Sunday, May 23, 2010

La. boasts many football prospects


La. boasts many football prospects

By Jason Pugh • jpugh@gannett.com • May 23, 2010

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From Shreveport to Franklinton and numerous points in between, college football recruiters are looking at a loaded Louisiana Class of 2011.

Just how loaded? Nineteen rising seniors in the state have been nominated to take part in January's U.S. Army All-American Bowl, the nation's premier high school football all-star game.

Among the potential invitees is Evangel defensive lineman Jermauria Rasco. The 6-foot-4, 251-pound defensive end is the No. 2-ranked prospect nationally at his position by Scout.com and is one of nine noncommitted Louisiana players on the All-American Bowl's list.

"I'm still wide open," said Rasco, who has offers from more than 20 schools, but admitted to not having a favorite at this point. "I don't want to close any doors on anybody. I thought about committing early until I talked to (Evangel assistant head) coach (Byron) Dawson. He told me that's not a good idea, so I'm going to wait it out."

Rasco and the other uncommitted Louisiana stars' statuses speaks to a depth of talent that is among the nation's best in the Class of 2011.

Rasco is Scout.com's No. 22 player in the nation. Redemptorist offensive lineman La'el Collins is a top-10 national player, according to Rivals.com, and is Scout's No. 12 overall player.

"You always have to take out the big three of Texas, California and Florida," Rivals.com Southeast and Texas analyst Barton Simmons said. "Outside of those three states, Georgia is still really strong this year and really deep. But, as far as one of those second-tier states go, Louisiana is really as good as any state, maybe better. It's really an elite group — just one of those that doesn't come along very often. It definitely has to be considered top five in the country as far as talent in this class."

Rasco isn't the only area player who has carved out his niche in the deep pool of 2011 Louisiana talent. Three other northwest Louisiana players — Benton safety T.K. Fleming (14), Many wide receiver Rod Davis (20) and Haughton quarterback Dak Prescott (26) — ranked in the first 26 players in Scout.com's top 100 juniors in the state.

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Despite the depth of the class and the camaraderie normally associated with recruits who travel in the same showcase/combine circles, Rasco said there has been little discussion between players about the amount of blue-chip prospects in the state.

"I talked to the boys from Redemptorist — the running back Jeremy Hill and the offensive lineman La'el Collins — when we were at the UnderArmour combine in Florida," Rasco said. "When we first met, they had already committed to LSU and we never got a chance to talk about everything. They just tried to encourage me to go to LSU."

One local prospect who is on LSU's and several other Bowl Championship Series schools' radars is Fleming, the three-sport Benton standout who won four state track titles — two indoor and two outdoor — this season.

Despite his physical tools, the 6-3, 200-pounder is not academically qualified, but that hasn't stopped college coaches from heading north on Highway 3.

Benton coach Caleb Guidry said UCLA paid the Tigers standout a visit this week and numerous other schools have done the same as Fleming has a plan in place to improve his academic standing.

"T.K. is in a unique situation where he's got several offers despite that," Simmons said. "Usually it's one of those situations where you have to continue to prove to coaches you're on the right track. Then you can allay some of those concerns and still have those offers and still have the opportunity to commit. He's a guy who's such a phenomenal athlete on the track and is one of those guys people certainly like to have on their squad just because there's so much upside with him."

Defensive backs like Fleming and wide receivers like Davis were once the calling cards for coaches who recruited Louisiana. However, the Class of 2011 has a different strength.

"It's hard to say there's a strength in this class if you're speaking of position, because the real strength of this class is its depth across several positions," Scout.com director of scouting Scott Kennedy wrote in an e-mail to The Times. "There are top skill players like running back Kenny Hilliard and Jarvis Landry, and there are top big men on both sides of the ball like La'el Collins and Anthony Johnson. But each of those positions goes at least two deep with elite national-level players. The strength of this class is its depth across the board."

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The draw of players like Hilliard and Hill have made national news as well as the ever-expanding world of televised high school football games could include a matchup of Hilliard's Patterson Lumberjacks and Hill's Redemptorist Wolves on a Thursday night at Nicholls State University.

LSU has picked up 11 commitments for its Class of 2011, 10 of which are Louisiana players.

The Tigers and any other school had better not hold their collective breath waiting to see if they land Rasco.

"If I would never have had the help of (Evangel assistant head) coach (Byron) Dawson and (interim head) coach (Phillip) Deas, I probably would have been committed already," Rasco said. "I would have probably changed my mind last-minute like (Jarrett) Fobbs did. Me and Fobbs, we talked a couple of times and he wasn't really sure about the commitment (to Texas A&M). I'm not the type of person who would want to commit to a school and decommit and then try to commit to someone else. When I commit to a school, it's going to be official."

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Evangel's Jermauria Rasco (59) is the No. 2-ranked defensive end in the nation. (Tim Eddington/Special to The Times)

All-Americans?

A list of the 19 Louisiana players nominated for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, which will be played January 2011 in San Antonio.

Michael Petty, DB, Alexandria

Corey White, OL, Captiol

La'el Collins, DL, Redemptorist

Jeremy Hill, RB, Redemptorist

Charles Butler, LB, Southern Lab

Mickey Johnson, DT, St. Paul's

Terrance Magee, ATH, Franklinton

Ryan Byrd, ATH, St. Helena

Levander Liggins, ATH, Leesviell

Jarvis Landry, WR, Lutcher

Anthony Johnson, DL, O. Perry Walker

Renaldo Thomas, DB, St. Augustine

Kenny Hilliard, RB, Patterson

Derrick Milton, RB, Pineville

Bradley Sylve, WR, South Plaquemines

Jermauria Rasco, DL, Evangel

Alonzo Lewis, WR, St. James

Gregory Robinson, OL, Thibodaux

Odell Beckham, DB, Newman

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