Where is Darkwa going to college?

[nosidj]

article in today's tennessean

[shakinthefat]

I hear he is going to MBA next year.

[matt86]

I have a friend whose son knows Darkwa well. I usually hate to talk about the personal side of things, seeing as this is a football board, but Orleans holds above a 3.0 at a challenging private school. His grades will not affect his getting offers, as we have already seen with the offer from Army. (Wrangler615 said Navy, it is Army though). He can hang academically anywhere, as hard as he works in the classroom. I think its only a matter of time before he gets offers from UAB, Bama, Clemson, and Vandy. Maybe even Tennessee.

 

While Orleans is a fabulous talent, he's not on Bama's radar (as a tailback - maybe somewhere else, a la Chris Jordan).

[VandyHoosiers]

If Darkwa had the academic profile that Vanderbilt looks for in recruits, he might have an offer by now. It's that simple. They basically can't go after him anymore. Teams don't want to wait till the spring to see if a guy can put it all together, they're going to give their spots to guys who have already gotten things in order. Tavarres Jefferson was a good enough athlete to play DB or get the ball in his hands at a bigger school than MTSU....but he didn't have that profile either. The first hire EHS made was a football coach....that should let you know what their priorities are....and should shed some light on why they've had two football players the past two years that have been better than just about anyone in this area not named Golden Tate, yet they've failed to gain the attention of big time athletic programs. Heck, Randy Sanders is still at UK....Tavarres could have been a Randall Cobb type guy for them....Sanders knows Bowers.....but there was no interest on their part. Two and two = four, right?

 

Army can offer (and ultimately sign) as many kids as they want. They are not bound to the same rules that other programs are (in that there are limits to the number of scholarship athletes you can have on the roster at a given time). Kids can ALWAYS go through their prep program and matriculate to the campus a year later once they've gotten their profile in order.

 

Teams like Auburn, Ole Miss, and Florida State routinely do a similar thing....the sign and place approach....sign a kid out of HS knowing he won't qualify (Enrique Davis/CJ Mizell in recent years come to mind immediately) yet place him at a prep school like Hargrave or Fork Union and then sign him as a part of your signing class a year later.

[Grey Ghost]

If Darkwa had the academic profile that Vanderbilt looks for in recruits, he might have an offer by now. It's that simple. They basically can't go after him anymore. Teams don't want to wait till the spring to see if a guy can put it all together, they're going to give their spots to guys who have already gotten things in order. Tavarres Jefferson was a good enough athlete to play DB or get the ball in his hands at a bigger school than MTSU....but he didn't have that profile either. The first hire EHS made was a football coach....that should let you know what their priorities are....and should shed some light on why they've had two football players the past two years that have been better than just about anyone in this area not named Golden Tate, yet they've failed to gain the attention of big time athletic programs. Heck, Randy Sanders is still at UK....Tavarres could have been a Randall Cobb type guy for them....Sanders knows Bowers.....but there was no interest on their part. Two and two = four, right?

 

Army can offer (and ultimately sign) as many kids as they want. They are not bound to the same rules that other programs are (in that there are limits to the number of scholarship athletes you can have on the roster at a given time). Kids can ALWAYS go through their prep program and matriculate to the campus a year later once they've gotten their profile in order.

 

Teams like Auburn, Ole Miss, and Florida State routinely do a similar thing....the sign and place approach....sign a kid out of HS knowing he won't qualify (Enrique Davis/CJ Mizell in recent years come to mind immediately) yet place him at a prep school like Hargrave or Fork Union and then sign him as a part of your signing class a year later.

 

Is this the same Vanderbilt that took (blank) over (blank) in 2005 (2004 high school class)? Sorry, I respect kids too much to say their names. Vandy just doesn't know how to recruit. It's not about their profiles, they just don't know how to recruit very well. Now, I will say there are some truths in your statement, but there are also some holes. Orleans (I can say his name because that's the thread) is smarter than some current Vandy players - and I'll put my house on that.

[Treadstone]

VandyHoosiers, you have made it clear that you don't respect a kid's privacy, nor are you open-minded enough to admit a school has more than football. But to go that low, I don't even know what to say. Your posts display that you don't know enough inside information to say anything at all. Keep it to yourself.

 

GreyGhost, add my house to that wager. Well said, nice post.

[KWoodroof]

I don't know anything about Mr. Darkwa or his academic skills. I suspect, though, that if West Point is interested, they must feel that academically he can handle the work. West Point is a small school, and really doesn't have anyplace to hide a good athlete with limited academic skills. Because everyone is essentially on scholarship, they can theoretically bring in 1100 football players a year. However, they are accountable for the number of plebes who get through and get commissioned, so they don't bring in jocks of iffy academic potential.

 

Vanderbilt does have a couple of programs that aren't really academically rigorous. Vanderbilt may not be interested in him, but if their concerns are academic, I'll be shocked if they're well-founded.

[owlbooster]

Does anybody know for a FACT that Darkwa has an OFFER from Army, or have they just shown INTEREST?

[oldwiseone]

He does have an offer according to Rivals but on Scout he does not (or at least they haven't updated their information yet).

 

I'd think he will end up with quite a few good offers. He's quite the player and evidently a good person as well.

[wrangler615]

I have talked with him and he has a for sure offer from Army.

[hdcastle]

If Darkwa had the academic profile that Vanderbilt looks for in recruits, he might have an offer by now. It's that simple. They basically can't go after him anymore. Teams don't want to wait till the spring to see if a guy can put it all together, they're going to give their spots to guys who have already gotten things in order. Tavarres Jefferson was a good enough athlete to play DB or get the ball in his hands at a bigger school than MTSU....but he didn't have that profile either. The first hire EHS made was a football coach....that should let you know what their priorities are....and should shed some light on why they've had two football players the past two years that have been better than just about anyone in this area not named Golden Tate, yet they've failed to gain the attention of big time athletic programs. Heck, Randy Sanders is still at UK....Tavarres could have been a Randall Cobb type guy for them....Sanders knows Bowers.....but there was no interest on their part. Two and two = four, right?

 

Army can offer (and ultimately sign) as many kids as they want. They are not bound to the same rules that other programs are (in that there are limits to the number of scholarship athletes you can have on the roster at a given time). Kids can ALWAYS go through their prep program and matriculate to the campus a year later once they've gotten their profile in order.

 

Teams like Auburn, Ole Miss, and Florida State routinely do a similar thing....the sign and place approach....sign a kid out of HS knowing he won't qualify (Enrique Davis/CJ Mizell in recent years come to mind immediately) yet place him at a prep school like Hargrave or Fork Union and then sign him as a part of your signing class a year later.

 

I could go on and on about Orleans but everything said about him up to this point has been on the spot. He is very smart, articulate and presents himself very well.

 

Vandy on the other hand is full at running back. They have 3 amazing true freshman in Warren Norman, Zac Stacy, and Wesley Tate along with the other upperclassmen. In addition, they have one three star commit from PA, RB Myron Ross. They have extended offers to two other players that are just as good if not better than Orleans (4* Rajaan Bennett GA and 3* Nick Griffin MS) who are very interested in Vandy at the moment. If any of you guys have been following Vandy you would know that they need more help on the OL and at WR than RB.

 

Orleans is a UT fan and I think he really wants that offer but like Vandy they also are jammed in the backfield with Brown, Oku, Poole ect... And Orleans is the kind of player who really wants to see the field.

 

He will be playing somewhere, that's for sure.

[big red big blue]

Vandy Hoosiers is right in some regards...The academies can operate this way, and I'm sure they see Darkwa as an ideal candidate for their system. They will send him most likely to the prep school and see if he can handle the workload, and if so, he'll matriculate on campus a year later. The academies can't redshirt so this is what they do. They also look at the "whole person" as opposed to just SAT/ACT scores. He is obviously doing a lot right in life to be pursued by Army.

 

This isn't an indictment of EHS as I can recall a specific case from MBA several years ago in which a player wasn't recruited by Vandy for academic reasons but was recruited/offered by Army as well.

 

As a Navy man I don't really care to see the man head to that community college on the Hudson and face Navy.....

 

(that last part was sarcasm, itzme and others).