes. The remainder of the top five is Florida, Texas and Boise State.
Virginia Tech is ranked sixth in the preseason poll which sets up an intriguing game on Labor Day Monday. To open the season, Boise State travels east to FedEx Field in the Washington DC metro in order to face the Hokies. #5 vs. #6 to kick off the season sounds like a great way to cap a three-day weekend.
Rounding out the top ten are TCU, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Iowa. Beyond Virginia Tech, the ACC placed four other teams in the Top 25. Miami claimed the #13 slot, Georgia Tech is #17, North Carolina is #18 and Florida State came in at #20. The Big East placed two teams in the Top 25: Pittsburgh at #15 and West Virginia placed at #24, tied with Utah.
- Andy Hilton
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
David Watford Picks UVA
Chalk another one up for the home team.
David Watford of Hampton High School has verbally committed to the Virginia Cavaliers. Watford (6-2 185) becomes the 20th player to commit to Coach Mike London and the Cavaliers in this recruiting class, and he becomes the first quarterback in Virginia’s 2011 class.
Coach London has aggressively recruited the state since his arrival in the off season. Of the 20 players verbally committed to Virginia, twelve of them are in-state recruits and six of them are 757 area players. Watford joins David Dean (Green Run), Caleb Taylor (Phoebus), Ross Burbank (Cox), Kameron Mack (I.C. Norcom) and Clifton Richardson (Menchville). Richardson’s commitment to Virginia has been debated, but as of now he’s penciled in as a Cavalier next season. National Signing Day is February 2, 2011. That’s the first day that recruits and colleges can official cement scholarship agreements with a signed letter of intent.
Watford’s commitment to Virginia is unique or unusual for several reasons. Firstly, Virginia already has six quarterbacks on it’s roster including four quarterbacks from the 2010 recruiting class. This year’s starter, Marc Verica, is a senior and will exhaust his eligibility after this season, but the depth chart will still be clogged unless Coach London moves players to other positions. Secondly, Hampton High School hasn’t sent a player to Virginia since Marques Hagans in 2001. Coach Mike Smith of Hampton has sent a number of players to Virginia Tech in the past ten years, most notably current Hokie QB Tyrod Taylor.
Oddly enough, Marques Hagans is Watford’s first cousin. Like Hagans, David Watford wears number 5 for the Crabbers.
Watford had narrowed his decision down to West Virginia, Virginia Tech and Virginia, and made his announcement at a press conference held at nearby Christopher Newport University. Watford will be a fantastic fit at Virginia academically. He currently holds a 3.8 GPA and is enrolled in the International Baccalaurate program at Hampton High School. The “IB” program is internationally standardized and recognized as an academically ambitious and rigorous course of study.
Reading Between The Lines on Watford, Thourogood Recruitment
QB Lafonte Thourogood of Ocean Lakes (Photo: Andy Hilton/recruit757.com)
At first, you might think the two players are unconnected. One is the star quarterback for the Hampton Crabbers, playing in the Peninsula District. The other is the star quarterback for the Ocean Lakes Dolphins, playing in the Beach District. Look closer.
Both David Watford of Hampton and Lafonte Thourogood of Ocean Lakes are rising seniors. Both have been courted and offered by multiple colleges. Watford’s offer list includes Virginia, Virginia Tech and West Virginia. Thourogood claims offers from Tennessee, Arkansas, UNC, NC State, West Virginia, Stanford, Virginia and Virginia Tech. There’s some cross over in that group, but look even deeper.
Thourogood has reported that his list has been narrowed down to Virginia Tech, Virginia, West Virginia and Arkansas. Arkansas is a relatively new addition and a wildcard in the bunch.
Watford has narrowed his list to UVA, Virginia Tech and West Virginia. He’s set to announce his decision on Saturday in a ceremony at Christopher Newport University.
Here’s how the circumstances stack up. Both QBs are highly desirable and very unlikely to pick the same destination. Watford’s head coach, Mike Smith, has sent players to Virginia Tech including their current quarterback, Tyrod Taylor. Virginia Tech’s recruiter for the area, Curt Newsome, used to coach against Mike Smith when Newsome coached at neighboring Kecoughtan High School. Virginia Tech is still the “big dog” in-state school and Watford would be a good, traditional “get” for Coach Frank Beamer. Beamer has no fewer than four quarterbacks on his roster now, but it’s not at all unheard of for Beamer to move a player off the QB depth chart and into another position.
While UVA Coach Mike London would love to have Watford, London already has 19 of a projected 25 scholarships committed already. London has six quarterbacks in his system now after giving scholarships to four QBs in the 2010 class. Marc Verica is London’s only senior signal caller. Face it, there’s a glut of quarterbacks at Virginia. London could move two of his QB prospects to other positions and still have plenty of depth.
That leads us to Thourogood’s status. First of all, it’s interesting to note that Tennessee was not enticing for Thourogood. His teammate Justin Hunter committed to the Vols in the 2010 class. He’s stated an interest in Virginia Tech, Virginia, West Virginia and Arkansas. He’s also stated that he has no desire to move out of the quarterback position. Thourogood has announced that no decision is imminent, but that he’ll decide before the start of the season. That should mean that Virginia’s out from a depth chart standpoint no matter how much he likes the coaches there and the Charlottesville campus. If Watford commits to Virginia Tech as anticipated, then it should mean that Tech is out for Thourogood. That leaves West Virginia and Arkansas.
Arkansas is a late arrival and they should lose their starting QB Ryan Mallett to the NFL draft after this season. Arkansas’ depth chart is a little more shallow than most at the QB position and there could be a possibility for Thourgood to earn playing time early. At West Virginia, there’s the Chris Beatty connection. Beatty coached Landstown High School only a few years ago and Beatty sports tons of connections in The 757. The Mountaineers will be led by sophomore Geno Smith this season, and they have 2010 class QB phenom Barry Brunetti of Memphis waiting in the wings.
Arkansas is truly a quality wildcard, but expect proximity and familiarity to win out. Thourogood looks like a future Mountaineer. Watford should be a Hokie. It could make for an interesting VA Tech/WVU game if we can ever get that rivalry going again.
Eli Harold Gaining Interest From BCS Programs
WR Eli Harold of Ocean Lakes (Photo: Andy Hilton/recruit757.com)
Ocean Lakes is loaded and ready for the 2010 season. Quarterback Lafonte Thourogood is leading the way, but he has a supporting cast that deserves a lot of credit for last year’s undefeated season on the field. The Dolphins look to repeat the feat this year.
Wide Receiver Justin Hunter is off to play football and run track at Tennessee. Eli Harold (JR WR 6-4 215) appears to be the heir apparent to fill the role of tall, athletic wideout for Ocean Lakes. Harold talked to us about his recruitment and how it’s heating up early.
Eli Harold made a trip up to Happy Valley for camp last weekend and came back with a verbal offer from Penn State.
What was it about Eli that caught Penn State’s attention? “(While at Penn State), I was doing wide receiver drills, going all out, catching all of my passes and running precise routes. Coach (Mike McQueary) started talking to (Ocean Lakes) Coach Scott about me. They said they like my frame and like my size. They like my speed and said I was real physical. They think I am the (type of receiver) that could help them win in the future,” Eli explained. All of this stemmed from a somewhat impromtu trip to Penn State, planned by Ocean Lakes Head Coach Chris Scott. “Coach Scott (at Ocean Lakes) has been planning this for about a year. He’s wanted some of us to go up there to check out the campus and check out the stadium, and compete,” said Harold.
As mentioned earlier, there’s lots of talent at Ocean Lakes. The only other player to make the trip to Penn State with Coach Scott was rising sophomore Andre Dessenburg (WR 6-2 180). “He’s going to be a wide receiver for us (in 2010), in the future he’s going to take over quarterback when Lafonte leaves,” Eli said. “Last year (Andre) played varsity a little bit and he played JV, he’s a good athlete.”
College coaches are coming to Ocean Lakes to recruit Lafonte Thourogood and they’re finding more and more to like about the Ocean Lakes program and its players. “There are a lot of schools that have come in and said they’re going to come back for me like Virginia Tech, North Carolina, West Virginia…. Florida had come to visit Lafonte and I guess I stood out to that recruiter. He told me basically the same things that the coach from Penn State told me; he liked my size and that he’d come back for me,” Eli explained.
Harold is coming off of a knee injury that sidelined him for most of last season, but he’s recovered now and is performing well at 7 on 7s. Ocean Lakes has quite a team assembled. There should be a dogfight for playoff seeding in the Beach District this year.
Thourogood Narrows To Three?
QB Lafonte Thourogood of Ocean Lakes (Photo: Andy Hilton/recruit757.com)
Ocean Lakes is prepping for the fall with Passing League games and offseason conditioning. QB Lafonte Thourogood has that and more on his mind.
Thourogood has been courted by well over a dozen universities and has a choice between a bunch of attractive BCS offers including Stanford, Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina. As sweet as those offers are, Thourogood is inclined to stay closer to home. He has excellent choices for academics and facilities at any of his choice schools. The decision now has come down to relationships.
At Virginia Tech, Assistant Coach Curt Newsome and Head Coach Frank Beamer have shown distinct interest in Thourogood. Tech has also shown interest in Hampton QB David Watford from the 2011 class and Virginia Tech reportedly has more than a dozen quarterbacks interested in a scholarship offer from the Hokies. Coach Beamer also has a history of gathering quarterbacks, then moving them to other positions once they’re in Blacksburg. Quarterbacks have a good head for the game on both sides of the field and they often make great leaders.
Virginia is also in Thourogood’s top three. Coach London at UVA has infiltrated The 757 and between London and Recruiting Coordinator Chip West, the coaches there have the region thoroughly covered. UVA is already more than halfway done with their 2011 recruiting class, but Thourogood would be a gem of an addition. London’s class is already 757 heavy and the Ocean Lakes QB would simply push the balance further.
West Virginia is the last (but not least) of Thourogood’s top three. Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator Chris Beatty has deep roots in Hampton Roads and it should be no surprise that WVU is pursuing one of the hottest area QB prospects in this year’s class.
So between the three schools, what’s going to be the difference maker? Two things. First of all, the relationship. All three relationships are good, but who’s going to take the best care of Lafonte? Secondly, he wants to be a quarterback. Thourogood may be 6-3 220, but the talented signal caller has no desire to play linebacker.
With his size and skill, Lafonte Thourogood could easily get a scholarship at most any school for football. At this point, he has to make the decision based on what’s best for him and he’ll decide which program will truly give him a shot to earn the starting quarterback position.
After watching Thourogood in the Beach Passing League, I can attest that he looks like a quarterback. There will be more development along the way, but his future as a quarterback is bright.
When will a decision be made? It’s tough to say. According to Coach Chris Scott at Ocean Lakes, Lafonte still needs to develop more of a relationship with the quarterback coaches at WVU, UVA and Virginia Tech. Then again, these decisions are never easy. Thouroughgood’s teammate, Justin Hunter, committed to LSU last summer only to change his commitment to Tennessee just before signing day. Is there a chance that Lafonte will commit to the Vols in order to join Hunter? Thouroughgood’s not there yet, but once he’s ready, the decision will come.
Tajh Boyd Now The Starter at Clemson?
Tajh Boyd of Clemson (Photo: scout.com)
The possibility of Tajh Boyd rising to the starting QB job at Clemson came to light here on recruit757.com back in March. Here’s the original article.
What a trip it would be…. Verbally committing to West Virginia and Chris Beatty… then verbally committing to Phil Fulmer at Tennessee. Fulmer gets fired, Lane Kiffin gets hired. Boyd and his Phoebus Phantoms wins the State Championship in December 2008. In the same month, Kiffin tells Boyd he’s not wanted at Tennessee. Boyd finds a home at Clemson and graduates from high school in June 2009.
In his redshirt season, Boyd sat no better than third overall on the depth chart. Willie Korn was highly recruited and supposed to have the starting QB job. Kyle Parker (also a member of the Clemson baseball team) unseated Korn and never gave up the gig. Korn transferred to Marshall after the season and now Parker has a baseball career to think about.
The MLB Draft opened today and although Parker has three years of football eligibility left, he’s already three years removed from high school and he’s been tearing it up for the Clemson baseball team. Now on draft day, Parker was selected in the first round, 26th overall to the Colorado Rockies.
Clemson’s still fighting to make it to the College Baseball World Series so Parker’s plenty distracted now. What’s the chance that he’ll sign with the Rockies and forgo the rest of his baseball and football eligibility? The chances are good.
If that happens, Tajh Boyd is your new starting QB as a redshirt freshman for Clemson. Welcome to the big time!
Even if Parker comes back for another season, Boyd won’t have to wait long before the starting job is his. Just think, he could have been a Mountaineer. He could have been a Vol. You can bet that Boyd is happy and proud to wear Clemson orange. The waiting’s not over, but the fun part is about to start.