JesseWJohnson

Sorry for the delay on everything. Yes I was there for all three rounds of pool play as well as the tournament. Hillsboro deserved the championship without a doubt cause Gordon, Jordan, and Garrett were on their game on Saturday...especially Gordon. Hillsboro destroyed Pulaski Academy of Arkansas, who was the favorite and hadn't lost a game in pool play. Pulaski has a WR named Cruz Williams who has already committed to the Arkansas Razorbacks and he was definitely one of the better players there. Still, he was basically shutdown by Hillsboro's defensive backs and Pulaski had absolutely no answer for the athleticism and ability of the Burros receivers. HHS was making some incredible end zone catches. That semi-final wasn't even close. Franklin had two tougher games on their way to the championship final. First the Rebels faced off with Antioch, who really seemed to mature during the second day. The two teams kept going back and forth for most of the game and it was a late score that decided it. Franklin's got some good receivers, a couple like junior Starnes, who will be a no doubt high D1A recruit in about a year. Antioch's passing game kept getting better as the Bears new QB kept working at it. McAdoo had a number of highlight catches in the two days while Kedrick Towles, Dontel Watkins, and Dashawn Stallworth were also running good routes and making solid catches during the tournament. Franklin then just beat Hazelwood East of St.Louis, Missouri. As a matter of fact, Franklin was trailing 31-25 with only seconds to go and the Rebels connected on a pass to the sidelines in which the receiver [sorry for not knowing enough guys names..Franklin's gear was hard to read] then reached into the goaline for the go ahead score. From there, Hillsboro basically dominated Franklin in the championship and I think won 25-7. Other schools that did real well were David Lipscomb, Ravenwood, and I'd say Independence. Lipscomb's got some good players and actually won the Commodore Award for both achievement and sportsmanship. Zack Rogers won the Music City MVP for best overall performance. Ravenwood A team was not really flashy or anything, but they were pretty much consistent. The Ravenwood B team however lost every game I believe. Independence played well for most of the tournament. They didn't get past the quarters, but still they did pretty well considering the fact that Pettigrew wasn't avaliable. Dyersburg also did well as did MBA [though they lost early in the tournament] and I think Ensworth was a little more talented than I thought they'd be. Lavergne was without Justin Bather for most of the tournament and struggled to stop teams while their QB's struggled to be consistent. Chris Gray made some highlight catches and looks bigger than last year. Brentwood Academy was disappointing though #15 had some good plays on the first day. CPA was okay, just couldn't get W's most of the time. Cookeville's A team looked talented as did Greenbrier.

It starts at 1 pm with Pool Play. I believe there will be two rounds on Wednesday and then may or may not be a third round of pool play in the morning on Thursday. Then after a break of course, there will be the tournament. That's how it was last year..though the tournament was held last year over the weekend. Vanderbilt had to have it during the week due to scheduling issues.

I was at the Vanderbilt camp this Sunday and will say that every MBA player at the camp represented themselves well against some of the best rising seniors in the south. Don't know if that will help any with their recruiting but I felt that Alfonza Knight and EJ Vinsang in particular showed good athleticism and did well in several drills..especially Knight. Hopefully for MBA, that is a sign that those two in particular will be difference makers come this fall. I'll be covering the 7-on-7 at Vandy tomorrow and Thursday and will let MBA fans know how the team looked in that event. They represented themselves very well last year, so I'm expecting a repeat performance this year too.

It's on Wednesday thru Thursday... Here's the official list of teams.... From Tennessee... Antioch Brentwood Academy Clarksville Cookeville CPA David Lipscomb Dyersburg Ensworth Ezell-Harding Franklin Greenbrier Heritage Hillsboro Independence Lavergne MBA Ravenwood Smith County Springfield Stratford Sycamore From Alabama Charles Henderson High Greene County From Arkansas Pulaski Academy From Kentucky Lone Oak From Missouri Hazelwood East From Illinois East St.Louis High

I'll actually be covering the event for Unapproved Website/VandySports.com, and unapproved website.com. Anyways some of the programs that I know will be there includes Antioch, Brentwood Academy, MBA, Hillsboro, Ravenwood, Independence, Lavergne, Stratford, Whites Creek and many more locally. Some out-of-state teams include Pulaski Academy of Arkansas and Hazelwood East of Missouri. Some schools like Nease, Bartram Trail, and First Coast in Florida were slated to participate but have supposedly pulled out due to travel reasons or whatever.

And Jeremy Buchanan graduated last year Don. Will be playing for UT-Martin this fall. Won't comment on who's on your list and who's not, but just wanted you to know that Buchanan's no longer at AHS.

Yes, that's what happened. BTW, if Sonny wants to walk-on with the football team as well, he'll have that opportunity. Coach Johnson and Coach Corbin have good communication and believe in any student-athlete having an opportunity to play both sports if they want. Either way, Sonny commits to a solid program and it appears as though he won't be the only junior to commit to Vanderbilt soon [another has already made the choice as well].

Right, in baseball you can not contact until July of the senior year...but a Contact is a coach calling a kid, visiting their house, or what have you..off-campus. A kid can still call the coach if he wants at anytime, can visit the campus and talk to the coaches then whether it's an official or unofficial visit...as long as the kid is the one making the contact. Letters are not seen as a official contact. And they can send you an official written offer as well. A school can not give out a written offer before a player's junior year though [i believe that's true in all sports]. One of the reasons why people wanted to ban text messaging [though it was mainly due to football and basketball] was because with a text message a coach could send to a kid to tell them to contact them. football and basketball recruiting are different...as in with those two sports, kids can start receiving phone calls [but just one per school/recruit] in between generally [cause the calender changes every now and then] April-May. Then on September 1st, a coach can make one phone call per week outside of a contact period [which is generally end of November to beginning of February]. During the contact period [which has times of a dead or quiet period thrown in], coaches can make calls at their will.

I think MBA will be fine. They got Bailey, Bartholomew, Jay Cole, Waddley, Knight, Crum, Rader, Vinsang...lots of guys coming back. I think last year there was just a number of injuries and they were young for the most part. My question is who's going to be the QB...is it Bennett or Wise or someone else?

That is very true. Smo did great during his redshirt year, was named Defensive Scout Team Player of the Year by the coaching staff and this spring, he was really making a push towards being on the 2-deep at DT. Then he suffered a injury [nothing real serious, but still enough that VU's coaches didn't want to cause potential for further injury had he tried to rush back] but that did cause him to significant snaps. Still, Coach Logo [DL coach] and Coach Fowler [VU DC] really love Smo's speed, athleticism, and aggressiveness and they are counting on him to be able to get well over the summer and work on everything and come in during the preseason and make that push for 4th DT in the rotation. They really would like for Adam to solidify that spot this preseason and they are confident he will. I write for VandySports.com and was the only member of the media at every Vanderbilt spring practice this year and I'd say that before the injury after the first week...Smo was the top RS freshman at the camp. I believe Johnson's going to see his PT increase at UT because he's more familiar now and because they are real thin there with Fellows being kicked off the team recently. James Williams is going to redshirt this year cause Vanderbilt has a lot of upper classmen among their OL's..but he'll figure into the depth in 2008 and likely be challenging for a starting job too then or maybe in 2009...it's all up to how he attacks the weight room [which in interviewing, I'm confident he will] and further builds up his strength.

That's awesome for Rod. However, he was said to have already had a Michigan offer over 3 months ago. Was that a conditional or verbal offer back in February and now he's finally received a written one? Just asking. Stork, you are well respected by me for your videos you have done over the years. As far as I go, I'm just saying that the US Army game is overblown and even college coaches would say that.

Yeah, I like Pettigrew a lot and think he could be all-state this year. Anyone have any thoughts on who would be the best 5A kicker? I know Ravenwood's got a capable kicker...but don't know if he's all-state material.

" Look, I'm not going to get into a argument on this board about how a kid is being recruited but if you think every school is recruiting Rod as a receiver then your information is incorrect and even some of the schools you've mentioned are not set on him being a receiver at the next level. Why people are taken a back by this is beyond me, do you care that the kid is going to play major college football...or just what position he'll play when he gets there? Also, what a kid thinks he's being told now, is not how it always plays out once you get to school. Really don't see the need to be defensive about it. Another thing, I don't know why Tennessee would be telling him he's being recruited for the departed Meachem spot when there's already signed O'Neal and Paige...two guys that are supposed to be of the same ilk of Meachem. They also just picked up a commitment from a kid out of Florida that looks quite comparable to Rod [though I've seen Rod play about 6 times in the past 2 years, as well as 7-on-7's. All I've seen of Bell is some one-on-ones from a nike...and I think Rod is better].

I'll take a shot....though I'll only go 4 deep on QB's, 5 deep on RB/WR, 6 OL/6 DL, 5 LB, 5 DB, 2 athletes. QB. Sonny Gray- Smryna QB. Michael Becker- Ravenwood QB. Zac Cordell- Independence QB. Dawson Holliday- Knox. Bearden RB. Andre Sterling- Farragut RB. Brian Marshall- Ooltewah RB. Jeremy McClain- Riverdale RB. Dustin Langford- Cookeville RB. Derrion Sanders- White Station WR. Rod Wilks- Smyrna WR. Chris Gray- LaVergne WR. Marcus Rucker- Whitehaven WR. Travis Adkins- Wilson Central [TE] WR. Isaac Baugh- Independence OL. Travis Lilienthal- Riverdale OL. David Spurlock- Riverdale OL. Alan Hinson- Dobyns-Bennett OL. Ivory Watson- Ridgeway OL. Michael Bryant- LaVergne OL. Robbie Gonzales- Coffee County Ath. Steadman Bell- Dickson County Ath. Petey Webster- Oakland K. ----Really not sure on this one---- DL. T.J. Walker- William Blount DL. Michael McAdoo- Antioch DL. LaDarrius Verge- Riverdale DL. Dontai Poe- Wooddale DL. Zach Jackson- Collierville DL. Ty Canan- Farragut LB. Marlon Walls- Wooddale LB. Josh Day- Smyrna LB. Stuart Taylor- Ootlewah LB. Tim Clay- Hunters Lane LB. Matt Moran- Lincoln County DB. Justin Bather- LaVergne DB. Nick Reed- Collierville DB. Caleb Harper- Siegel DB. Robert Hogg- Dobyns-Bennett DB. Justin Hampton- Franklin P. Kase Whitehead- William Blount Probably way off, but I think that's a good collection of talented football players.

Look, I don't want to insult anyone, but the U.S. Army game [or combine] is not the end all to be all about football...nor football recruiting. First, it a sponsered event by one recruiting publisher and the selections are always subject to where someone might be going or not [as far as uncommitted prospects who will announce their commitment on air]. And that still doesn't mean that has a thing to do with how the prospect ranks or how recruited the prospect is. All of the "rankings" are subject to evaluations that are sometimes not even fully defined by those who evaluate, so they are not always accurate, but they are also not always wrong either and there's the belief that college scouts input and activity even figure into them. And from what I gather, some teams haven't offered Rod yet not because of his brother or the perception that he's going to Tennessee, but that some are wondering what position he would fit their needs. People think his athleticism is through the roof, they are just trying to figure where it best applies. Just passing along information. As far as Chris Jordan goes, some schools are projecting him to be a linebacker, some as a running back, and some even think he could be a big receiver. It depends on which school it is that is evaluating him. Two other kids that college coaches are starting to get excited over are Fayette-Ware linebacker Ricky Holloway and Antioch's Mike McAdoo. Pearl Cohn's Deaunte Mason should be seeing his recruitment raise soon.

FWIW...Chris Jordan of Brentwood Academy, Marlon Walls of Wooddale, and Barrett Jones of ECS are currently seen as the top three players in the state and after that David Spurlock of Riverdale, Preston Bailey of MBA, Dontai Poe of Wooddale, Aaron Douglas of Maryville, and Brian Sommer of Alcoa are rated pretty high. Rod Wilks is most certainly in there [a definite top 10], but he's not regarded as the top prospect in the state or the most recruited one...yet. And definitely not the top receiver in the South. He's truthfully not even in the discussion right now for that. Also, some believe that Rod would be a better defensive back in college than receiver and that might end up being his future position at the next level.

Vanderbilt's 7-on-7 passing tournament last June, "the Music City Classic" was a pretty big success. At the event, teams from South Carolina [powerhouse Byrnes High], Arkansas [Pulaski Academy and Rogers], Missouri [Rock Bridge and Hazelwood East], and Kentucky [bowling Green] came to Tennessee to take on some of the mid-state's talented teams like Smyrna, Lavergne, MBA, Clarksville and several others. The tournament featured some of the top prospects in the country that signed with D1-A programs like Willy Korn [Clemson], Aron White [Georgia], Logan Gray [Georgia], Broderick Green [southern Cal], Scott Concannon [Northwestern], Chad Diehl [Clemson], Jamie Graham [Vanderbilt], Stefan Loucks [Texas Tech], Xavier Dye [Clemson], Stanley Hunter [Clemson], Curtis Steele [Memphis], and others. The tournament also showed how talented the skill position players at Smyrna were. In a game against Byrnes top unit, though the Bulldogs lost, they more than showed their athleticism and played the elimination game with a spark even though Sonny Gray was not there during tournament play. Gray also showed during pool play the day before the tournament that he had arm strength comparable to senior quarterbacks who were rated among the best in the nation. Also, Independence High showed that they were a team that would have to be respected in 2006 as the athletes were clearly there and they were about to take another step in building a program. This year's tournament might be more centralized to Tennessee. With Southeast Select making regional qualifier tournaments as well as other sponsered events, some of the national teams are having to pull out of free-for-all type tournaments like the MCC but the organizers would like to see more Tennessee teams in the tournament this year anyways. I know of a couple of teams that plan to compete in the tournament again, including Lavergne and Marshall County. Just wondering if anyone else knows of teams that expect to make to Vanderbilt's campus on June 6th and 7th. Unapproved Website/VandySports.com will again be on hand to cover the tournament and give coverage to the area's top players and prospects in support of the mid-state high school sports scene as well as in support for the individual college prospects.

Sonny will make money playing baseball either sooner or later. Football is a much different story so I doubt he won't play baseball next year. He is more of a pro/college baseball prospect than college football prospect.

Others... To the SEC... Taylor Hill- Mt.Juliet- Vanderbilt PJ Polk-- Oakland- Tennessee Michael Park- MUS- Ole Miss Logan Darnell- Goodpasture- Kentucky Josh Liles- USJ- Tennessee Other major conferences.... Marcus Barnes- Oakland- Memphis Todd Miller- MBA- Notre Dame To the Sun Belt... PJ Francescon- Ravenwood- MTSU Tyler Burnett- Oakland- MTSU Matt Rice- Science Hill- Western Kentucky Tyler Acker- DCA- MTSU Atlantic Sun.... Logan Hostettler- BGA- Lipscomb Brandon Frensley- Beech- Belmont

Sonny will not be drafted until the 2008 MLB Draft and he is not likely to be drafted that high to have anyone tell him what to do anyways. More than likely, he will play college baseball [maybe football too] for 3 years, become dominant and get a good bit of cash when he gets drafted in 2011.

My vote for best QB's in the state [no particular order].... Sonny Gray- Smyrna Brent Burnette- Maryville Adam Currie- Evangelical Christian Matt Arent- Hillsboro [and yes, he is being recruited by a number of SEC schools and college coaches seem to think he has upside] Deaunte Mason- Pearl-Cohn Curt Phillips- Sullivan South Jake Ryan- Knoxville West Randall Cobb- Alcoa Connor Lowery- CPA

FWIW, Sommer was not included among the receivers because it looks like he'll play defensive back in the SEC or ACC.

Sam has a good shot at getting an offer from Miss. State and is a definite candidate for more Sun Belt schools as well as CUSA scholarships. Depends on how he does at college camps. Hope he goes to MSU's camp and he should probably go to Ole Miss' camp cause they would likely offer if they think that MSU is going to offer and because of Sam's ability and because Ole Miss does a lot of offering out there.

Yes, Michael committed to VU last night and Gray, Bather, and Ukwu have good shots at getting D1 offers eventually as well. Region 4-5A could be one of the more talented "leagues" in not only the state but maybe the southeast this year cause a number of teams have talent that "could" sign with D1 teams and that are either at or maybe a strong senior season away from being at that level.

Just FWIW, Lilienthal is getting some good looks from colleges too and he too might be playing high level college football next year if things progress for him. Riverdale should be Riverdale as usual.