We are back with our third installment of our look at the top 105 prospects
in the Class of 2006 in Ohio high school football. This list was published in
the May edition of Ohio High magazine, which will be on newsstands and in
mailboxes any day. Recruiting editor Duane Long produces these rankings and
comments on each player.
We started this series with a look at the players ranked from No. 51 to No.
105. The second installment looked at players ranked No. 31 to No. 50. Today, we’ll
examine the players ranked from No. 21 to No. 30.
21. *** Jovani Chappel 5-8
175 CB Trotwood-Madison
This ranking might be low based on talent, but the size
factor is important and has become more important in the last few years as
coaches at every level are looking to counter the size we are seeing with
receivers these days with bigger corners. That is really the only chink in the
armor of this warrior. If you could measure heart and toughness, Chappel would
be 10 feet tall and bulletproof.
Warrior is an apt description for Chappel. He gets after it
out there like a much larger player. He will not hesitate to take on the biggest
linemen.
Chappell is a hitter as well as a tackler. He plays the game
a lot like Glenville linebacker and Ohio State commitment Freddie Lenix. Anytime
Chappel lines up, he will be the toughest player on the field. That said,
Chappel has great ball skills and instincts in pass defense. He has great feet
and hips for coverage.
Despite the size, he could be a fine safety, but I think he
is going to be a fine corner. Illinois thought so two years ago when he became
the first player in this class to be offered a scholarship after he camped
there. Since then, Penn State, Purdue and others have added their name to the
scholarship list.
22.
*** Daven Jones 6-1
175 WR Cleveland Glenville
Two years ago, I couldn’t have been more excited about
the receivers in this class and what they would become. There were likely going
to be four players from that position in the top ten overall in this class.
David Lighty, the overall No. 1 in the class when we first saw them as freshmen,
chose basketball. JuJuan Jones, left the state and will concentrate on
basketball, and we lost Lorenzo Hunter to a senseless shooting. Daven Jones is
the only one that remains.
Jones reminds me of Ohio State receiver Santonio Holmes. He
runs great routes and finds the seams. A real natural receiver with deceptive
speed, Jones caught 16 balls for 269 yards, averaging 16.6 yards per catch, and
three touchdowns last year. Jones camped at Wisconsin the past few years and
really liked it, and when the Badgers offered early, Jones accepted.
23.
*** Nate Davis 6-3
220 QB/ATH Bellaire
Pick a sport. Any sport. Nate Davis may not have even
heard of it, but I bet he would be good at it. This is one of the most gifted
overall athletes I have seen in Ohio. I am not talking about a great football
prospect who is also a basketball or baseball starter. I am talking about a
scholarship athlete in three sports.
I have to go back to Bedford Chanel’s Bam Childress to find
an athlete who excels at every sport he plays like Davis. Davis will have the
scholarship option of any of the three sports he competes in at the high school
level – football, basketball and baseball. He had nine home runs in 14 games
last year and was All-Ohio as a freshman and sophomore in basketball. That is
just sick. As a junior, he threw for 2,000 yards and 26 touchdowns for an 8-4
team. Then, he averaged 29 points and 14 rebounds a game in basketball.
Davis only plays defense when Bellaire needs him. He played
in the defensive backfield for the first time all year in week seven and had an
interception and eight tackles at corner. He has a big arm as a quarterback with
a game like Florida’s Chris Leak, who despite being a fine athlete is really a
pocket passer.
Nate is the brother of former Bellaire quarterback Jose
Davis. He is a great basketball player, but most feel like he would do himself a
favor by playing football. That is where he is special.
24. *** Rudy Kirbus 6-4
190 QB Cleveland St. Ignatius
Kirbus seemed lost early on last season but found his stride
after a few games. He made more progress than any of the quarterbacks in this
class by year’s end. There is such a tradition with St. Ignatius quarterbacks
and such fierce competition at the position that most do not start until later
in their high school careers, so they then do not mature until later. Reps mean
everything at the quarterback position. As a junior, Kirbus completed 73 of 135
passes for 1,437 yards and 18 touchdowns during the regular season.
Kirbus does not have the physical tools of a Brian Hoyer but
has the size and arm strength of a D-I quarterback. He is fundamentally sound,
and once he got comfortable in there, he showed a lot of poise. I would not be
surprised to see him make a move up these ratings by the season’s end.
25.
*** Brennen Glass 6-3
190 QB Springfield South
All Brennen Glass does is continue to complete passes and
throw touchdowns. He had 210 completions in 355 attempts for 3,052 yards and 29
touchdowns last year. That is 306 yards per game and a 59 percent completion
percentage. His yardage total led the state during the regular season. There is
a lot of talk about other quarterbacks in this class, but Glass is the most
productive. He sees the field well and spreads it around.
Camps will be important to Glass because of the offense he
plays in. Quarterbacks and receivers in spread offenses are coming under
scrutiny these days because so many are seen as products of the system. But I
think Glass is one of the exceptions. His level of competition cannot be
questioned. He is pretty mobile but will hang tough and take the punishment to
make a play. I like his competitiveness, and I think he makes sound decisions. I
think he is very close to that listed 6-3 and is a well put-together kid. He
does not have a gun but has a D-I arm. This is an awfully good quarterback that
may not get his due because of the depth of this quarterback class.
26.
*** Miles Schlichter 6-1 ½
185 QB Washington C.H. Miami
Trace
I am sure that I will have Schlichter rated higher than
many others will, but that is no real surprise. Every year, I rank quarterbacks,
while the top 20 programs recruit pitchers. Miles Schlichter is a quarterback.
I like tall quarterbacks, but the top schools see it as
essential while I see it as an extra. Schlichter is not going to be as tall as
most programs like. He does not have a big arm, but he does have an adequate
arm. What I see out of him is a player that can read defenses already, makes
great decisions as his touchdown to interception ratio is hard to believe, and
understands when it is time to tuck it and run, which he does well enough to be
in this top 100 as an athlete. He completed nearly 60 percent of his passes last
year, throwing for 1,790 yards and 19 touchdowns. While that is an impressive
number, if you watched every pass he threw with the idea of coming up with a
number of passes that were on target, I would say that number is 75 percent or
better.
Last year, Westlake’s Jon Brown was the most accurate
passer I had seen in Ohio in some time. Schlichter is even more accurate and has
such great touch. I would not be surprised to see most of the top programs get
too caught up in things like his height and not look at the things that are
right.
27.
*** Cody Blevins 6-2
197 S/LB/CB Miamisburg
No player made the most of his junior year like Blevins.
He’s just one heck of a football player and has the measureables to go with
it. There were only 137 passes attempted against Miamisburg last year, but
Blevins still intercepted five passes. He teamed with Notre Dame commitment
David Bruton to form the best safety tandem in Ohio last year.
Blevins’ 18 total interceptions through his junior year is
an impressive number. Last year, the talk was about his teammate Bruton and
Hamilton’s Adam Myers-White, but by the end of the year, Blevins was playing
better than any safety in Ohio. He could play at either safety spot as he is a
good tackler, but his ball skills and athleticism make him an ideal free safety.
He has good enough cover skills to allow a defensive coordinator to stay in a
base defense, as he is plenty capable of covering most slot receivers. He also
has a body that could make him a linebacker in time.
28. *** DeLeone Carter
5-10 190 RB
Copley
Don’t let that measurables line fool you – Carter is
no small back. He is thick legged and powerfully built. He runs through arm
tackles like a 220-pound back. He reminds me a lot of Tampa Bay Buccaneer
running back Michael Pittman. He has the same build and the same quick feet.
Carter does a great job of following his blockers and cuts without
losing speed. He put up the quietest 2,556 yards I have ever heard of and also
had 28 touchdowns. Carter showed himself to be a very durable runner, carrying
the ball 324 times last year. That is about 25 times a game in a Copley season
that included three playoff games. He added another 169 yards receiving and 227
on kickoff returns.
29.
*** Lance Smith 5-11
190 RB Warren Howland
That I would have a back this good ranked this low speaks
volumes about the depth of this class. Smith is one of those players that is so
smooth, it looks like he is gliding. That is, until he stops on a dime, changes
direction and leaves tacklers grabbing at air. This is a slasher with some big
time skills.
The only thing that I think keeps him from being a Big
Ten-caliber back is that he might be a Big Ten-caliber receiver. He has the
build of a receiver, and he certainly has the speed as Howland coach Dick Angle
says Smith has 4.4 speed. Angle sent me an extensive tape, and I never saw this
kid get caught once he broke through into the secondary. He plays defense and
will mix it up with no hesitation, but this is a player you want with the ball
in his hands, whether it be at running back or receiver.
Last year, Smith had 1,668 yards and 17 touchdowns on 233
carries. He attended a junior day at Penn State this spring and also stopped by
Notre Dame unofficially. Iowa is showing a good deal of interest.
30.
*** Bryant Browning 6-3
310 OL Cleveland Glenville
Once Browning locks up a defender, it is over. This is a
wide-bodied road grader who is nearly impossible to deal with in tight spaces.
He packs a punch at the point of attack. Browning is pretty nimble but does not
have the height and wingspan that you want in a tackle.
Like his older brother Robert, Bryant is an outstanding
student, carrying a 4.2 GPA in advanced classes. We often think about
quarterbacks being smart, but I have noticed that quite a few successful
offensive linemen were very smart, too. Browning is a quality kid that will be a
success in life, whether it is straight out of college or after a run in the
NFL.
Click here for a link
to the second installment with a look at players ranked between No. 31 and No.
50.
Click here for a link
to the first installment with a look at players ranked between No. 51 and No.
105.
For more information on Ohio High magazine, click the
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