Let’s start things off with the annual, “Western Pennsylvania high school talent is still awesome” story that is expected as high school football is getting underway (at least it has already in Ohio).
High school football returns Friday night, when bright stadium lights signal the start of a new season.
According to WPIAL veteran coaches such as Art Walker Sr., the lights also illuminate the pride associated with the teams.
“High school football here is unique,” said Walker, who won five WPIAL championships at Mt. Lebanon and one at Shady Side Academy during his head-coaching career. “And I’m not even sure it can be explained.”
Exactly where Pennsylvania ranks among top recruiting hotspots such as Florida, California, Texas, Louisiana, Ohio and Georgia, is open to debate.
“We’re probably sixth in the country,” said Earl Ceh, a former head coach at Bellevue, Fox Chapel and North Hills. “But we sure have a lot of great talent.”
With a lot of the top talent in Western PA either already committed elsewhere (Dorian Bell) or taking their time on a decision (Dan Mason), there are other players that are waiting or hoping to get an offer.
Monte Ashby at East Allegheny is a running back in the LaRod Stephens-Howling mode looking to get noticed. For attention, I guess, the article tries to make the comaprison to Noel Devine but he just doesn’t have that kind of speed.
Ashby said he’s been contacted by about 15 Division I football programs, including Pitt and Temple, but he hasn’t received any major scholarship offers yet.
“This will be a big season for me, and I’m really looking forward to it,” he said.
Edwards said it’s tempting to keep coming up with new ways to use Ashby in the Wildcats’ offense.
He’s around 5-8 and 165-170 pounds. Scout.com gives him 2-stars and Rivals.com has him unstarred. ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. has a slightly mixed but generally positive review of his potential (Insider subs).
With that said, Ashby’s smooth movement skills and great elusiveness could create good mismatches in space if he lands in a spread offense. Good change-of-pace runner and a definite sleeper in this running back class. Needs to continue polishing up his receiving skills to offer scat-back potential.
Now, this offensive lineman has offers from UConn, Minnesota, UCF and Temple but is looking for a bigger program and closer to home.
Bishop Carroll offensive guard Steve Greene made a name for himself last season when he was named to The Associated Press Class A First Team all-state football team.
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“Right now it’s pretty open. I still have a lot of time to decide,” Greene said. “I don’t want to rush my decision. I just want to make sure I make the right choice. I’m hoping that early in the season I can perform well and get a couple more scholarship offers. I’m hoping somebody closer like Pitt, Maryland or Virginia [makes an offer].”
When college coaches are looking at video of Greene, they see a strong, dominating and no frills lineman who will dominate most of the time.
“He’s just a pure brute blocker,” [Bishop Carroll coach Craig] Sponsky said. “He’s an old-school tough kid. He certainly needs some work technique-wise. He knows that. He wants to improve. He’s a solid kid who wants to improve.”
Both Scout.com and Rivals.com has him as a 3-star offensive guard. Nationally, Scout.com lists him as the 46th best OG and Rivals puts him at #40. Bob Lichtenfels at Scout.com ranks him as the 33d best recruit in Pennsylvania. Rivals.com puts him preseason in PA at #17. While PantherLair says #38. ESPN/Scouts, Inc. likes him well enough as an average to slightly above average offensive lineman.
Greene is a dependable offensive guard that plays hard. He is a little undersized but should grow and become stronger by the time he is a freshman in college. Consistent with footwork; rarely oversteps on the base block. Gets off the ball quickly and gets good body position on the defender but needs to play more physical. … Needs to kick step back with more urgency in order to get into power position in case of the bull rush and to pick up stunts. Greene can develop into a solid offensive guard if he plays more physical.
It has to be assumed that some of the college coaches are waiting to see something else if Pitt, Maryland and Virginia are only showing interest but not offering yet.
Meanwhile, a couple high school kids who have committed to Pitt are looking for big years to prove things.
With only five career receptions at Liberty High School and a scholarship to play collegiately at the University of Pittsburgh, Devin Street feels like he has some questions to answer this season.
“Definitely, I have something to prove,” Street, the supremely-talented Hurricanes senior, said.
“No one has really seen me play yet and they wonder how I got the scholarship offer. I’ve gotten some negative comments … it’s a little frustrating. But I plan on showing everybody what I can do.”
The 6-foot-4, 180-pounder is a workout warrior. He ran a 4.4 40-yard dash at Pittsburgh’s football camp earlier this summer and impressed the Panthers’ coaches enough to earn a scholarship offer, even with the modest statistics and the limited playing time at wideout. Street accepted almost immediately with a verbal commitment.
“No, I wasn’t surprised they offered,” he said. “I had a lot of other offers — Rutgers, Boston College, Connecticut and North Carolina State. The Pitt coaches didn’t care about stats or ratings or rankings; they know I can play.”
And locally, Will Clarke is excited for this year and having a scholarship taken care of.
The senior has been more aggressive than in past seasons. In fact, the coach said he actually was fearful that Clarke might hurt himself while flying around the ball during Oklahoma drills at the start of camp.
But there is another major difference with Clarke, and it’s actually a good thing. He will spend his college years playing football at a Division I university.
Clarke verbally committed to Pitt, and he is expected to become the first Allderdice football player to play for a BCS school since former Pitt and NFL great Curtis Martin (1991-94).
Also a tight end, Clarke is rated by Rivals.com as a two-star recruit, but his coach thinks he’s only getting better.
“He’s coming off of the ball quicker this camp,” Schmidt said. “He’s shedding blocks better than he has in the past. I think he’s having an excellent camp. We’re really impressed.”
With less than a week to go, everybody at every levelis ready for football.
