Many of East Carolina’s
football recruiting targets for the Class of 2007 are being determined
right now as perhaps the most important evaluation period of the process
reaches it conclusion.
With the exception of
Sundays and Memorial Day, coaches could visit the high school campus of
a potential recruit twice between April 15 and May 31 in order to
evaluate the player’s ability and academic qualifications. So it’s been
one long road trip after another for the ECU coaching staff as it scours
the country in search of new talent.
Those travels have no
doubt included stops in Angier, Ahoskie, Elizabeth City, Thomasville,
Tucker, GA, Columbia, SC, and other towns where players who have already
received scholarship offers from the Pirates reside.
Four quarterbacks with
varied skills, including one from the West Coast, are among a group of
about 22 players who have confirmed offers from ECU.
Defensive coordinator Greg
Hudson is the man responsible for courting Redlands, CA, passer Ronnie
Fouch, a 6-foot-2, 185-pounder who received an ECU offer in April.
Despite an injury that limited his season to 10 games, Fouch completed
171 of 274 passes for 34 touchdowns as a junior at East Valley High
School. He was intercepted just four times and threw for 2,379 yards
overall. In one game against Arroyo Valley, Fouch threw for 381 yards
and six touchdowns.
But after completing a
pass in game ten, Fouch was hit by two defenders and suffered a shoulder
separation. He’s on his way to a full recovery after undergoing surgery
in November.
The Pirates are the only
NCAA Division I-A programs to have offered him at this point, but Fouch
is receiving interest from schools such as Nebraska, Notre Dame,
Southern Cal, UCLA and Washington.
A pro-style quarterback
who does most of his damage from the pocket, Fouch does have adequate
speed (4.8 in 40) and will run if needed.
Running is exactly what
Rodney Cox, a 6-6, 228-pounder from Harnett Central High in Angier,
prefers to do. And he’s darn good at it.
Cox, who runs a consistent
4.7 40, piled up 2,295 yards rushing and 15 touchdowns as a junior in
Harnett Central’s spread offense. He also completed 70 of 132 passes for
1,471 yards and 17 scores.
Many recruiting analysts
believe Cox is also athletic enough to play another position in college,
like current Pirate Devon Drew who came to school as a quarterback but
is now making the transition to tight end. But Cox is adamant about
wanting a chance to play quarterback first.
N.C. State was Cox’s
childhood favorite, so the Wolfpack looms as the team to beat. But so
far East Carolina is the only other team to have offered and we expect
them to be in it with Cox until the end.
Another Eastern North
Carolina quarterback being eyed by the Pirates is 6-3, 190-pound Danny
Dembry from Ahoskie’s Hertford County High, the same school that
produced current ECU defensive lineman Wendell Chavis.
Dembry, like Cox, is a
gifted athlete who can run or pass the football. He compiled more than
1,500 yards of total offense and scored 17 touchdowns as a junior on a
team that featured N.C. State signee LaMarcus Bond and a top recruit for
this season, Tydreke Powell.
Because of his 4.6 speed
in the 40, Dembry is being recruited as an athlete who could play
quarterback, wide receiver or safety in college. N.C. State has offered
him a scholarship to play safety or wide receiver, while Kentucky and
Buffalo have recruited him at quarterback.
ECU likes Dembry as a
quarterback or wide receiver. A tall, lanky athlete, Dembry has
excellent ballhandling skills when running the option and can throw on
the move.
Last, but certainly not
least among the Pirates quarterback prospects, is 6-2, 215-pound Darryl
McFadden, who led Charlotte’s Independence High to its sixth straight
state title last December in only his first year as the starter.
McFadden took over for Georgia signee Joe Cox and completed 230 of 464
passes for 3,877 yards and 33 touchdowns after backing up Cox for two
seasons.
East Carolina and
Vanderbilt were the first schools to offer McFadden, but you can expect
the recruitment to pick up even more as the summer progresses.
Quarterback isn’t the only
offensive skill position ECU is seeking help. Wide receiver and tight
end are also two priorities for head coach Skip Holtz and his staff for
2007.
Adding speed to the
receiver corps is a must and to that end the Pirates have already
offered scholarships to Anson County’s Michael Bowman, Waynelle
Gravesande of Irvington, NJ, and Sidney Haynes from Suwanee, GA. All
three have been timed at 4.5 seconds or better in the 40-yard dash.
Bowman (5-11, 165, 4.48)
actually plays running back at Anson and rushed for 1,246 yards last
season. He’s a very shifty, elusive runner with excellent vision, but
because he doesn’t catch the ball much out of the backfield in the
Bearcats’ offense it’s been hard to evaluate his pass-catching skills on
video to date.
But schools such as ECU,
South Carolina and Tennessee know enough to have already offered him
scholarships.
The 5-10, 155-pound
Gravesande (4.49 40) proved a prolific receiver as a junior when he
caught 61 passes for 819 yards and 10 touchdowns. East Carolina, Hofstra
and Michigan State were the first schools to extend offers.
Hayes is a big receiver at
6-4, 195 pounds who still has 4.5 speed and a 33-inch vertical leap. He
used those assets to make 34 catches for 668 yards and five scores as a
junior.
The tight end position may
be ECU’s No. 1 focus in recruiting for the Class of 2007. The Pirates
have already offered 6-5, 250-pound Brandon Lampkin from Tucker, GA, and
6-5, 225-pound Michael Byrd of Thomasville High.
Byrd has 4.8 speed, good
agility and strong hands. He’s also being looked at by Boston College,
Clemson, N.C. State, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Lampkin has nice, big
hands and runs well with the ball after he catches it. Because of his
size, he’s also a solid blocker. Lampkin is so agile that he often lines
up at wide receiver for his prep team.
The Pirates are his only
offer at this stage, but Auburn, Clemson, Georgia and Michigan State are
also showing major interest.
In my next column, I’ll
take a look at the running backs and offensive linemen the Pirates are
zeroing in on in recruiting.
