Generals Visit Sunnyside Elementary
We made our annual trip to Sunnyside Elementary School last Friday for their field day activities. Brandon Taylor, Joseph Taylor, Denny Vaughan, Chris Hall, Darec Brooks, Deandre Allen, and Tavares Johnson all attended the event running the events and having a great time.
Thanks to Sunnyside for inviting us once again we always have more fun than anyone else during the event.
Blacksburg - Nike Training Camp
Coach Henderson, myself and four of our players attended the Nike Training Camp held in Blacksburg this past weekend.
Senior LB/SS Darec Brooks, QB Chris Hall, WR/TE Trey Gardner, and junior WR Drakar Harvell all attended the event all did well and had a great time. Coach Henderson coached the LBs and I worked with the wide receivers.
Army All-American Nomination for Marshall
Congratulations to Corey Marshall who was officially nominated to play in the U.S. Army High School All Star game next January in San Antonio, TX. Corey will await the final cut from 400 down to 90 to see if he will play in the game next January.
Another Offer For Marshall
Congratulations to Corey Marshall who picked up his 9th scholarship offer from North Carolina State University. Corey will visit Michigan on May 22nd and should narrow his list at that point.
Former Dinwiddie Coach Gets New Job
Congratulations to former assistant coach Adam Fischer, who was named the head football coach at Fridley High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We are all proud of you.
Elite 11 Camp - Columbus, OH
This past Friday QB Chris Hall and WR Drakar Harvell attended the Elite 11 QB camp at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Both young men did very well and turned a lot of heads.
The combine tour ends this Saturday as five Dinwiddie players are expected to take part in the Nike camp in Blacksburg, VA.
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.
