Knoxville News Sentinel Top 25 College Prospects

[BigDogDaddy]

Sistersdream- quick call an emergency meeting of the AE fan club and have one of the boosters get the Lear ready, we need to fly to Ktown and formely protest! How dare they!

[sweetreb]

brad merrit,brandon waters. tj brock would of been if he hadnt been hurt all year,but the first two without a doubt should of been on the list.

[JimmyCash]

How about Stephon Johnson who is going to Vanderbilt or Ryan Scott who has been offered two D-1 scholarships already or Jonathan Ward who has an excellent shot at D-1 football.

[Edited by JimmyCash on 11-29-02 12:37P]

[nate3422]

i also see antoine owens from ezell harding on up there, thats for whoever said all they see is healy from 1a. twan is like 11th

[hshoops]

Shea is a senior not a sophmore. He should have been on the list but was overlooked since he goes to a little school that didn't do to good. And the big man might be fat but he's not 300.

[OSHSman]

Where's T.T. Harper?

[Indian]

I wouldn't worry too much about who did and who didn't make the top 25 list. The Chattanooga list had one that I am told only went all out about 1 of every 3 plays, but it was a local guy so he had to be on it. I think 9 of 30 counting kickers on the Knoxville list were from Knoxville area or east of there, but I would think the Memphis or Nashville lists would be biased toward players there too. College coaches know who can play and I doubt are influenced one bit by such a list.

[PSAFOUR]

What about him? I heard he was pretty good. So what is the report on him. Is he good?

[ClemsonDad]

It is hard to do but if you compare it to the actual scholarship list, you'll find lots of differences. I'm involved with the TACA all star football team so I watch who is out there pretty closely.

 

I can tell you that in 1998, Maryville's Nick Black and Chuck Prugh were not in the top 25 (they made the "next 15"). Nick (#26) was a starter this year at Clemson until getting injured against Florida State and Chuck (#27) is has been the backup center at UT for the last two years.

 

As for the rest of that list, Aubrayo Franklin (#30) was a starter at UT this year and Greg Woofter (#35) was a 2 year starter at UNC.

 

From the first 25, the only D-1 starters I know of are Troy Fleming (#2), Scott Wells (#5), and Eddie Moore (#7) at UT and Santonio Beard (#3) at Alabama. Ricky Upton (#6) is a backup FB at Penn State. Jamil Northcutt (#10) is a backup linebacker at Ole Miss. Jonathan Shaub (#15) is at Vandy, but I've not kept up with him. Benji Walker (#18) is at Vandy too but I don't think he's ever started. Toki McCray (#20) signed with NC State but transfered to Eastern Kentucky, where he has been a part-time starter.

 

My point is, that this list is difficult, but seems tempered by press clippings.

 

As for this year's list, yeah, Brandon Waters and Brad Merritt should definitely be on the list. Somebody better sign those two. Merritt proved what he could do Friday night. He caught three passes on one drive that were BIG TIME. I think somebody's missing the boat on Josh Lawhon of William Blount. And if somebody off that Hixson team is not headed to college, then the recruiters are asleep. They had some PLAYERS!

 

Others I've seen: #62 for Mo West (played left tackle) seems to have the size and the skills. Knox Central has some players that should play on Saturdays. Don't tell me they're not big enough--have you seen Justin Miller of Clemson? He's 5'11" but was an impact player as a true freshman. You don't have to be 6'4" for everything.

 

By the way, if you want to see some interesting film, I've got tapes of the practices for the Tennessee All Stars from '99. Scott Wells versus Nick Black was memorable.

 

Sorry for the length. Should have known better than to get me started....

[comewithit]

EastTnsportswriter, maybe you should contact Virginia Tech, Tennessee, Virginia, Michigan, Alabama, Auburn, etc. etc. because obviously you know more than any of these coaches and scouts do and tell them about Vince. You should have called Coach Fulmer this morning and told him because he was at EHS all evening today. Maybe he should have went on up to Cloudland to visit the kids up there because to hear you tell it thats the only kids that can play in this county. Maybe you should start printing some of the crap that you put on here into the Star and let everyone in the county know how bad EHS is. And get back down to earth Ive seen them both play and taking nothing away from Cloudland they could just not beat EHS, play with thim yes not not beat them.

[CoachSH]

you are right about Vince Redd, phil fulmer was in elizabethton today, and that E-town writer is an idiot to think that vince is not going big D1 in football and basketball, because all football looks at is can he run and jump, and he can very well. He wants to play basketball also and all of those schools (because they want him that bad) said that he can try to play both. Just like Peppers and UNC.

 

Good luck Vince and go CYCLONE Basketball!!!!

[Magnus]

I would have to say that I agree with you about Redd. He is all size and no talent. Maybe in a few years and some intense training, he could be a decent athlete but not right now. I saw him alot on film this year and I think he hurt his team more than he helped. He dropped countless passes that were crucial in the game he was playing in. He is definitly not the second coming of Witten, and anyone who has ever made that comment doesn't know anything whatsoever about football.