Janesh's College Spotlight Recap Week #8

I just want to thank God for the trust that is being built between myself and the Triad football world. I am that much closer to making this area a recruiting hotspot.

Top Teams: 

1. Dudley High School (6 - 0) 30 - 7 over Smith

2. Southern Guilford (8 - 0) 35 - 13 over Central Davidson

3. West Forsyth (7 - 0) 39 - 7 over R.J. Reynolds 

4. Eastern Alamance (8 - 0) 43 - 42 over Western Alamance

5. Northern Guilford (6- 1) 55 - 0 over Rockingham County

Top Prospects:

1. Reggie Gallaspy (Southern Guilford) RB (1973 rushing yards) (Quiet night, 81 yards)
2. Jamiel Mack (High Point Central) QB (1332 rushing, 808 rushing) 

3. Darius Graves (Dudley) RB (Quiet nights the past few games, 2 touchdowns last night)
4. Kevin Gehsman (Western Guilford) RB/LB (80 Tackels on the year, 4 ff, 1 int, over 700 yards rushing)

5. CJ Freeman (Northern Guilford) RB (Injured)

(I am going to be looking for some potential guys to keep this poll going.  My criteria is based upon college recruiting recognition as well as weekly performance.  I feel that there may be some guys who are doing better than those who we have here week to week.  We will see.)

Week's Top Performers: 

1. Jamiel Mack (High Point Central) QB (300 passing, 120 rushing, 5 total TDs) 

2. Juwan Houston (West Rowan) WR (206 receiving, 4 TDs)
3. Christian Beal (East Forsyth) RB (163 rushing)
4. Willie Clark (Salisbury) RB (158, 3 TDs)
5. Brandon Sloop (Carson High) RB (154 rushing, 1 TD)

(I had to reach outside of my normal pool of players (Triad) to find some of the top performers of this week.  Is the competition getting too stiff? I'm going to find the top ballers in this area regardless of where I look.  The cream of the crop will rise and I will speak to coaches about these players.)

Spotlight Recap: (High Point Christian - 17 vs Winston-Salem Prep - 18)

For what started out as such a rainy night, the lesson learned by this tough loss took the pain away from High Point Christian.  The game was hard fought, by both squads.  WS Prep came into tonight's game 1-5.  Nobody expected them to even compete with 5-1 HP Christian. I guess that was the problem. I was there doing a recruiting report about a few players on HP Christian's team;  Ridge Boykin (Sr. DL), Malik Streater (Sr. WR), and  David Norris (Sr. Qb).  Unfortunately, I didn't get to see much of David.  He went down early in the first half after throwing a nice touchdown ball.  

Malik, who I would say is the playmaker of the team, had a pretty quiet night.  Once David went down, it was hard getting him the ball on the edge with the backup QB in the game, along with the inclement weather.  Ridge ended up not coming off of the field very much tonight.  Ridge is a run stopping D Tackle getting Division 1AA college interest from teams like Elon (who I report for) and Liberty but Guilford College (D3) is also high on Ridge. (Liberty and Guilford saw him compete at the Janesh Invitational Combine in May and liked his mobility at 6'3 265.)  In HP Christian's 3-5-3 defense, Ridge is the reason teams can't run the ball using the zone scheme offense.  

I talked to Malik and Ridge after the game.  I got the vibe that the two seniors were not emotionally moved by their starting QB going down.  They still expect big things out of their team regardless of the personnel on the field. Ridge mentioned leadership as one of the things he saw lacking tonight.  I saw it out there as well.  There was a time when the entire team was down, adversity had struck, and that would have been a perfect time for reassurance from a leader of the team.  Even the coaches would have gotten a little energy from positive vibes of a player.  Of course adversity was going to strike, it's football and leadership is what is going to carry the team through that tough time.  Somebody has to take command of the ship when it gets ugly. This is Ridge's mindset going into the back end of the season.

I briefly asked Malik about the prestige of the competition in the private school league.  A few weeks back, I got some kickback from fans about me considering to add High Point Christian (when they were 5 - 0 ) in my top 5 teams. I asked Malik if he thinks his team could compete within a public school conference.  How would they match up with the Ragsdales of the world, the Southern Guilfords, the High Point Centrals? Confidently, he confirmed my thoughts by saying the division they play in means nothing.  He believes that when the guys on his squad play together as a team, they are just as good as any team in the area.  For proof, their pre-season scrimmage against southwest Guilford proved that they could rise to the level of talent they play.  

Who knows, maybe if the Cougars continue to dominate the private school leagues, they will get a shot at getting some public schools for some non-conference games.  As for tonight, a tough loss.  Chalked up to a lack of focus, a shot at the leadership of the team.  Can you blame them? After coming off such a great start to the season (5-0), maybe they began to think it would be like clockwork.  Tonight was a wake up call.

I just want to thank God.  I walked on the field tonight and I didn't have to introduce my self at all.  People knew who I was.  One of the best feelings in the world.  I just want to help.  I love you all and stay blessed.

- Janesh