https://www.freep.com/story/sports/...dwards-recruiting-west-bloomfield/3340676001/
HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS
Donovan Edwards may have future altered if Big Ten football is canceled: 'That’s some bull'
Mick McCabe
Special to the Detroit Free Press
The music was blaring Monday afternoon, the coaches were yelling and the West Bloomfield high school players were running routes and catching passes as defensive backs did their best to bat away those passes.
Football is back!
“It’s been a great day right now,” said junior running back/defensive back Dillon Tatum. “Everybody came out with energy; helmets on for the first time, jerseys on and we look like a team so we’re going to get out there and get to it.”
[ Pre-order Mick McCabe's new high school sports book! Here's how to do it ]
For at least a brief moment it was easy to look at the players on the first official day of football practice and forget we are in the midst of a pandemic with 87,960 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Michigan with 6,257 deaths.
To make matters worse, shortly before the practice began they learned the Big Ten is expected to cancel its fall season.
“I think that’s some bull,” said senior Donovan Edwards, one of the top running backs in the country. “I can’t really speak on it because I’m here, but I think that’s kind of unfair. Everybody’s got their reasons to do so. I just hope that one day, just bring it back out sometime this year.”
[ Tyrone Wheatley is the greatest athlete Mick McCabe has covered in 50 years ]
There was good reason for Edwards to be upset about the possible Big Ten action, which could set off a chain reaction across the country. He was hoping to graduate early and enroll in college in January to participate in spring practice and get a jump on his freshman season.
247Sports composite, Edwards has not taken any official visits.
When asked which school hasn’t recruited him, Donovan thought for a moment and said: “Clemson. That’s about it.”
McCabe:Why Clarkston's Rocco Spindler spurned Michigan football for Notre Dame
Edwards said he is nowhere close to making a final decision.
“I’ve got schools of interest,” he said, “but I really haven’t narrowed anything down.”
Edwards admitted Michigan is in the picture with him, but Michigan State, under first-year coach Mel Tucker and running back coach William Peagler, is not in the same position it was his freshman and sophomore years, when he built a solid relationship with head coach Mark Dantonio and assistant Brad Salem, and MSU was his favorite school.
“I really had to see what Michigan State was going to do this year,” Edwards said. “Mel Tucker and Coach P, they were at Colorado. It’s another big step. You had Coach Dantonio, a real great head coach, who had coach Salem.
Big Ten football canceling will be gut punch. I wish they were able to wait longer
Edwards gained over 1,400 yards last season and Tatum, who was used primarily on defense last fall, is seen as the heir apparent to Edwards’ running back spot. But the thought of Edwards and Tatum playing alongside each other is enough to give defensive coordinators migraines.
“We’re working on a big set where we’re in the backfield at the same time,” Tatum said. “Usually, when he goes anywhere on the field he takes two guys. It’s like he takes two guys, I take two guys it leaves everyone else wide open.”
Senior defensive back/receiver Max Hairston is a week away from accepting a scholarship from Kansas, Rutgers, Minnesota, Cincinnati, Kansas or Purdue.
But his primary focus is staying safe while still being able to play football.
“It’s a really tough situation,” he said. “I’m not scared because at West Bloomfield, we do what we’re supposed to do. We come in, take a survey, get our temperature taken. We’re following all the rules. I’m just praying we have a senior season. It’s my senior season, I want to make it my best one.”
With Big Ten football's fate pending, coaches in rare position: Totally out of control ]
In football, 7-on-7 leagues will spring up the moment the fall season is postponed.
“A lot of people have been reaching out to our kids in regards to joining their potential 7-on-7 leagues,” said Bellamy said. “I know what’s coming. A lot of those guys are going to form those leagues, just trying to try to keep the kids around football.”
Actually, they will be trying to make a quick buck off unsuspecting kids who will be told by con artists they must do something this fall or forever lose their chance at a scholarship.
“Well,” Bellamy said, “that was me being nice.”
And you can take it to the bank these fly by night entrepreneurs won’t come close to the safety measures dictated by the MHSAA.
That much has been evident in video clips of AAU basketball tournaments taking place recently in Indiana.
Bellamy, who played at Michigan, was dismayed when he heard the Big Ten was canceling its fall season. He hopes it doesn’t influence Whitmer’s decision on the fate of high school football.
He knows his players want to play and he wants to coach them.
“We’re going to keep coming until they tell us we can’t come out here,” he said. “The kids are enjoying themselves. It feels like football. Amidst the uncertainty we have, the kids are super engaged, running around. It looks like Day One of training camp.”
HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS
Donovan Edwards may have future altered if Big Ten football is canceled: 'That’s some bull'
Mick McCabe
Special to the Detroit Free Press
The music was blaring Monday afternoon, the coaches were yelling and the West Bloomfield high school players were running routes and catching passes as defensive backs did their best to bat away those passes.
Football is back!
“It’s been a great day right now,” said junior running back/defensive back Dillon Tatum. “Everybody came out with energy; helmets on for the first time, jerseys on and we look like a team so we’re going to get out there and get to it.”
[ Pre-order Mick McCabe's new high school sports book! Here's how to do it ]
For at least a brief moment it was easy to look at the players on the first official day of football practice and forget we are in the midst of a pandemic with 87,960 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Michigan with 6,257 deaths.
To make matters worse, shortly before the practice began they learned the Big Ten is expected to cancel its fall season.
“I think that’s some bull,” said senior Donovan Edwards, one of the top running backs in the country. “I can’t really speak on it because I’m here, but I think that’s kind of unfair. Everybody’s got their reasons to do so. I just hope that one day, just bring it back out sometime this year.”
[ Tyrone Wheatley is the greatest athlete Mick McCabe has covered in 50 years ]
There was good reason for Edwards to be upset about the possible Big Ten action, which could set off a chain reaction across the country. He was hoping to graduate early and enroll in college in January to participate in spring practice and get a jump on his freshman season.
247Sports composite, Edwards has not taken any official visits.
When asked which school hasn’t recruited him, Donovan thought for a moment and said: “Clemson. That’s about it.”
McCabe:Why Clarkston's Rocco Spindler spurned Michigan football for Notre Dame
Edwards said he is nowhere close to making a final decision.
“I’ve got schools of interest,” he said, “but I really haven’t narrowed anything down.”
Edwards admitted Michigan is in the picture with him, but Michigan State, under first-year coach Mel Tucker and running back coach William Peagler, is not in the same position it was his freshman and sophomore years, when he built a solid relationship with head coach Mark Dantonio and assistant Brad Salem, and MSU was his favorite school.
“I really had to see what Michigan State was going to do this year,” Edwards said. “Mel Tucker and Coach P, they were at Colorado. It’s another big step. You had Coach Dantonio, a real great head coach, who had coach Salem.
Big Ten football canceling will be gut punch. I wish they were able to wait longer
Edwards gained over 1,400 yards last season and Tatum, who was used primarily on defense last fall, is seen as the heir apparent to Edwards’ running back spot. But the thought of Edwards and Tatum playing alongside each other is enough to give defensive coordinators migraines.
“We’re working on a big set where we’re in the backfield at the same time,” Tatum said. “Usually, when he goes anywhere on the field he takes two guys. It’s like he takes two guys, I take two guys it leaves everyone else wide open.”
Senior defensive back/receiver Max Hairston is a week away from accepting a scholarship from Kansas, Rutgers, Minnesota, Cincinnati, Kansas or Purdue.
But his primary focus is staying safe while still being able to play football.
“It’s a really tough situation,” he said. “I’m not scared because at West Bloomfield, we do what we’re supposed to do. We come in, take a survey, get our temperature taken. We’re following all the rules. I’m just praying we have a senior season. It’s my senior season, I want to make it my best one.”
With Big Ten football's fate pending, coaches in rare position: Totally out of control ]
In football, 7-on-7 leagues will spring up the moment the fall season is postponed.
“A lot of people have been reaching out to our kids in regards to joining their potential 7-on-7 leagues,” said Bellamy said. “I know what’s coming. A lot of those guys are going to form those leagues, just trying to try to keep the kids around football.”
Actually, they will be trying to make a quick buck off unsuspecting kids who will be told by con artists they must do something this fall or forever lose their chance at a scholarship.
“Well,” Bellamy said, “that was me being nice.”
And you can take it to the bank these fly by night entrepreneurs won’t come close to the safety measures dictated by the MHSAA.
That much has been evident in video clips of AAU basketball tournaments taking place recently in Indiana.
Bellamy, who played at Michigan, was dismayed when he heard the Big Ten was canceling its fall season. He hopes it doesn’t influence Whitmer’s decision on the fate of high school football.
He knows his players want to play and he wants to coach them.
“We’re going to keep coming until they tell us we can’t come out here,” he said. “The kids are enjoying themselves. It feels like football. Amidst the uncertainty we have, the kids are super engaged, running around. It looks like Day One of training camp.”
