Varsity Kansas - The Blog

By J. Long

Miami has Arthur Brown. But let’s not pencil lil’ brother down as a Hurricane just yet.

Rival’s No. 2 rated running back and ninth best football prospect in the country East’s Bryce Brown is out enjoying the luxuries of being one of the best prospects in the country. Which means that he’s being wooed by any college football program that can get him on campus.

As you read this Brown is on his way back from a college tour with the Potential Players program operated by his mentor Brian Butler. While Brown verbally committed to the Hurricanes, he insists that it’s not yet a done deal. Miami has several things going for them - one being his older brother wearing a Hurricane uniform, but he wants to check out his options and see what the others calling have to offer.

Why shouldn’t he. He’s been up front with Miami telling him that he still was going to take his five official visits and that’s all he owes them. And though he won’t say it, I believe that Miami shouldn’t be real worried.

The “superstar treatment” as I like to call it doesn’t come often. He’s made the sacrifices that takes to be at the level he is at so he deserves the right to enjoy the perks. On this recent trip he got a chance to check out Illinois, Purdue, and Missouri which he liked a lot. He plans going to St. Louis for their game with Illinois on August 30. He also has plans to visit Oregon and Clemson and perhaps Ohio State and Texas if they fit into his schedule.

So it could get pretty interesting this recruiting season. Then again it could be pretty quiet. The only person that knows is Bryce Brown and nobody should fault him for making sure he uses all the time he has to make sure he’s making the best choice.

By J. Long

I’ll save you guys the trouble and will post the list here.

1. Bryce Brown - RB - East (No surprise here)

2. Darian Kelly -DB - Girard

3. Jaydan Bird - LB - Conway Springs

4. Marshall Musil - Ath - Lacrosse

5. Kevin Young - DE - Olathe North

6. Ian Knight - DE - Heights

7. Huldon Tharp - LB - Mulvane

8. Riley Spencer - OL - Hesston

9. Tanner Poppe - TE - Girard

10. Darron Harvey - DB - Shawnee Mission West

11. Duane Maxwell - RB - Kansas City Washington

12. Jake Morin - OL - St. Thomas Aquinas

13. Colby Duranleau - OL - Northwest

14. Alex Schooler - DE - Collegiate

15. Justin Aumen - OL - Junction City

Outside of Bryce, Jaydan Bird, Ian Knight, and Huldon Tharp I haven’t heard of most of these guys. But I’m sure that will change.

You can find the list from rivals here.

Two things really standout about this list to me. The first thing is that there are no quarterbacks on this list. While the Arizona list also is null in the quarterback position, Texas has four signal callers in its Top 15. Maybe I’m the only one that finds this weird, but seems to me that there would be at least one QB from Class 5A or 6A that could crack the list. Does this mean I should expect to see a lot of running in my first season of covering Kansas high school football?

The second thing was that out of the entire list Kansas State didn’t have a single commitment. Seriously, not even one. Of course most of the kids didn’t sign during the early signing period however, Kansas has three of these guys so far. Kelly and Young both in the top five signed and they also grabbed Spencer the number eight selection.

College recruiting is similar to high school popularity contests. The team that can sign the most top quality players early usually has the advantage when it comes to signing some of the late decision makers.

So I suggest that K-State better get on it before Kansas becomes the football and basketball school.

by joanna

It’s been nearly a week since Mulvane running back/linebacker Huldon Tharp had season-ending knee surgery to repair a torn ACL in his left knee. According to coach Dave Fennewald, the rehab already is going well and Tharp will be fully recovered for next season.

I’m curious to see what colleges will do_ He’s been offered scholarships from Stanford, Kansas, Miami, Iowa State, Colorado, Boise State, Colorado State, Texas Christian and Illinois. Will they back off their offers? If they did, it would be pretty silly, if you ask me. So many athletes come back from ACL injuries, and Tharp is obviously in excellent shape, he’s young and there’s no way to overlook the skill he possesses.

(more…)

…is Florida bound. The Andover High Shot Put standout will be taking his act to Gainesville next season.

I don’t know much about track and field here in the state of Kansas, but I do know that if he’s going to the SEC he’s got to be pretty darn good.

So big ups to Mr. Postin. Hope you’ve got that “gator chomp” down.

by joanna

My goal of this blog is for conversation, not to assess specific blame to anyone person, but rather to talk about the situation.

This topic has come up recently with the talk about Southeast’s Adonis Gantt going to Cowley. Last I was told is that he was waiting until the June ACT to qualify but was intent on going to Cowley.

But then several posts popped up asking who’s out there making sure kids qualify.

I think the first person who needs to take responsibility is the athlete, whoever that athlete might be. We all have a personal responsibility to do what we need to do to succeed in every avenue of life. If my credit is bad, hey that’s my fault. If I get 17 speeding tickets in 2 months, that’s my fault. If I fail geometry two straight semesters, that’s my fault.

Part of personal responsibility is also looking for help when we need it. Failing geometry one time is bad, but you better look for the help to pass it the second time.

Administrators, teachers and coaches are necessary here because they are the ones must let them know what is needed to qualify. What grades are necessary, what tests need to be taken. That’s a part of school, and any coach that has any caring about athletes — why else would they be doing this? — is passing such information on down to the athletes about core classes and the NCAA clearinghouse. That’s the school’s responsibility. Coaches are also making sure that athletes are passing classes because if they don’t, they can’t play.

Parents also are part of this. They need to make sure their kids are passing classes, are doing well, are learning, are getting the help if they struggle.

Certainly some blame culturally biased ACT and SAT tests. This is especially true in the verbal part because there are certain areas of the country, specifically inner-city schools, that are just trying to get through and aren’t necessarily focused on expanding the vocabulary of its students. Fact is, those tests aren’t basic; they do have advanced vocab.

But I come back to the individual. I know all kids are in different circumstances. Not everyone grows up with two parent homes, in middle-class incomes. There are kids who go home to worse situations that we can even imagine. There are kids who are supporting not only themselves but siblings. That’s a fact. I’ve met way too many of those kids. It’s not easy to rise above that and I give props to anyone who does.

But there are also those kids who underachieve. Are they taking challenging classes in high school or only taking those that will let you get by with a good grade, good enough to play sports? Are they pushing themselves to learn? Or are they focused on what will, hopefully, get them into college? Sports?

I don’t have answers to this because each individual is different. But don’t paint too broad of a brush about what is true for each person. Some of these kids going to Cowley have qualified and are looking to better their chances to go to a bigger time Division I school.

So be careful what assumptions are made, but feel free to address the question. What do you think? Who needs to share the blame here?

by joanna

Just finished up with my Northwest-Carroll softball gamer. It was a pretty good night for softball, which Northwest winning the first 2-1 in eight innings and then Carroll taking the second game 8-6. That means there’s a three-way tie for the City League title right now between Carroll, Northwest, Heights. All are 12-2 and should win their final doubleheaders next week.

It’s a good way to wrap up the City League with some good games, especially after way too many games that are blowouts. So I didn’t see the box scores for Carroll-Northwest baseball, but I heard they split on Wednesday and that the scores were just ridiculous. Is 20-16 in the first game, a Carroll win, correct? That’s just crazy.

Another question — Is anyone else too through with all the backbiting and rehashing on the Independent softball team post? Or is it just me who sees all the comments that come through?

Saw a comment that someone wrote about how it’s wrong that Southeast guard Adonis Gantt is going to Cowley. That he’s just waiting to see if he passes the ACT so he can go to Georgia Southern. I can see why you would think that, but I talked to Southeast coach Carl Taylor and Cowley coach Steve Eck, who said that Gantt is settled on Cowley. That’s all I can go by.

So what’s on your mind? Fill me in.

by joanna

This has been referenced by several of you, so here’s my take. Cowley College coach Steve Eck has loaded up on the City League. He’s got East’s Garrius Holloman and Jawanza Poland, Heights’ Kelton Marshall, Southeast’s Cortez Barnes and Adonis Gantt and former City Leaguers in Mike Atwater and Jack Crowder, Southeast grads.

Eck said he’s doing things a little differently this season, going heavy on in-state talent and filling in the holes with out-of-state recruits.

I mentioned to Bob Lutz that it will be tough to spread the ball around with such a group of prolific scorers and players. He said that’s never been a problem with a Steve Eck-coached team. Good point. If there’s anyone who can somehow mesh a City League All-Star team, it’s Eck (not that I’ve seen him coach. He out of the CL when I started).

As for Gantt signing with Cowley. Southeast coach Carl Taylor said his ACT test scores haven’t come back. In a previous conversation, Taylor had said that there was still time for Gantt to qualify. Taylor also noted that Georgia Southern, the Division I school where Gantt signed, lost assistant coach Elwyn McRoy, who recruited Gantt. McRoy is now at Arkansas State.

by joanna

I talked to Gary Loop this morning,  he’s the father of Circle volleyball player Meryl Loop, a three-time All-Metro player. He said that Meryl is signing with Akron on Thursday.

Well, Meryl had originally signed with Baylor, but Gary said that the school didn’t come through on the scholarship it offered her, so last month she found out she was out of luck. This scholarship to Akron is actually available, though.

I’m not sure what’s going on in recruiting, but I know the system is messed up when kids are promised scholarships, they commit, they tell every other coach that they’ve committed, then that school backs out. I saw it happen to Carroll football player Brayden Burris, who committed to Kansas State in the fall of his junior season, only to see himself relegated to a grayshirt, where he’d have to pay his way for a period of time.

It’s a crazy way to do business and frustrating for parents and athletes.

by joanna

Chris Harper played in the Oregon spring game last weekend and did pretty well. He was 14 of 67 rushing and 2 of 9 passing for 73 yards. He’s one of six quarterbacks that played.

I talked to him this morning — um, sorry Chris for calling at 8:15 a.m. your time! — and he’s enjoying his time in Oregon.

The biggest adjustment has been learning all the new plays, “but other than that, the speed is not too much different than I thought.”

He said he’s third on the depth chart right now, kind of. “They’re talking about me pushing for second. I’m third because I don’t really know the playbook. I have a while to learn all that stuff.”

Harper will be back May 19 for Northwest’s graduation. He said he did his course work ahead of time to finish out the semester. Oregon is on trimesters, so after moving out there in late March, he started up with a class schedule of writing, sociology, music and a billiards class. After laughing about playing pool for credit, I asked him if he was very good. Not so much, he said.

He’s handling the transition to being so far away from home, too.

“It’s really not too bad. I don’t think about it too much…. I was ready. And I’ll be back in a few weeks.”

by joanna

A poster wondered if its OK to recruit within a district. This is regarding the Maize and Recruiting post.  Maize will have no boundaries when its second high school, Maize South, opens in 2009. So of course I was curious about how you keep coaches from recruiting. They will use a preferences system and a feeder pattern and the coaches work to keep the kids in their feeder pattern.

Recruiting by coaches is not allowed. But if kids are in your feeder pattern, it’s OK to send them information about your school and program, ask them to come to your summer camp, etc. One of the ways Wichita public school coaches do this is by finding out what kids are in their boundaries of their school. They then send those, let’s say boys, information about their program. Let them know when football will start.

There’s nothing wrong with it. Where it would be a problem is if an East coach, for example, was talking to a kid at Wilbur — which is a direct feeder for Northwest — about the programs at East and that he should come and be a Blue Ace. That’s a problem.

What isn’t a problem is, for example, if Heights talks to a Stucky kid — Stucky is a direct feeder for Heights — about coming and playing softball and being a Falcon.

I hope that makes sense. Any questions or clarifications, please feel free to post.