Dat Boy Run So Good...
 

...you know the rest. ;)

According to the "experts," it looks like this kid that I'm getting to see week-in and week-out might just be something special. Rivals is beginning to publish its "Top" lists for the Class of 2004 recruits. Right now, RB Thomas Brown is listed as the #3 RB in the nation, and the #31 player overall, and some services have listetd Thomas as high as the #2 back. (Of course, Adrian Peterson is everyone's #1 back, and many folks' #1 player in the land.) Rivals has actually seriously UNDER-reported Thomas' bench press. They've got him listed at 275, but Thomas was at 320 this spring. I ran into teammate Brandon Lang (a nice prospect in his own right, listed #13 in GA and already has an offer from FSU) last night and he said that Thomas is now benching 340. :eek: At any rate, here's the 4-1-1 on him, according to Rivals...



Height: 5'10" (I think he's more like 5'11". I'm 6'0", and he's close to my height.)

Weight: 185 pounds (Maybe that's what he was weighing after a full season of playing nearly every play going both ways. From seeing him around campus this spring, I would guess that he's at about 195. The kids arms and back are just ripped.)

40 Time: 4.4 (As we all know, this can be the most contested figure for any recruit or prospect. Some services list him at 4.35. The kids last night said he ran a 4.36 on grass at Auburn passing camp a couple of weeks ago. Suffice it to say that the kid has cover corner speed. Indeed, Penn State has offered him a scholarship as a CB.)

Intangibles: Not listed on Rivals (I included this because these days it can be quite important. Thomas' father is a pastor and his mother is an assistant principle. Suffice to say that the kid is used to structure and discipline in his life. ;) He's one those model-citizen type kids. Never been in any trouble. Leader among his peers and teammates. Breaks up fights in the halls. Etc.)

Scholarship Offers: Rivals reported that he had 18 offers as of June 3rd. Last night, Brandon said that Thomas is up to 23 offers now. Here's a blurb from the June 3rd article:
Rivals says that Maryland is leading the way, but Thomas is saying that he hasn't even narrowed it down to the Top 5 for his visits yet.

Some are saying that Thomas will be better than Tucker's last feature back, Jabari Davis (now at Tennessee). That's hard to say. They are VERY different types of backs. Jabari left Tucker weighing around 230 pounds, with 4.55 speed--much more of a punishing tailback. Thomas is more of a Barry Sanders/Warrick Dunn kind of back. Here's the word from Head Coach Bill Ballard: "Every starting tailback who’s come through here the last 12-15 years has gone on to be a D-I kid. It’s been a pretty impressive run, and Thomas could be as good as any of them. He’s just got blazing speed and the ability to cut and make people miss. He’s a very exciting player."

A few videos:

Dat

boy

run

so

good

...

Also, wouldn't you like to see this kind of info in TCY, including improperly reported 40 times and bench presses??? I mean geez, Rivals is off by at LEAST 45 pounds on his bench press. I'd love to see this sort of stuff modeled in more detail in TCY. You could have the option (like most major schools do) of hosting lineman camps, passing camps, etc., which would be the only way to get truly accurate info.... Maybe add an "accuracy" rating to each high school to go along with the academic prep and athletic prep ratings.

Once again.

Golden helmet

Ty

yada yada yada

Yeah yeah yeah. Brandon and Thomas are good friends, and they may end up being a package deal, and Brandon prefers the Dawgs. :D

Re: Dat Boy Run So Good...
 

Yay for Maryland!...though he probably won't end up there. And I don't know why Joe-Pa can't just let players play where they want to play...at least he doesn't want to turn him into a linebacker though. :rolleyes:

Oh well. Better than ending up somewhere in Florida.

Maryland?

Actually, this year the Irish will probably be knocking on the door of every top running back in the nation with decent grades. They've struck out on the big ones the last couple years.

[cough] Tar Heels [/cough]

The kid was never touched. He split two defenders like there was never anyone there. Wow! He is fast.

Hey, albion...one more year of Bunting should turn him off completely from the Heels... ;) It's good to be the king (for once...I grew up during the 80s and never witnessed State beat Carolina at anything in football until 1986...utterly depressing).

:)

Is 5'10"/5'11" good height for a featured RB?

Emmitt Smith is 5'9"

Eddie George is 6'3"

Deuce McCallister is 6'1"

Warrick Dunn is 5'9"

I think that 5'10"-11" is fine if he has the skills. I don't know what the scouts consider to be ideal.

I'd say it is probably right around average, even in the NFL. Just a quick glance, but the Falcons have 5 RB's on their roster. They range in height from 5'8" to 6'0".

He is a fast kid. But with THAT line blocking I could get 4 yards a pop. Did you see the holes that offense created? Good school.

Barry Sanders. Height: 5-8 Weight: 203

Tucker is definitely becoming a school that consistently churns out talent, particularly for a relatively small high school (about 1,300 students). We currently have a 26-game regular season winning streak, and are 36-5 over the past three seasons, playing in a TOUGH region. The Tucker Recreation League is top-notch, with kids receiving solid coaching from childhood on. This is a list of where some former Tigers are now. The 2002 team had at least couple more guys going on to the next level, but those are the ones I know off the top of my head. They haven't listed the 2002 team's school choices yet on their web site. (This is particularly impressive since we only had 10 seniors on the 2002 squad. Half or more of them will play in college.)

Dola--A reflection of how tough a schedule Tucker plays, take a look at the 2000 team. We had Seniors: QB Gene Pate going to Clemson, RB Jabari Davis going to Tennessee, OL/DL Darius Swain going to Georgia (and selling his SEC Championship ring :mad: ), RB/CB Stephen Ogletree going to JMU, LB/OL Greg Billingslea going to Memphis, and an obviously darn solid Junior class as well. That squad only went 10-3, losing a heartbreaker at Statesboro 8-7 in the state quarterfinals due to the penetration rule. :(

There's a penetration rule in Georgia? Talk about conservative.

I think I was in Georgia for some reason around the end ofthe last football season. I remember watching the championship game on TV.

Re: Dat Boy Run So Good...
 

Music to my ears. I can only imagine what kind of numbers a good back could put up in the Fridge's offense. I the last two years he has turned two nobodies into 1000 yard rushers, i cant wait until he actually gets a gifted back into his backfield.

In the second video towards the end at around the 25 second mark did anyone see the block that the QB put on one of the opposing teams players. That was awesome!

That would be QB D.T. McDowell, who Rivals lists as the #20 player in Georgia for the class of '04. (Tucker is the only school with 3 in the Top 20 for the state this year. :D) D.T. has scholly offers from LSU, Auburn and Mississippi State among others. However, he may get picked in the June 2004 MLB draft as as pitcher.

Not a single player at Texas. Give me a call back when Mack starts recruiting the high school. :)

TroyF

They want to live up to their potential and win something :D

Tell him to head to Memphis.

Thomas Brown is the best all around football player to have come through Tucker. Or so I'm told. :)

He should go to Iowa:D


The top player in our area got arrested a couple weeks ago for assaulting 5 police officers, I hope things continue to go well for Thomas, I hope he doesn't ruin this amazing opportunity, but what you said about him, it seems like there is no chance:)

SkyDog, is Tucker a public school? What I'm trying to get at is, does Tucker get to recruit these kids, or do they just grow up in this education system.. pretty lucky to get that many D-I runners if that is the case. Milford's senior back last year is headed to V-Tech and he's the first big-time player I've seen come through Milford.

That's because it's Milford. ;)

It is a public school. These guys grow up in Tucker. As I mentioned earlier, the Tucker Football League (recreational league...I think they can start at age 8) has outstanding coaching, and ends up being a breeding ground. The coaching staff at the high school is top-notch of course as well. Plus, once a high school program reaches that level, it is oftentimes self-sustaining: there are a whole lot of little boys in Tucker coming to games every Friday night, and many of them want nothing more than to be out there when they get to high school. The program is now definitely bigger than any one class or even coaching staff. We are on our third different head coach since I have been hanging out at THS (Fall 1997).

Kind of how our baseball team is. The head coaches and players of this past season have been together since they were in little league. Great coaching is probably the best reason all of those kids ended up so good.

Bingo.

Shorty, take a look at Colerain. They have a very good youth football program and a lot of kids to draw from, plus continuity in a successful program. It's no accident that they are the best football team in your league. That and they don't lose as many kids to LaSalle as say Lakota and Sycamore do to Moeller. I guess Moeller just has better recruiters :D

UTEP!!!!

If he comes here he and Jordan Palmer (carson's little bro) will lead UTEP back to glory! He will be assured instant playing time, and UTEP has some great new football facilities.

GO MINERS!!!!

I don't even want to know who was penetrated.
:eek:

Well since your pimpin him maybe I should pimp myself ;) maybe not did anyone see me on BET last night?

:)

noop

OK. I guess I have to explain the penetration rule. In Georgia, if a playoff game goes 2 overtimes and the game is still tied, the team that has gotten further into the other team's territory during the 2 overtime periods receives one "penetration point" and is declared the winner.

Wow. That very well could be the dumbest high school rule in the country. I would hate to lose a game this way.

It truly stinks.

I couldn't agree with you more!!!:)

What a terrible rule! That would be a really crappy way to lose...

What were you doing on BET, noop?

Mad sports had something on Santana Moss and I was in the backround just clowin.

:)

noop

Yah...it REALLY, REALLY stinks.

Let me whine. My senior year we were 9-1, and 4-1 in district play. The other two teams were 8-2 but also 4-1 in district. We beat Team A who beat Team B and Team B beat us. So, what did they do? One rainy Saturday morning they flipped coins, and we lost. I had been playing football since I was 4 years old to get to this point, and that is the best they could come up with? We had the best stats, the most points, every single statistical advantage, and we had to watch those other two teams make it to the State Semi and State Quarterfinal games. It still is one thing in my past that really gets under my skin.

Dang...flipping a coin??? The penetration rule doesn't sound so bad by comparison. At least Statesboro drove deeper than we did in O.T.

Whoa, I didn't know that you played on the 1988 Midland High football team! :eek:

(And there's my one obscure Friday Night Lights reference for the year...)

You were on one of those teams involved??? What a terrible way to decide who goes...

That was a great book though.

Senator - that situation sucks to be sure & it's not a completed isolated situation.

Until a few years ago in Georgia, playoff berths in those cases were determined by either coin toss or a vote of region coaches. The former was as ridiculous as the scenario you endured, the latter proved to be little more than a popularity contest between coaches, both screwed teams up & down the pike.

In the past few years, we've gone to a "mini-game" system to settle ties between three or four team (don't think there's been a five-way tie scenario).

So he can play in front of that huge crowd of 15,000 (and most of them wearing the opposing team colors.) :)

So, when is Tucker coming to California to play De La Salle? Or Long Beach Poly?

I think how they decided to fix the problem now in Texas is that just about every school gets in the playoffs. I think 3 teams per district make it. Also they have two different championships per classification - big school and small school. Two different 5A champs, two different 4A champs, ect..

It is not uncommon for a team to be seen in the playoiffs with a
3-7 record these days.

I could have lived with the fact we were beat flat out on the field. I would not have had the gnawing regret of what could have been.

I have had a good life since the old high school days. I have achieved more than I thought I would. But the effect it had was as if I lost my family. It was a horrible time. And most of my teammates never recovered. We had 40 plus guys on the team, and 3/4 went into a 20 year spiral. If I visit my parents and run into one of them in town, the FIRST thing they want to do is talk about how we were jipped at 17 or 18. It is sad really.

I resent that. We draw about 25,000 and its only when those dang SEC teams are in town is when the opposing colors are worn.

In 1988 we got into the PIAA 4A state playoffs when Central Bucks West - who were I think ranked #1 in the state and were working on another one of their 50 game unbeaten streaks - was 10-0, but tied CB East on Thanksgiving. We were 11-0 and hadn't played CB West (obviously), so we went to the playoffs (and promptly had our butts kicked). It was strange considering we had already handed in all of our equipment a couple of weeks prior, expecting CB West to go 11-0.

How many in a row now for De La Salle?

D.T. is now being heavily recruited by Nebraska.

D.T. is the most athletic quarterback I've seen at Tucker since 1990 when I started following their program.

Digamma - Can you post the video clips of D.T. up on here?

I can't. I'm not a member of either Rivals or the Insiders.

I'll put some D.T. videos up later tonight, or (more likely) tomorrow morning.

As promised.

These videos showcase D.T. very well. He's got GREAT presence in the pocket. If the receiver is open, he'll throw from the pocket under pressure and take the hit. At times, he'll scramble to buy mnore time, then square up and complete the pass to the open receiver. If that isn't there, he'll take off and run it himself. On one play, you'll see him toss it 60 yards in the air, moving forward and to the left, while NOT squared up. :eek: Of course, with D.T. and Thomas back there, the option this year was particularly devastating. Here are the videos:

http://www.younglifenorthdekalb.com/...CDOWELLDT1.wmv

http://www.younglifenorthdekalb.com/...CDOWELLDT2.wmv

http://www.younglifenorthdekalb.com/...CDOWELLDT3.wmv

http://www.younglifenorthdekalb.com/...CDOWELLDT4.wmv

http://www.younglifenorthdekalb.com/...CDOWELLDT5.wmv

Dola--

The one potential knock on D.T. is that he isn't exactly as humble as Thomas. OK. OK.....I'm not sure he's exactly as humble as Barry Bonds. An article from last week...The good news for Dawg fans is that IF Georgia offers (once he "shows them D.T. McDowell" ;)), I doubt that he'd be deterred by the presence of A.J. Bryant in the recruiting class.

120 or so I believe? Since 1990

That's incredible.... how are they looking this year?

Here is another awesome RB but from last year's recruiting class. 6'1 200 lbs. Austin Scott (PSU frosh) racked up over 3,330 yards last year. He flew under most people's radar because he missed his junior season with a knee injury. Had he been healthy his junior year he would've been top 5 overall in nation. Here is a link to some videos of his runs (scott6 prob best):
Austin Scott

Pretty much the same I guess. They are NorCal and I live in SoCal. LBP has more talent, but is poorly ran

What city is De La Salle in anyways?

Dammit SkyDog, you gotta talk at least one of your Tucker kids into coming to UTEP. Sounds like there's some amazing talent on your team...

NO! There all going to Iowa!:D

Skydog's boy Thomas Brown to Georgia
 

Just read it in the ESPN recruiting section. Highly touted QB Rhett Bomar commits to OU

Link

And Florida State got 4 star QB Drew Weatherford and 4 star RB Jamaal Edwards.

Hmmm.. wonder how ol' SkyDog will feel about UGa getting Brown. ::grins::

Dang. I just got back from practice. I wanted to break this news myself! He told me around 9:30am at a break in practice.

Incidentally, one of our WR's has committed to Auburn also.

Sky what about Brandon Lang where is he leaning.

If Georgia offers, he'll be there. If not, I'm betting on FSU.

Do you know any reason why Georgia hasn't offered? But if they want him I'm sure Florida State will take him gladly.

:)

noop


www.warchant.com

SD

Sorry about stealing your thunder. Do you think Brown will eventually sign with Georgia or do you think he'll consider other schools still and maybe change his commitment at some point before signing day.

I'm guessing that they are concerned about him not being able to beef up. Brandon is a lanky kid, listed at 6'4", and as much as 225 in some places, but he's really probably barely 210.

This is gonna be a fun year for our relatively small school (<1,400 students). We've got four kids who are locks for BCS Conferences, and maybe as many as 7.

No prob on stealin' the thunder. Guess I should have posted from my PalmPilot at practice. :p

Thomas has a strong family that he'd like to be near, has former teammate Darius Swain in Athens, and may have good buddy Brandon Lang there with him as well. Plus, he's been a Georgia fan since childhood. Unless something weird happens (like Kregg Lumpkin grabbing the starting spot this year), I'd be surprised if he changes his mind. Tucker has never won a state championship, and a big part of Thomas giving a verbal early is that he wants to focus on changing that this year.

Threadjack since I know Noop is haning out in this thread:

Hey Noop, I don't know much about hip hop so I don't know who or what it is, but there was song song playing in a bar the other night with the Seminole War Chant playing throughout it. In spite of that not being my kind of music, it was done pretty well. The song was both cool and annoying at the same time. By now, I'm sure you know what song it is.

You're high school's a helluva lot better at football than mine. Since the one good player who went through my school (he did end up an All American at Texas though, but that was a long time ago) we really haven't had any good football players. The next two years are probably going to see one guy going to Division I football, and that's only because they're big linemen. Decent skills, but no where near some of the other players that we've had recently.

Its called "Shake Ya Tailfeather" by Nelly ft P.Diddy, Murphy Lee.


:)

noop

mck, it's the difference between living in the North and living in the South. In the South, things like this are holy and sacred.

That's one thing I know, and my school was even worse than most for a while. No one really played, and those who didn't didn't put any work into it.

I am kinda glad I went to school where I did though, because I don't think I'd have gotten on the field that much down south. Though up here I got to play, and at noseguard nonetheless (no matter how undersized I was for it)

Exactly. In my travels, I perceive that Southern HS football is bigger and more important than many college programs here in the West and in New England. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

One of my big regrets is not playing football in high school. I had the size for it (6'2" 210) and coaches were always bugging me to play, but for some reason I always said no. Bad decision. Especially since 6'2" white boys with no hops don't get far in basketball (which was my true love)...

5'11" white boys with no hops also don't get far, but my intramural team still went undefeated! :D

Yeah, well, my work softball team has a perfect record also....

So what if it's a perfect losing record...

Although I went to high school in Georgia, we had no one from all 4 years make it to any college football program that I'm aware of - aside from one guy who was 5th string WR for GT one year (I think he walked on). The only year we were any good, our star tailback was ruled to have illegally transferred to our school, and we had to forfeit all of our games, matching our win total from at least 1 of my other years there!.

However, I did get to see Andre Hastings score 3 TDs against my team. That was fun, in a hindsight kinda way.

New Jersey here. To my knowledge only 2 players have gone on to play I-AA (from my school), and both of them to Ivy League schools. I started and lettered at left tackle my senior year, and I can personally say we had maybe one college caliber player, but he transfered out of our high school after his sophomore year.

Well, it's not like EVERY HS in the South is sending multiple guys to D-1 every season. Tucker, particularly for a school as small as it is, is a top-tier program, with a current 26-game regular season winning streak, playing in a tough Region. Performance definitely begets performance. When Jabari Davis was younger, he knew he had to work VERY hard to be as good as Patrick Pass. When Terrell Jordan was Jabari's backup, he saw what it took in the weight room and on the practice field for the "J-Train" to be the J-Train, and he earned himself a scholly to Northwestern. When Thomas was in the weight room with Terrell, he saw Jordan's hard work and dedication. Thomas imitated that, and now he'll be a Dawg. Brandon Young, Thomas' understudy at TB, works his butt off in the weight room and practice field as well, because that's what he has seen Thomas do. Because of that legacy, "B.Y.", in the Class of '05, will most likely be the 5th consecutive Tucker tailback to go D-1.

I can remember 3 from high school that made it to major programs from the years I played, one each year. Brian Moser at Penn State, Mike Frederick at UVa, and Cornelius White at VTech.

Some others I'm finding are Chris Vincent, currently at Oregon; Antoine Lovelace, spent 2 years at Rutgers, and Jamar Brittingham who just signed at Rutgers. It also looks like Mark Cordelli might have played at Arkansas under Lou Holtz?

As far as watching players who became good, my sophomore year my school played Holy Angels from Minnesota, a team that featured WR Larry Fitzgerald. We were able to do a decent job against him and he didn't have all that good a game.

From http://www.tuckertigersfootball.com

he should have gone to Iowa:D

congrats to him, I hope he does well at Georgia:)

He might actually be the 6th, as Vince Griffin who was class of 94 went to Middle Tennessee State. I think they are D-1 now, but I'm not sure if they were when Vince went there.

(Incidentally, the 93 team probably started this run--although some may argue that it was 87 or 88. That team went 9-1, but lost its first round play-off game to Columbia by one point in overtime. Tucker scored with :36 seconds left in OT. Columbia then scored in three plays (all passes to Juan Gaston, who played basketball for Georgia Tech before transferring to a smaller school where he could play football and basketball) with one second left and had to go for two because Tucker had a penetration edge. They got it. Tucker could have downed the ball before they scored and won on penetration, but the head coach was worried about a fumble and wanted the points. Skydog, if you remember the Creekside play-off game from a few years ago; it was eerily similar. The 94 team then went to the state semifinals.)

Skydog--- you are the coach? Wow... thats cool.

Go Notre Dame.

No, not the coach. I work for a non-denominational outreach ministry. A big part of my job is being directly involved in kids' lives, so I spend a lot of time at practices, games, etc., so I'm around the high school a LOT (generally I'm at something involving THS kids at least 3 days a week). Several kids who don't know me THINK I'm a coach or teacher since they see me around a good bit. Invariably I'll go to the grocery store or the Chick-Fil-A, get served by a teenager who I don't know, and they'll say, "Don't you coach at Tucker?" or "Don't you teach at Tucker?"

Good news, good news. :)

Preseason rankings according to Rivals.com...

South
1. Palm Bay, Melbourne, Fla. (13-2)
2. Parkview, Lilburn, Ga. (15-0)
3. Evangel Christian, Shreveport, La. (14-1)
4. Lufkin, Texas (12-3)
5. Lincoln, Tallahassee, Fla. (12-1-1)
6. Trinity, Louisville, Ky. (15-0)
7. Independence, Charlotte, N.C. (16-0)
8. Ennis, Texas (13-2)
9. Edison, Miami, Fla. (9-2)
10. Texarkana Texas High, Texarkana, Texas (14-1)
11. Summerville, S.C. (11-3)
12. Richmond County, Rockingham, N.C. (12-1)
13. Hoover, Ala. (13-1)
14. The Woodlands, Texas (7-5)
15. Rockledge, Fla. (14-1)
16. Wayne County, Waynesboro, Miss. (14-1)
17. Union, S.C. (14-1)
18. Tucker, Ga. (12-1)
19. Columbia, Lake City, Fla. (11-2)
20. Waco, Texas (11-1)
21. South Panola, Batesville, Miss. (14-1)
22. Brentwood, Tenn. (14-1)
23. Byrnes, Duncan, S.C. (14-1)
24. West Monroe, La. (11-4)
25. Prattville, Ala. (12-2)

:eek: Wow! Of the handful of those schools that I am familiar with, all are sgnificantly larger than Tucker. (Parkview is DOUBLE our size.) Good to see the Tigers gettin' some love.

That is big, SD. Another thing that is big is they are the only two from Georgia in the top ten! Where have all the power-houses gone?

Hmm... That explains a lot to me.

These boys are serious about focusing on the matter at hand during the season. D.T., our QB, went ahead and committed to Nebraska. D.T. is a big baseball prospect as well. If he gets drafted, I wonder if he'll ever play a down for the 'Huskers.

Nebraska is said to be looking at a player who goes to my old school and will be a junior this year. He started every game at offensive tackle as a sophomore last year, and he's mainly getting looks because of his size, as he was 6'7" and around 270 as a freshman.