Archive for April, 2010:
Weekend Trip to VMI
This past weekend, my family and I headed back to our old home in Lexington to watch former QB Adam Morgan in spring drills at VMI. Adam looked great in the scrimmage, leading the offense on at least three different scoring drives as he shared time with the other two QBs.
It was good to see Adam throwing again, and I could truly appreciate how good the young man is as a spectator and not just his coach. He has picked up the new offense well and the offense thrived when he was behind center. Adam is currently listed at #2 QB behind junior Cam Jones but they are battling for the #1 spot going into the fall.
If Saturday was any indicator Adam could get the nod, I’m a little biased though.
Another Dinwiddie product Richie Williams saw action at strong safety. Richie wasn’t quite in the mood for pictures as the offense took a slight win over the defense in the scrimmage. It’s this kind of competitive nature that prodded him to lead a defensive unit in 2008 that took us to a state championship game. If Richie’s size ever matches his heart then the Southern Conference better watch out.
Look for him, after a couple of years in the weight room, to make the same kind of impact on VMI that he had on Dinwiddie.
Busy Weekend at Combines
We had another busy weekend as five of our players took part in the Elite 100 Football camp held at Varina High School by Follow Through Sports, Inc. Attending the camp were QB Chris Hall, WR Drakar Harvell, DL/OL Diante Monroe, DB Brandon Taylor, and LB Darius Johnson. All had great days and represented well.
Drakar Harvell came away with one of four top receiver awards, this is the second of such awards he has received in the past month.
At the conclusion of the camp, teammate Darec Brooks met up with Drakar and Chris as they left for North Carolina for the Under Armor Combine held the next day at the Carolina Panthers facility. Darec had very impressive numbers as he ran a 4.54 electronically timed 40 and a 4.22 pro shuttle, while teammate Chris Hall turned in a 4.7 electronic forty and a 4.5 shuttle. Harvell, who earlier posted a 4.7 electronic forty at the Nike Combine, turned in his best shuttle of the combine season with a 4.32.
All three did well in the one-on-one’s bringing drawing the attention of ESPN recruiting analyst Craig Haubert who interviewed the young men.
University of Maryland Spring Practice
Over spring break Coach Davis and myself had the opportunity to go to the University of Maryland’s spring practice to see former All-State linebacker and Dinwiddie graduate Bradley Johnson in action.
He made us both proud as he has moved up to 2nd team on the depth chart with some action with the first team, as well as a redshirt freshmen defensive end. Maryland is stacked at linebacker for a couple of years to come and Bradley had shown in his redshirt year that he could get pressure on the passer in practice.
Maryland’s defensive line coach, Coach Sollazzo spoke with me afterwards and told me that with his coachability and work ethic, they wanted to give him a chance to get on the field right now rather than wait his turn at linebacker. He had a great practice and it was good to see him fly around and make plays once again, I look forward to seeing him this fall.
National Underclassmen Combine - Bethel, VA
This past weekend we also had 16 underclassmen accompanied by assistant coach Buzz Edwards attend the National Underclassmen Combine (Hampton Roads) held at Bethel H.S. Dinwiddie had a strong showing as we had three young men receive MVP honors.
Sophomore Drakar Harvel received the Receiver MVP, Freshmen Toddric Bugg received the OL MVP, and Freshman Darius Johnson received the Strongest Freshman.
Attending the event where sophomores Drakar Harvell, Dionte Monroe, Quinton Hunley, Rodhem Roney, and Brian Finney; freshmen Toddric Bugg, Darius Hawkins, Darius Johnson, Jacori Fitzgerald, and Deontre Scott; and 8th graders attending the event were Rashard Hicks, Shawn Gohlson, Sadarius Williams, Devyn Marshall, Rashaad Goodwin, and Ronald Kearney.
Nike SPARQ Combine - Baltimore
I took six of our junior football players up to Annapolis, Md for the Nike SPARQ Combine this past Saturday.
Attending the event were QB Chris Hall, LB/WR Darec Brooks, RB/LB Andre Thweatt, WR/SS Deandre Allen, WR/SS Brandon Taylor, and WR Trey Gardener. They all had good showings at the event and Chris Hall tied Sam Haskins top ever SPARQ rating for Dinwiddie with a 91.5 SPARQ rating.
Corey Marshall on “Washington Post Live”
Dinwiddie DE Corey Marshall joined Ivan Carter on the set of Comcast SportsNet’s “Washington Post Live” Friday April 2nd. Video is below.
5 Players Invited to Prestigious Nike Camp
Five Dinwiddie football players have been invited to the 2010 Nike Training Camp at Virginia Tech on May 8th. These camps are invitation only based on the 2009 season and recruitment potential. This will be the most I have ever had go to this event which usually only allows two per school max to go. The players are WR Trey Gardner, QB Chris Hall, LB Darec Brooks, DE Corey Marshall, and junior WR/FS Drakar Harvell.
Chris Hall has also been invited to the Elite 11 regional QB camp held at Ohio State University on April 30th, and will attend the event accompanied by WRs Trey Gardner, Deandre Allen, and Drakar Harvell.
Coaches Travel to Troy
We took our annual trip to Troy University for updates to the spread offense and to watch spring practice. We had a treat this year as we were able to watch former Dinwiddie WR Sam Haskins going through drills. Sam was working with the second team as an inside receiver (Y), he did very well and represented our school proudly.
Coaches that attended the trip were OL coach Buzz Edwards, WR coach Archie Tortorice, RB coach Jim Henderson, former WR coach Adam Fischer (now an OC in Minnesota), and myself. We drove down Friday morning watched practice, took Sam out to eat at the Santa Fe Steak House, got up Saturday attended position meetings, watched a couple of hours of film, watched the Troy scrimmage, drove back, got up Sunday and went to passing league at Hermitage. I’ve got some dedicated coaches!!!
