After returning home from Charlotte I took six of our underclassmen to the NUC combine at Highland Springs H.S. in Richmond, VA.  Attending the event were Freshmen Rashaad Goodwin, Sadarius Williams, Ronald Kearney, Elijah Harris, and Shawn Gholson.  Also attending the 10th grade event was Jacory Fitzgerald.  All six performed well in both the testing and the one on ones.  They tested in the bench press, 40 yard dash, 20 yard shuttle, and vertical jump.  Following testing the offensive line went up against the defensive, RBs went against LBs, and DBs went against WR in one on ones.  Afterwards certain players were pulled from the event for a ” Showcase ” of the top performers at the event.  All six of our guys made the showcase and four came away with event awards.  Award winners are listed below:

COMBINE KING (TOP OVERALL TESTING PERFORMANCE):  Rashaad Goodwin

10TH GRADE DEFENSIVE LINE MVP:  Jacory Fitzgerald

9th GRADE STRONGMAN AWARD:  Sadarius Williams

9th GRADE OFFENSIVE LINE MVP:  Shawn Gholson

This past Friday I took 10 players down to Charlotte for the Nike Combine.  Attending the event were Drakar Harvell, Rashaad Goodwin, Dionte Monroe, Kelvin Weaver, Ronald Cunningham, Taequan Kates, Quinton Hunley, Elmondo King, Gartrez Beasley, and Bryan Finney.  Drakar had the best SPARQ rating of the 10 attending with a 79.4 rating, Rashaad also had a great showing for a Freshmen with a 70 SPARQ rating.

Congratulations to 2010 Dinwiddie QB Chris Hall who landed one of the 50 national Old Spice Red Zone player of the year awards given this past fall.  The Virginia Tech committ rushed for over 1000 yards and threw for close to 3000 yards as he led his Dinwiddie General football team to their 3rd district title and 2nd regional title in the last four years.

The 2011 lift-a-thon was a great success, we would like to thank Parker Simmons and Wheel Service Inc. for once again sponsoring our shirts, they were a big hit with the players.  The Lift-a-thon also was our first test of the off-season and we had 22 players make the boards which are our benchmarks for top performers in the bench, squat, power clean, 40 yard dash, 20 yard shuttle, jump rope test, 300 yard shuttle run, and the vertical jump.  Clubs and award winners are as follows:

BLUE PRIDE CLUB (ENTRY LEVEL):  Jacory Fitzgerald, Dalton Connelly, Juan Buenrostro, Daniel Buenrostro, Quinton Hunley, and Deontre Scott.

RED PRIDE CLUB:  Gatrez Beasley, Ronald Cunningham, Bryan Finney, Wesley Reed, and Jon Sprucebank.

GENERALS CLUB:  John Branch, Elijah Harris, Drakar Harvell, and Taequan Kates.

CHAMPION CLUB:  Rashaad Goodwin, Rashard Hicks, Elmondo King, Darius Hawkins, Diontre Monroe, and Sadarius Williams.

BLUE CHIP (TOP CLUB):  Darius Johnson (Bench: 325; Squat: 445; Clean: 285; Vertical: 31″; 30 sec jump rope: 95; 40 yard dash: 4.9; 20 yard shuttle: 4.56; 300 yard shuttle: 70.5 second average.

Three of our senior football players won the district title in wrestling to go along with their district football championship.  Tavaras Johnson 140 pound weight class, Brandon Taylor 152 pount weight class, and Denny Vaughan 275 pound weight class were all district champions.  Denny went on to also win the Central Region Championship as well.

SCHOLAR ATHLETE CERTIFICATES –  

SENIORS: Tavaras Johnson, Joseph Taylor, Brandon Taylor, Eder

Lopez.

JUNIORS: Taquan Kates, Bryan Finney, David Buenrostro. 

SOPHOMORES:  Jacory Fitzgerald, Darius Johnson, Daniel

Buenrostro. 

FRESHMEN:  Shawn Gholson, Martin Hinkle, Ronald Kearny, Alan

Lucy, Andrew Lucy, Devyn Marshall, O’Neil Shell, Rashaad

Goodwin.               

ACADEMIC SCHOLAR AWARD – Brandon and Joseph Taylor

TOP RECEIVER – Drakar Harvell

TOP BACK – Andre Thweatt

TOP LINEMAN – Denny Vaughan

P.I.T.T.T. BULL POSSE DEFENSIVE AWARDS – Corey Marshall,  Andre Thweatt, Brandon Taylor, Sadarius Williams, Darius Johnson, Dionte Monroe, Joseph Taylor, and Tavaras Johnson.

TOP DEFENSIVE LINEMAN – Corey Marshall

TOP DEFENSIVE BACK – Brandon Taylor

TOP LINEBACKER – Andre Thweatt

HARD CORPS AWARD (SPECIAL TEAMS MVP) – Brandon Taylor

TOP GUN AWARD (OFFENSIVE MVP) – Chris Hall

PREDATOR AWARD (DEFENSIVE MVP) – Corey Marshall

COACHES AWARD (PRIDE OF THE GENERALS) – Joseph Taylor

12^TH MAN AWARD – Victor Slade and Billy Harrel

Special Thanks to Shane Sykes, owner of Elite Athlete Development, for being our 2010 banquet speaker and all you’ve done to enhance our strength and conditioning program over the past six years. 

ALL CENTRAL DISTRICT TEAM

1^st Team All District DE: Corey Marshall (unanimous vote)

1^st Team All District DT: Diante Monroe Defense Tackle

1^st Team All District LB: Andre Thweatt (unanimous vote)

1^st Team All District DB: Brandon Taylor (unanimous vote)

1^st Team All District OT: Denny Vaughan

1^st Team All District OG: Corey Marshall

1^st Team All District C: Taquan Kates (unanimous vote)

1^st Team All District QB: Chris Hall (unanimous vote)

1^st Team All District RB: Andre Thweatt (unanimous vote)

1^st Team All District TE: Trey Gardner

1^st Team All District WR: Drakar Harvell

1^st Team All District KR: Drakar Harvell

2^nd Team All District LB: Darius Johnson

2^nd Team All District DB: Tavaras Johnson

2^nd Team All District WR: Darius Hawkins

2^nd Team All District PK: Scott Thompson

Central District Defensive Player of the Year: Corey Marshall (unanimous vote)

Central District Offensive Player of the Year: QB Chris Hall (unanimous vote)

Central District Division 5 Coach of the Year: Coach Billy Mills

Also congratulations to the football team that put 6 players on the All Central District Academic team more than any other school in the district they are: Taquan Kates, Corey Marshall, Brandon Taylor, Tavares Johnson, Darius Johnson, and Joseph Taylor. 

ALL CENTRAL REGION TEAM

1^st Team All Central Region DE: Corey Marshall

1^st Team All Central Region LB: Andre Thweatt

1^st Team All Central Region OT: Denny Vaughan

1^st Team All Central Region RB: Andre Thweatt

1^st Team All Central Region WR: Drakar Harvell

1^st Team All Central Region TE: Trey Gardner

2^nd Team All Central Region DB: Brandon Taylor

2^nd Team All Central Region QB: Chris Hall

2^nd Team All Central Region DT: Dionte Monroe

2^nd Team All Central Region OG: Corey Marshall

2^nd Team All Central Region KR: Drakar Harvell

Honorable Mention All Central Region C: Taquan Kates

Central Region Division 5 Coach of the Year: Coach Billy Mills

All Central Region All Academic Team: Taquan Kates, Corey Marshall, and Brandon Taylor.  

RICHMOND TOUCHDOWN CLUB ALL METRO  

1^st Team All Metro DE: Corey Marshall

1^st Team All Metro DB: Brandon Taylor

1^st Team All Metro TE: Trey Gardner

1^st Team All Metro WR: Drakar Harvell

1^st Team All Metro QB: Chris Hall

2^nd Team All Metro RB: Andre Thweatt

Central District Coach of the Year: Coach Billy Mills

Central District Assistant Coach of the Year: Coach Jim Henderson

2010 VirginiaPreps.com All Central Region Team 

1^st Team DE: Corey Marshall

1^st Team TE: Trey Gardner

1^st Team LB: Andre Thweatt

1^st Team Returner: Drakar Harvell

2^nd Team QB: Chris Hall

2^nd Team OT: Denny Vaughan

Division 5 Coach of the Year: Coach Billy Mills

2010 VirginiaPreps.com AAA All-State Team

1^st Team DE: Corey Marshall

2010 VirginiaPreps.com AAA Underclassmen All-State Team

1^st Team WR: Drakar Harvell

2010 Associated Press AAA All-State Team

1^st Team DE:  Corey Marshall

2^nd Team Utility Player:  Chris Hall

VHSCA AAA ALL STATE FOOTBALL TEAM

1^st Team DE:  Corey Marshall

2^nd Team TE:  Trey Gardner

2^nd Team OT:  Denny Vaughan

2^nd Team WR:  Drakar Harvell

2^nd Team LB:  Andre Thweatt

HM RB:  Andre Thweatt

SPECIAL RECOGNITION TO COREY MARSHALL WHO RECEIVED THE NATIONAL UNDERCLASSMEN COMBINES NATIONAL DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR AT THE WORLD GRID-IRON CLASSIC PLAYED THIS PAST DECEMBER IN CHARLSTON, S.C.  AN ALL STAR GAME MADE UP OF 100 OF THE TOP PLAYERS IN THE NATION.  HE ALSO RECEIVED PREPSTAR AND SUPERPREP ALL AMERICAN AS WELL. 

http://www.nikecoyfootball.com/charlotte/charlotte-speakers.aspx

Troy defeated Ohio University on December 18 in the New Orleans Bowl by a score of  48-21.

Maryland won the Military Bowl 51-20 over East Carolina.