please be brandon graham

High school All-Star games have started up once again, with Round Two consisting primarily of in-state or state-v-state contests. The Ohio North-South High School All-Star Game took place on Friday, with five future Wolverines participating.

The South team (featuring Jibreel Black and the Talbott brothers) defeated the North (featuring Courtney Avery, Antonio Kinard, and Jake Ryan) by a score of 23-20 in Ohio Stadium on the campus of Ohio State.

The Performances

From a Michigan perspective, DL Jibreel Black (at right, file photo) was the top performer. He was named the defensive MVP for the winning squad, and made big plays when it mattered most:

Wyoming's Jibreel Black had two sacks to stop a North drive in the fourth quarter and help the South to a 23-20 victory in the Ohio North-South Classic Friday night at Ohio Stadium in Columbus. Black was named the South's defensive MVP.

The entire defensive line for his team performed exceptionally, despite giving up mass along the front lines:

Every bit as deserving of the honor were the South's quick and nasty defensive linemen, who worked over the North's huge counterparts in dictating the tone of the game. North quarterbacks were on the run all night, resulting in turnovers and impossible third-and-long situations.

"From watching practices I wasn't sure whether we'd be able to handle them up front," South coach Mark Crabtree of Dublin Coffman said. "Our guys on the D-line are not gigantic, but they're powerful and explosive and play with a mean streak. We were really hard to block, and we gave our offense some pretty good opportunities."

The honor is double for Black then, who managed to be the best player on a defensive line that was so disruptive. That article incorrectly credits his two 4th-quarter sacks to Indiana commit Harrison Scott. The O-Zone offers high praise for Black:

Defensive lineman Jibreel Black (Cincinnati Wyoming) won the Defensive MVP with at least three sacks and as many pressures.

“It feels good,” Black said. “I’ve been working hard in the offseason to get ready, and it just paid off today. I tried to come out in the second half and make some plays for my team and get the win.”

The star of the night, however, was Jibreel Black. He was constantly in the backfield and pretty much controlled the entire second half. He’s not the biggest guy (6’2” 255) in the world, but then neither was Brandon Graham. And when pressed for what was going to happen the next time he plays in the Horseshoe as a Wolverine, Black didn’t hesitate to answer.

“I’ll be doing the same thing,” he laughed. “Pryor better watch out.”

Comparing him to Brandon Graham = yes plz. If he has the same work ethic as #55, he could be a special player in Ann Arbor. Una vez mas:

Jibreel Black is good. Pretty darn good. Unfortunately he’ll be suiting up for the Maize and Blue this fall. He had 2 key sacks on the last drive against the North and was the South’s Defensive MVP.

Black wasn't the only future Wolverine to show his stuff, however. In fact, despite all of Michigan's commits in the game playing on the defensive side of the ball, one of them managed to make it into the endzone:

He made the score 23-12 before North linebacker Antonio Kinard had a 45-yard interception return for a touchdown with 2:36 left in the game.

No other Wolverine commits are mentioned in the articles recapping the game, but an MGoPoster did take in the action and reports back:

Courtney Avery- Played CB. Didn't start. Good in pass coverage, needs to work on some tackling.

Jake Ryan- Played ILB. Good hitter. Big kid. Did not look comfortable in pass coverage. Did not drop into his zones well. Was just staring into the backfield

Antonio Kinard- Played OLB (similar to Roh last year). 2 pt stance on the LOS. Listed as 220 lbs, looks skinny though. Played with good discipline and had an INT return for a TD when the QB was hit as he was throwing, the ball went right to him and he showed good athleticism to catch it and take it back 40 yards for a TD.

Terrence Talbott- Played CB. Did well in coverage. Looked like he made a couple breakups.

Jibreel Black- The South D played a 3 man front. He started at LDE. In the 2nd half he moved to NT and then RDE. He made a huge stop on Erick Howard on a 4th and 1 when he slanted inside the RT and hit Howard in the backfield. He had 3 1/2 sacks in the 2nd half...and probably 3 more QB pressures. As a NT, he ate up Jeff Myers (2 star recruit going to Toledo). It wasn't even fair. He will remind people of BG when you look at him. Has a great first step and a great motor getting after the passer. Had some trouble at the point of attack when the ball was run right at him.

Others

The South MVP was Ohio State QB commit Verlon Reed... who completed as many passes to the opposing team as he did to his own team (one, for ten yards). He did run for a 37-yard touchdown, however. One source says he wasn't the MVP, but that's probably wrong.

The North team MVPs were Wisconsin WR commit Chase Hammond and WVU LB commit Jewone Snow. Eleven Warriors was there, and has a more Buckeye-centric recap of the game.

Up Next

The Big 33 Ohio-Pennsylvania Classic takes place June 19th in Hershey, PA. Michigan has no players on the Pennsylvania roster (CB Cullen Christian dropped out of the game), but both Talbott brothers and Jibreel Black are listed on the Ohio roster.

On the same day, the Michigan East-West All-Star game takes place in East Lansing. No future Wolverines on scholarship are participating (all of them have already enrolled in Ann Arbor), but walkon WR Baquer Sayed will take part. There may be another walk-on or two on the rosters that we don't know about yet.