Noxubee County HS - I attended the Noxubee County HS at Columbus HS football game last Friday night. Senior Omar Conner, in the 35-34 OT loss, completed 25 of 48 passes for 441 yards and 3 touchdowns while rushing for 101 yards and 2 touchdowns. For the season (3 games), Omar has completed 55 of 92 attempts for 1,198 yards and 9 TDs. Teammate senior wide receiver Joey Sanders caught 12 of Omar's passes for 230 yards and 3 TDs. While I already knew how good Conner is, I also came away very impressed with the ability of the 6-2, 190-pound Sanders. Not only did he show great hands, but he also showed excellent ability to make things happen after making the catch. Remember his name.

Columbus HS - Remember the name Gabriel O'Neal. A linebacker by trade, he also showed excellent ability at the tailback position for CHS in the 35-34 OT win over Noxubee County this past Friday night (26 carries, 162 yards, 4 TDs). O'Neal, a 6-2, 190-pound junior, has caught the eye of a lot of college coaches. He is already receiving recruiting attention from colleges throughout the nation.

BTW, I also heard, while at the game, that Alabama secondary coach Melvin Smith likes CHS DB Gary Hodge (5-7, 186).

09/13/02
Madison Central HS - MCHS has three players that bear watching this season. Senior wide receiver Maurice Rose, who broke his arm in the Brandon game and is out for 4 to 5 games, has 4.4 speed with great leaping ability. While he has no touchdown passes this season, he caught 8 or 9 last year for a team that doesn't pass much. Senior tight end Clifton Cotten is in the 6-1 to 6-2 range and weighs 275 pounds. According to my source, he has great hands and is a great blocker. The final senior is quarterback Dillon Sudduth. Dillon is 6-0 and weighs 185 pounds. Although Madison Central doesn't throw the ball that much, he has thrown for 150 yards and rushed for another 100 in 2 games. All three players are receiving attention from the big 3 in Mississippi (MSU, OM, USM). Sudduth is also receiving recruiting attention in baseball.

09/10/02
Humphreys Academy - Senior running back Shelton Aycock rushed for 214 yards and 3 touchdowns on just 13 carries as Humphreys Academy defeated Greenville Christian School 51-10. He has now had two straight games with 200 yards or more rushing. For the season, he has 474 yards on only 33 carries with an average of 13.82 yards per rush along with 7 touchdowns.

Louisville HS - Keep an eye out for two senior prospects from Louisville, Mandrell Ashford and Derrell Ashford. Mandrell (6-3, 230) plays linebacker, while Derrell (5-10, 180) plays tailback. Derrell has really played well the first two games of the season against Starkville and Tupelo. In two games, he has had closed to 300 yards combined.

09/09/02
West Point HS - I attended the Oxford HS at West Point HS football game this past Friday night. West Point, after defeating Columbus HS just a week ago, once again won, defeating Oxford 42-0. I only watched the first half of the game.

West Point, now 2-0 on the season, had several players that showed possible four-year college potential. Two players stood out; senior offensive tackle Thomas Eckers (#60, 6-2, 260) and senior safety Neandre Hoskins (#24, 6-0, 190). West Point ran behind Eckers (very good footspeed for a big man) most of the first half, while Hoskins intercepted a pass in the first half that led to West Point's one touchdown in that half. During the second half, he scooped up a fumble and ran it in for a 35-yard touchdown. Keep an eye on this youngster. He may be the Kevin Dockery of this year's Mississippi HS senior class. Other players that may have potential to play at a four-year college are seniors Marcus Rowe (#75, DT, 6-6, 305) and Louis Vaughn (#54, LB, 6-1, 230) and junior Kenny Davis (#72, NG, 6-0, 240). During the half I watched, Rowe, who has fairly good footspeed, was constantly double teamed.

09/08/02 - Just learned yesterday that Olive Branch HS baseball player J.B. Fesmire didn't sign with UAB, but Northwest CC instead. According to my source, who is a friend of J.B.'s, he had an offer from them but decided to go to NWCC instead.

09/06/02
Hernando HS - Coach Corey Uselton of Hernando High School has a very talented point guard who just moved in from Memphis, Tn. According to Coach Uselton, the 6-0 Jerry Hemingway was one of the best point guards in Tennessee, averaging 19.2 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals the past three seasons for Houston High School. This past summer, he played summer league ball at Lafayette High School and averaged 24 points per game with a high of 29 points against the highly-touted Vincent Camper of Oxford High School.

Kosciusko HS - Kosciusko HS has a left-hand hitting catcher by the name of Eli Dew who bears watching this coming season. Eli, one of the top catchers in the state this year, has already heard from Ole Miss and Meridian CC. He is also receiving numerous letters from other colleges. With a year under his belt as a catcher after playing middle infield, he has impressed scouts with his throwing ability behind the plate. In fact, according to my source, Eli was clocked at 1.88 seconds by a major league scout during the playoffs versus Hernando HS. My source went on to say that another major league scout has said that Eli has one of the best left-handed swings in the Southeast. At the end of last season, Eli was selected to the coaches' All-State team as a catcher.

Madison Central HS - Travis Bogue, the big left-handed pitcher from Madison Central HS, has committed to Ole Miss. According to my source, MSU also recruited him, but Ole Miss Coach Bianco went after him extremely hard and indicated to Travis that he would have an opportunity to play early.

Humphreys Academy (Belzoni, MS) - Running back Shelton Aycock, during the first two games of the season, has rushed for 256 yards and 4 touchdowns on 19 carries. Last Friday night, against Bayou Academy, he rushed 16 times for 200 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also had 9 tackles, including 1 sack, on the defensive side of the ball. He was named a Top Performer for the week of August 25-31 by The Clarion-Ledger.

East Webster HS - Eric Johnson is a senior quarterback, wide receiver and kicker who is 6-2, 150 and, according to my source, runs a 4.5 forty. He also plays several position on the high school baseball team, including pitcher, shortstop and outfield.

Provine HS (Jackson) - Although he is only a junior this year, Provine HS's offensive lineman George Christian already has some phenomenal weight lifting numbers. The 6-0, 310-pound OL with 5.1 speed has benched 350, squatted 550, deadlifted 700, cleaned and pressed 285 and inclined 335.