Bluechip Bonanza: Byrnes at St. Thomas Aquinas tonight
If you want to do some serious star gazing, tune into ESPNU’s broadcast of the James F. Byrnes-St. Thomas Aquinas high school game tonight at 8 p.m. from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
The game will pit the nation’s No. 1-ranked high school team (STA) versus the No. 2 team (Byrnes) in the ESPN Rise Fab 50 poll. And as you might expect, it will feature busloads of blue-chip prospects.
I talked to my buddy Tom Scofield, who is ESPN’s high school football producer, and he said this might be one of the network’s biggest high school games ever.
“It’s like a bowl game,” Scofield said. “On the plane coming down here from Charlotte, I was on a flight with a bunch of the Byrnes people and they were fired up and having a good time. The flight attendants welcomed the Byrnes team and everybody cheered. No. 2 team versus the No. 1 team, two traditional powers, it’s just bigger than your everyday game.”
Byrnes is led by senior Marcus Lattimore, a five-star running back that Georgia is still actively recruiting (along with South Carolina, Auburn, North Carolina and Oregon). Rated alternately the N0. 1 or No. 2 tailback in America, it will be interesting to see what Lattimore can do against a top-shelf defense full of D-1 prospects.
The Rebels also have a pair of defensive ends heading to Tennessee in Corey Miller and Brandon Willis. Miller, you may recall, was orginally committed to Florida State before switching gears and committing to the Vols on a visit a couple of weeks ago. Seeing Miller up close, Scofield said the 6-foot-5, 225 pounder reminded him of former Florida star Jevon Kearse.
Aquinas may have as many as 15 Division I prospects on its team. One of them is four-star cornerback Cody Riggs, who will wake up Saturday morning, hop a plance and fly to Georgia for an official visit with the Bulldogs. Opposite Riggs in the same secondary is LaMarcus Joyner, who is the No. 1 cornerback in America, according to the ESPNU150 rankings. Electrifying to watch, everybody says.
But that doesn’t even scratch the surface for the Raiders, who currently have offensive tackles starting at Florida, Florida State and Notre Dame. As Scofield put it, their backup place-kicker even has scholarship offers (starting kicker Michael Palardy also has committed to Tennessee).
“Going to both teams’ practices this week, I can tell you both of these teams are well-coached,” Scofield said. “They look like small colleges.”
Meanwhile, as always, there will be some good ball being played here in our fair state. Following are a few games that will feature top-notch talent:
- The Comcast/Charter Nissan High School Football Game of the Week, which can be seen tonight at 7:30 on CSS, will be West Forsyth (3-2) vs. Gainsville (5-0) at Bobby Gruhn Field in Gainesville. This is a good chance to get a look at the Red Elephants’ three BCS commitments: QB Blake Sims (Alabama), WR Tai-ler Jones (Stanford) and S Daunte Carr (Stanford).
- Lowndes at Northside-Warner Robins: Lowndes Khary Franklin has averaged more than 10 yards a carry this season. He’ll see a tough D this week.
- Sandy Creek at Whitewater: Rajion Neal, a Mississippi state commitment, has 599 yards rushing this season.
Meanwhile, don’t forget to tune into 680 The Fan (WCNN-AM 680) tomorrow morning to catch Buck Belue, Steve West and me on Buck Belue’s College Football Today show. We’ll talk about all the day’s top games and, as always, I’ll toss in a few recruiting nuggets here and there.
Buck and me at Centennial Olympic Park earlier this year. We'll be at the Loco's on Harris Street in Athens this Saturday.
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15 comments Add your comment
SimpleDawg
October 2nd, 2009
5:33 pm
A few years ago, Byrnes played Belle Glades, Fl. in one of those ESPN high school games. Although the Belle Glades team was very raw, seemed to be poorly coached, and had not made a PAT or field goal in about 3-4 years, they almost beat Byrnes. They had superior talent that exposed Willy Korn as a QB with a below average arm. Byrnes won on coaching and overall better team execution of their schemes.
I’ve seen STA play, and I think Byrnes is going to take a whippin’ tonight….we’ll see, but STA seems to have more talent and good coaching.
SimpleDawg
October 2nd, 2009
5:34 pm
Oh, Willy Korn was supposed to be the “second coming” at Clempson, but can’t seem to beat anyone out at QB.
Kat
October 2nd, 2009
5:41 pm
I go to Byrnes. And I am not one against my team, but my school is actually somewhat surprised we are ranked as highly as we are. We feel weaker than we have in past years- but that could be just b/c I am getting older and you see things differently from the top of Byrnes’ food chain.
But I wish best of luck to both teams.
sc jacket
October 2nd, 2009
6:24 pm
Sounds like SimpleDawg is more of a Clemson hater than anything. Keep your eyes on Marcus Lattimore. Byrnes has 3 of the top 38 players in the country according to Rivals and the facilities there are unparalleled by any high school I have ever seen. I saw St. Thomas play on TV a few weeks ago and they are talented but I think that this is the most talented Byrnes team ever. The defense on the Korn led teams does not even compare to this one.
Lee Harper
October 2nd, 2009
7:48 pm
I only know that Byrnes has traveled out of state and played other defending state champs, such as Hoover, Ala, Shrieveport, La, and a couple of teams out of Ohio and they have only lost once to the team from Shrieveport, and that game was 6 years ago. St Thomas did look extremely fast when I saw them play up in Ohio at the beginning of the season, but I also know this is not the same Byrnes team that Korn played for. This years team has been described as the best ever at the school and the strong point of the team is on the defensive side of the ball. This should be a great game . St Thomas is a great team, but so is Byrnes. Don’t be surprised if Byrnes makes a statement !!
Dalton Dawg
October 3rd, 2009
1:43 am
UGA needs to really take a look at Jalen Fields from Dalton and maybe consider offering somebody else!!!! I hate to see a young man not make it but he has no Heart and thats too bad!!!!!!!
Steve Spurrier
October 3rd, 2009
7:02 am
Lattimore=Cocklock. Relax.
ReptilesRule
October 3rd, 2009
8:26 am
Saw Urban there last night checking out the talent. He was there with Major Wright and Marcus Gilbert. Go Gators!!!
LSU is next(for Florida)
October 3rd, 2009
12:39 pm
Urban was there because he is one of the best recruiters in the country and everyone wants a chance to play at Florida. Saint Thomas Aquinas has two players in the ESPN 150 and they are both leaning to Florida. Like Tim Tebow said ” Its good to be a Florida Gator.”
hugedawgfan
October 3rd, 2009
1:07 pm
Georgia really needs to step up their recruiting efforts for some of this talent on both teams. Watched the game and Lattimore is a great runner but needs to learn to hold on to the ball. He had 2 or 3 TO’s last night. Now the real deal is LeMarcus Joyner-fast and can catch. He is truly a D1 player. Riggs is good but a bit undersized. Those two beasts for Byrnes on D going to UT are great but the speed of STA exposed the Byrnes D. Also the RB #7 for STA is so underrated-great speed and agility-I knoe Meyer was talking to him. Both QB’s were good decision makers but believe the Byrnes QB had the better arm. Was a great game to watch. Will look forward to seeing practically the entire rosters for both teams play next year in D1.
dawgstephen
October 3rd, 2009
1:58 pm
Dalton Dawg. I am from Ringgold, and I have personally conducted interview with Jalen. I know him and his coaches. He has heart. Please do not speak when you dont know someone.
http://www.dawgstephen.blogspot.com
Pago Flyer
October 3rd, 2009
5:19 pm
The DAWGS won’t get any recruits today in Sanford Stadium…a sad display from the DAWGS!
A Bulldog Mom
October 4th, 2009
7:40 am
The Dawgs are getting the talent they need to win!!! I feel really bad for the team because they will lose with JC. He came to Georgia the same year that Matt Stafford did and he has not had the experience he needs to be a big time QB.. I know CMR wants to reward him for his loyalty, but hopefully this will change for the good of the whole team. At every position, it is imperative that the best players be on the field. JC is not the best QB at Georgia right now. Hopefully CMR will play his highly talented freshman QB an let him get the experience he needs and we will win some big games along the way. I truly feel for JC but it is not fair for the whole team and after all this is a team sport.
southern dawg
October 4th, 2009
3:43 pm
we have to much talent to play the way we are.i wish cmr would play the freshmen qb
Flo-Ri-Duh!
October 4th, 2009
11:26 pm
Joe Cox played the first half against LSU like he did against Okie State. He missed wide open receivers and was off on his short passes. He had two receivers wide open for TD’s and missed them in the first half. Also- Samuel is a LB trying to play RB. Move him to LB where he would be a star. Unfortunately the coaches wasted his first two years by having him out of position. Then they take the redshirt off of a freshman 5 games in to the season when they have three other highly rated RB’s that they won’t give a chance. Yes the refering sucked but UGA’s offense was so inept the first half that you wondered who coached them. I don’t know what to say about Walsh except that he choked again. This is a disturbing trend that once again cost the Dawgs in a big game. He has the Bailey syndrome – can kick it perfectly when not under pressure but can’t make one when the game is on the line. He made two field goals in previous games by a foot or so and missed this one by a foot or two. It should be going through the middle of the posts.