JesseWJohnson

That really stinks for Gower. He's a real good quarterback and I think he was going to take that next step. Hopefully he can be back at some point.

Seeing as though they have a good number of players coming back including a pretty good QB and a pretty good linebacker/tight end as well as plenty of other pieces, I'm going to stick with Memphis University School in AAA. AA, I'll go with PJP2 because of their talent. Single A, maybe Davidson Academy again? They have quite a few players coming back (Josh Williams, Eric Davis, and others). If not them, maybe Bishop Byrne, I dunno.

I might make it before I head over to VU's first practice of the preseason.

I'm a alum of Antioch, but can't think of anybody that's a "no name" senior, but I also follow Riverdale cause I live in Murfreesboro. Maybe Tyler Lusk (TE/DE) can qualify for no name senior? or maybe he had too many reps last year...I don't know, hard question to answer. Still, I think Lusk may have a good senior year this year and get some people noticing him.

You are right BL, a lot of players that will play at the next level, are not included and it is the college coaches would be better judges of talent than most if not all analysts. We just try to do the best we can to report them, but evaluating is a part of it too, even though, our evaluations are not always correct either positively or negatively. At the end of the day, no one will really know much about players just entering their senior year of high school until they are in their 2nd-3rd year of college football.

Two players in the mid-state that haven't been mentioned yet, but need to be are Whites Creek's Calvin Roberts and Jamie Graham. They might get overlooked because of the way their used at WC, but they are both very talented players.

Sykes will likely be eligible and he will likely be on a D1 roster next season. Donald is a good player, but his rise to the top by many people is based upon a video and word to mouth. First, Rae was called the best junior in the state, then Golden was, now...without any of them playing a down of football since December, Donald is unquestionably the best. I don't know...it's like 1A and 1B to me, with a close 3rd, but it still seems like some people's stock goes up or drops based on where they are believed to be heading when it comes to college decisions. I don't believe people that do this for a living do that, but seems like others do.

Congrats to Josh. He's a natural athlete at tailback..and though he'll probably end up at DB at UT, he could've played running back at various D1 schools. He's got good vision and runs hard. He's also a pretty accomplished basketball player. We at VandySports.com had him rated as the 16th player in the state..which is also where the Unapproved Website analysts had him. He was bound to play in the SEC, so it's good to see that he could stay in state to do so.

Notre Dame is the team to beat. Thing is, when are they going to offer him? About Rivals not having three guys that have D1 offers but aren't listed in the database...well, a good solution to that is for either their coach to contact Rivals to get them entered into the database, or the someone to tip off a Rivals writer, who can then seek out the information from there. Help always works. Oh, and just cause someone is not a 5-Star or in the "100" doesn't mean they are not projected to be a extremely impactful player with definite pro potential. Tate is still a 4-Star and is ranked in the 250. BTW, Sykes should be in the 100..and I personally rank him ahead of Chris Donald.

I think it's likely UT if his grades are where they can offer him/sign him. He seems to be very into UT. Problem is, his grade situation might cause him problems...so he might end up having to go the JUCO or Prep route unless he has a great senior year grades wise. He'd be much more talked about on the recruiting circuit if it wasn't for his grades just fyi. Hopefully for himself though, he can get everything fixed and go D1 this Feb.

Top DL's in the mid-state, at least: Goodpasture Riverdale Whites Creek I also think Brentwood Academy's, LaVergne's, and maybe even Page, will have among the best in the mid-state. I'm sure there are others that will be good as well.

Yes, Smith has committed to Ole Miss, and I don't know what happened with his UT offer, but he supposedly had a written offer from Tennessee in his possession...but maybe UT filled it and voided it. He's a good player for Columbia Central, all-state coaches pick last year. Good athlete, could also play tight end or fullback too.

Yes, I know for a fact that both Coach Johnson and Coach Corbin would welcome Tate to their respective teams and neither would have a problem with him doing both.

The sex part of this...hey, who knows how you can really prove that...but the giving extra grades for work not done can be proven. This isn't the first time that I've heard of schools in the state doing this, just seems like one of the first times that maybe someone's coming out about it. I guess we'll find out more about that down the road...though I'm sure the focus will only be on the accused sexual relationship.

Greeneville has very few players coming back, but does have a two way standout in Danny Bannach that will probably be the best player in the game. Still, after talking with him, I feel that Greeneville's probably going to start off the season on the short end of the stick....so I'd go with Anderson County.

Stratford looked real good at the Music City Classic at Vandy in early June. They actually beat one of the favorite teams, Pulaski Academy (ARK) in the opening round. PA had at least 2 major D1 seniors on their team including a Top 100 guy going to Southern Cal next year and a solid quarterback who will play at a BCS school next year too. The three guys for Stratfords team that impressed me when I saw them were Terrell Perkins, Cliff Lett, and TeAndre Fisher. I think only Perkins is going to be a senior too..so the Spartans might be on the rise.

Just wanted all the high school fans to know that the 2004 Class 3A Mr.Football, Roger Herndon of Greenbrier, has done what he planned last year and transfered from Austin Peay to Vanderbilt and will be with the team when they begin preseason practice on August 4th. Here's a free story that we did for this morning... http://vanderbilt.Unapproved Website/content.asp?CID=560640 Jesse Johnson, VandySports.com

The Cowboys apparently filled up their scholarships because they were unsure if he'd qualify. Apparently UK has a spot for him in January.

To Bears fans or anyone in general, that doesn't already know...former Antioch running back Preston Brown has qualified for D1 football, but instead of heading to Oklahoma State, instead he plans on enrolling at Kentucky in January as a grayshirt. Congrats to Preston and hope he does well at UK.

I don't think it's fair to Coleman to compare him to Manning. I never thought it was fair for some to compare Ainge to Manning either. Coleman is a good quarterback and I think he could have a good college career. Now, for Vols fans, he is not their top choice at quarterback, so don't be surprised if they land another, out-of-state QB, with more pub. There's still 2 quarterbacks in Texas that come to mind when it comes to UT's recruiting. Either way, congrats to Coleman on his decision. Jesse Johnson VandySports.com Recruiting Editor Unapproved Website Network.

I believe GoVols is right on the instate kids that have UT offers, but I do know that Isaiah Smith of Columbia Central has an offer from them and Ole Miss, and could be getting one from Vandy soon..maybe even Alabama. For the record, Vanderbilt has offered the following state talent: James Williams of Smyrna (committed), Chris Marve of Memphis White Station (committed), Chris Walker of Christian Brothers, John Stokes of Memphis University School, Golden Tate of PJP2, Mark Fisher of Goodpasture, Todd Campbell of Franklin (committed to UT), Chris Donald of Huntingdon, Alex Watkins of Haywood, Harrison Smith of Knox Catholic, Kyrus Lanxter of Alcoa and Roderick Davis of Memphis Wooddale. There are some players out there that they are still apparently evaluating and may get VU offers down the road too. UT is likely doing the same with some other in-state talent too. Not sure as to what Memphis is doing and MTSU is looking at a number of prospects in middle and east tennessee..as well as in South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama.

I disagree with that list. Especially 21-30. And some names that needs to be on it include James Williams of Smyrna, Chris Marve of Memphis White State, Lagrone Shields of Memphis Ridgeway, Thomas Major of Maplewood, and possibly Tico Andrews from East Robertson. And Chris Walker of Christian Brothers needs to be higher than Todd Campbell and Anthony Anderson. As does Alex Watkins of Haywood. BTW, as far as commitments go, MLB/OLB. Chris Marve (153 tackles, 13 for loss, 4 sacks in 2005, all-region) has committed to Vanderbilt. Those who have Unapproved Website accounts might want to check out his video on the network. I imagine that some more schools will try to pry him away from Vanderbilt down the road.

Calvin did pretty good. Whites Creek surprised me with their struggles. Honestly, heading into the tournament, I was think I would see what I saw in Stratford, out of Whites Creek. Still, I've been high on the Cobras core group of players for the last 2 years now...so I expect them to be right about where they were last year...maybe better. Hope to catch them again twice this coming season. Issac Bauch, Pettigrew, Chris Darnell, and Nick Smith of Independence, basically has made me want to see Independence as much as I can this coming season. I was that impressed with them. Heck, I was impressed with their whole team and attitude. Coach Smith will work his magic there..and he's got some good, determined assistants there too. I think they will be a fun team to watch this year and next and beyond. Jesse Johnson VandySports.com

Yes, Chris Gray was probably Lavergne's best player when I watched them. Rodriguez, I think, was respectable but against some teams he would force balls..seemingly trying to offset the speed of the DB's. I felt Horton had his moments when I saw him and Justin Phillips was good both ways. With Smyrna, Wilks dropped more than one. He dropped some of Friday that were right there..including 2 that could've been TD's in one of the games I saw. Now, #21 Jonah Hendricks looked good at times too..and I saw some good things out of Jesse Torres, but Antonio Hendricks struggled on both sides in the games I saw.