Top 100 OL Morris among 5 Memphis pro​​​​​​spects transferring to Ravenwood

[kwc]

By the way, for those that are interested. Tevin Carter is the phenom QB that received SEC offers when he started at the charter school as an eighth graders. He's a sophomore this year. He will have two years of eligibility left to play at Memphis Central after sitting out this year.

[FridayMainEvent]

1 hour ago, kwc said:

By the way, for those that are interested. Tevin Carter is the phenom QB that received SEC offers when he started at the charter school as an eighth graders. He's a sophomore this year. He will have two years of eligibility left to play at Memphis Central after sitting out this year.

Thanks for the update.

 

[BigTime1950]

10 hours ago, kwc said:

bigchief:

Read the article I'm posting below from the Commercial Appeal. I hope this brings some clarity.

 

The Commercial Appeal: Dandy Dozen: Chris Morris is No. 1

https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/sports/high-school/2019/08/09/high-school-football-recruiting-chris-morris-memphis-dandy-dozen/1847340001/

Football was the last thing on Melvin Cole's mind when he first met Chris Morris a little more than five years ago. He was more concerned for Morris' life.

Cole could see that Morris was heading down a dangerous path of gang affiliation. Cole said he was familiar with bad decisions, having spent two years in prison for trafficking cocaine, but he had vowed to save young black boys from taking wrong turns.

Cole, who founded an organization to help underprivileged kids, said what he saw in Morris was a taller version of himself, a young man from the inner city in need of guidance. Morris was playful, athletic and fun-loving. But he was a teenager with a second-grade reading level.

So Cole, at the request of Morris' cousin and grandma, took Morris in, arranged for him to be homeschooled and taught him football. Today, Morris is one of the top college football prospects in the country.

The 6-foot-4, 287-pound senior is ranked No. 3 in Tennessee for the Class of 2020 in the 247Sports Composite. He is the No. 2 offensive guard in the country and No. 86 overall.

He is also No. 1 on The Commercial Appeal's inaugural 2019 Dandy Dozen, a collection of the top 12 college football prospects for the Class of 2020 from the Mid-South as picked by the newspaper.

A PURE vision

While Cole was incarcerated, he mapped out his entire life – where he went wrong, what he did right, where he needed help.

"And that’s when I kind of made a pact with God that once I got out of prison I was going to come back to Memphis and start saving young boys' lives through football that looked like me," Cole said.

In 2011, about a year after he got out of prison, Cole founded PURE Youth Athletic Alliance, which stands for Progressing Under Restraints and Extremes. It's a residential program whose mission is to empower underprivileged students through education, mentoring and football. According to its website, PURE operates an accredited homeschool program and has provided housing for 15 members.

"I started off, I owned a gym called A1 Fitness and it just kind of turned into one kid needed to live with me, and then I moved him in. And it grew from there. And that's when everyone kind of told me about the 501 (c)(3) to kind of get everything set up to be able to help more kids," Cole said about becoming a nonprofit organization. "So it took on a life of its own. One kid, Abraham Austin, it started with him, and then it grew into what it is today."

Transfer troubles

Today, five youth are participating in the PURE residential program – Morris, Tevin Carter, Terry Carter, Renard Gwynn and Tamerius Bell. All five hold Division I college football scholarship offers. And all five are ineligible to play high school football this season.

The five played football for Freedom Prep, a charter school, but moved into Central's district because they couldn't escape the issues they were trying to avoid.

"It was actually a combination of safety issues and housing and transportation," Cole said. "There were a couple of different incidents that happened at Freedom Prep’s practice with the local neighborhood where the boys actually got into a fight, and I just felt like that wasn’t safe for what we were trying to do."

But as a charter school, Freedom Prep's district covers the entire city. So by TSSAA rules, they had not left their original zone and were thus ineligible.

Cole said that he plans to appeal the decision and that he does not currently have any plans to move again. He plans to wait until a decision is made and then re-evaluate his options.

How PURE helped Chris Morris

Before he began participating in PURE, Morris led what he described as a "pretty normal rough life." He spent time living in Klondike and Orange Mound. And he was raised by his grandmother.

"It was like 12 people living in the house, a three-bedroom house. Not that much money. Everybody is staying with your grandmother. You’ve got grown kids and older people. So it was just a lot of commotion and a lot of mouths to feed," Morris said.

Morris said that he moved in with Cole about a year after he was introduced to him.

"It’s a tough process, moving from your biological family," Morris said. "But Coach, he made himself feel like he was family. And we’ve been building ever since."

Cole said that removing Morris from the environment he grew up in was key to his development. He wanted Morris to realize he could lead a different life and that he had the power to break the cycle of generational poverty his family was caught in.

Morris started playing football in the eighth grade and developed into one of the marquee offensive line talents in the nation. He is committed to play in the Under Armour All-American game and has more than 40 scholarship offers.

Morris also has shown noticeable academic improvement.

"Now he’s on grade with his reading level and has a 20 composite on the ACT," Cole said.

Cole describes Morris as the poster child for the impact PURE can have on children's lives. And he believes that the program can touch even more lives as it grows.

"There’s a million Chris Morrises in Memphis, Tennessee, but he’s the one that got the opportunity to meet Melvin Cole," Cole said. "So we’re going to poster his success to pull other kids from the gangs and things like that to show them that you too can be the next Chris Morris."

How does this shed light on anything. Just another blind side story? Why did this Cole guy not monitor what was going on at Freedom Prep? Sounds like he doesn't have a monitor on his guardian responibities. Is Memphis Central that much safer than Freedom Prep? I don't know. I am not from Memphis. Sounds like he wanted a bigger stage for his kids. Plus shouldn't he know the rules for his kids. Seems like if the are not eligible then they would not be as focused toward a weekly goal of a Friday test. Coach Wright is known as a good Coach from where l am from. All l know is that he has been successful at two schools, WhiteStation and rebuilding Raleigh-Eygpt. Maybe Coach Wright is also a good recruiter. I hope the big lineman stays in shape and gets to the college where he wants to continue his education. I hope the other ineligible players do the same. I do have a question, where are the 503c non profit organizations for the at risk children that are not major college football/basketball etc recruits. Maybe they are there and we don't hear about them on the T. Not every at risk child in Memphis is a DI recruit? Maybe these organizations are there or Mr Cole is helping some children that are not athletes. I hope so.         The real test will be if these players stay at Memphis Central.

[kwc]

1 hour ago, BigTime1950 said:

How does this shed light on anything. 

BogTime:

bigchief, asked how he was the guardian for all 5. That article explains how he could represent himself in that fashion. 

[Solomon]

Memphis gonna Memphis.

[BigTime1950]

5 hours ago, kwc said:

BogTime:

bigchief, asked how he was the guardian for all 5. That article explains how he could represent himself in that fashion. 

I see, let's play it close to the vest. If that's the way you all roll, just go with it.

[Solomon]

And off to West Memphis.

[Lost Old Dad]

7 hours ago, Solomon said:

And off to West Memphis.

Or a Northern Mississippi suburb school.  Does Olive Branch come to mind?

[kwc]

14 hours ago, Solomon said:

And off to West Memphis.

The Commercial Appeal: Chris Morris, Tevin Carter to West Memphis

https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/sports/high-school/2019/08/12/football-recruiting-chris-morris-tevin-carter-west-memphis/1990211001/

Chris Morris, the No. 2 offensive guard and No. 86 prospect in the nation for the Class of 2020 according to the 247Sports composite, has transferred to West Memphis in Arkansas, coach Billy Elmore confirmed.

Tevin Carter, Terry Carter, Renard Gwynn and Tamerius Bell have also transferred, according to their Twitter accounts.

The five, who participate in PURE Youth Athletic Alliance, were ruled ineligible after transferring from Freedom Prep to Memphis Central. They moved into Central's zone, but the TSSAA ruled that they had not left Freedom Prep's zone, which covers the entire city.

They will be eligible to play this season at West Memphis.

The move comes days after PURE CEO Melvin Cole told The Commercial Appeal that he planned to appeal the decision and wait for a ruling.

He also previously told The Commercial Appeal that he had plans to move the five to Ravenwood.

Tevin Carter, a 6-3 sophomore quarterback, holds offers from Auburn, Florida State, LSU, Michigan and Tennessee, among others. He began receiving offers as an eighth grader at Freedom Prep.

Gwynn, a three-star junior defensive end, has offers including Arkansas, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Memphis.

Bell, a sophomore defensive back, has an offer from Baylor. Terry Carter, a junior defensive lineman, has an offer from Tulane.

[BlackHavenSenator]

On 8/13/2019 at 8:12 PM, kwc said:

The Commercial Appeal: Chris Morris, Tevin Carter to West Memphis

https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/sports/high-school/2019/08/12/football-recruiting-chris-morris-tevin-carter-west-memphis/1990211001/

Chris Morris, the No. 2 offensive guard and No. 86 prospect in the nation for the Class of 2020 according to the 247Sports composite, has transferred to West Memphis in Arkansas, coach Billy Elmore confirmed.

Tevin Carter, Terry Carter, Renard Gwynn and Tamerius Bell have also transferred, according to their Twitter accounts.

The five, who participate in PURE Youth Athletic Alliance, were ruled ineligible after transferring from Freedom Prep to Memphis Central. They moved into Central's zone, but the TSSAA ruled that they had not left Freedom Prep's zone, which covers the entire city.

They will be eligible to play this season at West Memphis.

The move comes days after PURE CEO Melvin Cole told The Commercial Appeal that he planned to appeal the decision and wait for a ruling.

He also previously told The Commercial Appeal that he had plans to move the five to Ravenwood.

Tevin Carter, a 6-3 sophomore quarterback, holds offers from Auburn, Florida State, LSU, Michigan and Tennessee, among others. He began receiving offers as an eighth grader at Freedom Prep.

Gwynn, a three-star junior defensive end, has offers including Arkansas, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Memphis.

Bell, a sophomore defensive back, has an offer from Baylor. Terry Carter, a junior defensive lineman, has an offer from Tulane.

 

Well well well

[kwc]

1 hour ago, BlackHavenSenator said:

 

Well well well

Indeed. Probably the best move for them. West Memphis ain't skurred!

Edited August 15, 2019 by kwc

[Lost Old Dad]

On ‎8‎/‎15‎/‎2019 at 11:10 AM, kwc said:

Indeed. Probably the best move for them. West Memphis ain't skurred!

And probably paid better.   

We really need a big sarcasm imoge.