ENGLEWOOD, N.J.

Johnson, a 6-foot-3, 185-pound senior, is a captain on both the football and basketball teams. As a safety, he holds more than a dozen Division I scholarship offers in football and said he has narrowed his list to Stanford, NC State, Maryland, UConn and North Carolina.

He will also serve as a hall proctor for the second year in a row, and this year he opted to join the Peer Leadership Program. Oh, and he maintains a 3.7 grade point average, too.

Read the full story here.

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Chris Melvin, a recruiting analyst for EliteRecruits.com, calls Clemmings the No. 1 prospect in New Jersey in the Class of 2010.

“He’s my top player in the state, without a question in my mind,” Melvin said at the recent Big Time Football Showcase at Rutgers. “He’s raw. The kid still has a long way to go.”

A 6-foot-6, 263-pound defensive end who has only played organized football for one season, Clemmings now holds offers from Notre Dame, Ohio State, Miami, Florida, Maryland, Pitt, Penn State, South Carolina, Purdue, Northwestern, Duke, Georgia, Tennessee, Rutgers and Syracuse, among others.

He currently lists Maryland and Pitt as his leaders and has taken unofficial visits to both campuses.

“I got a good feel for a couple of schools right now,” Clemmings said at the recent Big Time Footbal Showcase at Rutgers. “Maryland and Pitt are the two schools coming at me the hardest right now.”

Clemmings has met both Pitt coach Dave Wannestedt and Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen.

“[Wannestedt] was just teling me a lot of stuff so I can get to know him. They like my tape so I guess I have something I can bring for them,” Clemmings said. “[Friedgen] said I have an opportunity to come in and play right away.”

As for Rutgers, Clemmings said: “I’ve been here a couple times to watch practices. I spoke to a couple of the coaches, so they’re cool people.”

Clemmings said he hopes to decide sometime during his senior season.

“I’m not sure right now,” he said. “I have to sit down and talk to my family and coaches. I’ll make the decision at the right time.”

NOTES: Former Paterson Catholic TE Dante Burton could end up at Valley Forge (Pa.) Military School and Worcester (Mass.) Prep, PC coach Benjie Wimberly said.

]]> http://www.zagsblog.com/2009/05/13/football-update-trevor-clemmings/feed/ 2 http://www.zagsblog.com/2009/05/08/big-time-football-showcase-draws-recruits/ http://www.zagsblog.com/2009/05/08/big-time-football-showcase-draws-recruits/#comments Fri, 08 May 2009 16:24:38 +0000 Adam Zagoria http://www.zagsblog.com/?p=16312 PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The thundershowers had just turned to sunshine and Chris Melvin was standing on the turf at Rutgers Stadium surrounded by nearly 200 of the top high school football players on the East Coast.

Divided into position groups and wearing numbers to identify them, the players performed drills under the watchful eyes of high school coaches who barked out suggestions and directions.
NCAA regulations prevent college coaches from attending the Big Time Football Showcase, but Melvin says many are dying to know these elite-level players performed in the one-day event held May 7.

“There are a lot of coaches trying to find out what’s going on here,” said Melvin, a recruiting analyst for EliteRecruits.com who is in charge of inviting the players. “By the time nine o’clock [tonight] hits I guarantee you my phone is going to be ringing beyond its capability. I’m sort of like Barack Obama right now. Everyone’s calling me trying to be my best friend.”

A dozen players chosen in the recent NFL Draft participated in this event in past years, including linebacker Brian Cushing, running backs Knowshon Moreno and Donald Brown and offensive lineman Eugene Monroe.

Up until two years ago, this event was known as the Elite College Combine and it wasn’t unusual to see Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis or Florida coach Urban Meyer roaming the sidelines looking for that next program-changing star.

But the NCAA clamped down on coaches attending combines and now the coaches must obtain their information in another way.

“Colleges can’t attend our event but there’s ways to go around that,” Melvin said. “Every college has a website and they have newspapers and they have guys out here covering our event. The Terrapin Times [an independent magazine and Website that covers Maryland athletics] is going to go back and the coaches are going to read about it on their site.”

Keith Cavanaugh, editor and publisher of Terrapin Times, said Maryland fans and coaches would indeed be interested in what occurred at the combine.

“We interviewed 25 Maryland recruiting targets, so for fans and for the coaches they’ll be wanting to know what the kids are saying, how they performed, what their 40 time was,” he said. “For example, Javarie Johnson, a 6-4, 210-pound outside linebacker from D.C. Dunbar High, ran a 4.52 40. That was his best recorded time ever so numbers like that will jump out at you.”

UConn coach Randy Edsall attended the old Elite College Combine, but now says he supports the legislation that prevents college coaches from attending events such as these.

“We don’t really try to find out what goes on with those events,” Edsall said. “We try to talk to the high school coaches and get the information from the high school coaches and then try to gather information from our own camps when we have them. We’re not a big proponent of those types of events. Some of this recruiting has gotten out of hand….I don’t think it’s good for 16-, 17-, 18-year-olds. They need to take some of these things a little bit further and let these kids understand that you have to have the academics first.”

Melvin agrees, pointing out that Rhodes scholar Myron Rolle of Florida State previously attended this event. Rolle would have been a top draft pick but is fulfilling his Rhodes scholar obligations instead.

Edsall also said the best way to evaluate a player is to see him in a high school game or on your own campus, as opposed to at a combine event:

“The thing is, you can go and get that stuff done by going and watching a kid or having a kid come here,” he said. “There’s more to it than what a kid runs or jumps. There’s still the film evaluation test. There’s the character test. There’s the work ethic test. What we’ve done as an association to outlaw those types of things is one of the best things we’ve ever put in place.”

The Big Time Showcase was held on the Rutgers campus, although Rutgers coaches were not permitted to attend.

Still, Edsall suggested it might be “a recruiting advantage for some schools and not for another.”

Despite the criticism, the players seemed to enjoy the event and saw it as an opportunity to gain exposure and land a scholarship.

Danny Sullivan, a linebacker/defensive end from Mannasquan (N.J.) High who earned the Linebacker MVP award, said it was more relaxing without college coaches on hand, but he was still hoping to impress.

“It’s good so nobody’s all nervous and tense and everything, but then again you gotta get it done,” he said. “I like it because it’s a chance for every kid to get out there and do their thing.”

Leslie Shepherd, who played in the NFL with several teams, said events like the Big Time Football Showcase are essential if you want your child to gain recognition.

Shepherd’s son, Khalek, is a running back/defensive back at Gwynn Park (Md.) High who attended the event and holds several Division I offers.

“If you want your child to be recognized as one of the best in the country, you have to take them to this stuff,” said Shepherd, the offensive coordinator at Gwynn Park.

Melvin, who works tirelessly getting to know the players by attending high school games and watching film, said he’s only out to help the kids and would never do anything to hurt them.

“I’m not out here for a kid to see their recruiting stock fall,” Melvin said. “If a kid has a bad [40-yard-dash] time, then we’ll scratch it….Our vision is to make sure every kid here gets seen.”

In fact, Melvin said, the Big Time Football Showcase only plans to get bigger.

“This event is going to escalate,” he said. “We have a huge vision and there’s no limit to it.”

BIG TIME SHOWCASE MVPs

“It’s the greatest feeling in the world,” Murray, who missed an extra-point try on the Ironmen’s final touchdown, told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Bosco, No. 29 in the RivalsHigh 100, trailed No. 15 De La Salle, 21-7, at the half. The loss snapped a 15-game winning streak by the Spartans, who once held a 151-game streak until 2003.

Read the full story here.

The showdown will finally take place Saturday night when De La Salle (2-0), No. 15 in the RivalsHigh 100, plays host to No. 29 Bosco (1-1) in a nationally televised game on ESPNU.

Read the full story here.

The Ironmen, No. 3 in the RivalsHigh Top 100, fell at No. 24 St. Xavier of Ohio, 17-10, before 5,500 fans Saturday afternoon. The Ironmen had a 24-game winning streak snapped in the RivalsHigh Game of the Week.

On a fourth down late from the St. Xavier 20 in the final quarer, Don Bosco senior quarterback Brett Knief launched a pass down the middle of the field, but Justinian Mason of St. Xavier deflected the ball away from Ryan Cobb.

“We had the ball on their 5 going in and we got a penalty that pushed us back to the 20 and we didn’t get it in,” Bosco offensive coordinator Nunzio Campanile said by phone. “We gave them the ball back with 1:10.”

The defending Ohio Division I state champs improved to 3-1 on the season, while Bosco dropped to 0-1. It was their first lost since falling to St. Peter’s Prep of Jersey City in the 2005 Non-Public Group 4 state game.

Knief went 15-for-37 for 145 yards and was sacked five times.

“They were a tremendous defensive team,” Campanile said. “It was a great game, a high-energy game for four quarters and we ended up on the wrong end of it.”

Things won’t get any easier for Bosco, which next week hosts Valley Forge (Pa.) Military Academy and then visits No. 4 De La Salle in an ESPN game on Sept. 27.

“We still have some great big games ahead of us,” Campanile said. “We started slow in the first half, but in the second half we played real well. When push comes to shove, we still gotta go forward.

“All the things we want are still in front of us.”

“Mike (Teel) is our quarterback,” Schiano said of the senior from Oakland, N.J. “We’re going to have our package for (backup QB) Jabu (Lovelace). We’ll get it back on track.”

Read the full story here on SNY.tv. Tom Luicci, who has been covering Rutgers forever, says the Knights need a more mobile QB than Teel, someone akin to North Carolina’s TJ Yates, who can gain ground with his feet and throw on the run.

Speaking of Teel, his alma mater Don Bosco Prep, No. 3 in the RivalsHigh 100, travels to Ohio Saturday to play No. 24 St. Xavier in a battle of two national powerhouses. Read the story here.

The game will air at 10:30 EST on ESPNU.

Bosco is ranked No. 4 in the USA Today Super 25, while De La Salle is No. 7.

Bosco is the two-time New Jersey Non-Public Group 4 champ, while De La Salle is the two-time defending California Division I champ. De La Salle won a national record 151 consecutive games between 1992-2003.

Bosco, which features standout QB Brett Knief and RBs Dillon  Romain and Tony Jones, also plays at St. Xavier (Ohio) Sept. 13 and home to Valley Forge Military Academy Sept. 19.

For De La  Salle, Arizona recruit RB Kylan Butler rushed for 1,006 yards and 20 TDs while Blake Wayne returns at QB.

The ESPN networks will carry 19 high school football games this season, starting with Saturday’s game between Indiana powers Cathedral and Carmel at 9 a.m. on ESPN.