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For live updates of the games I'm attending, follow me on Twitter @varsityblue. If you can help out finding articles on any of the commits, @reply me on Twitter or e-mail me, and I'll try to include your contribution.

Performance of the Week:

FL RB Demetrius Hart

Last Week: Dr Phillips pastes Gateway 59-0.

Senior Demetrius Hart ran for 187 yards and five touchdowns in two quarters...

Hart,a Michigan oral commit, had three scoring runs of more than 40 yards. Eric Harrell, a sophomore, relieved Hart in the second half and rushed for 72 yards and a touchdown.

The Sentinel also provides video. The video shows that Hart also had an interception viciously stolen from him by teammate Roderick Ryles. Stats below (and photo at right) from the Dr. Phillips website:

This week: Dr. Phillips travels to Freedom on Friday at 7:30.

FL QB Kevin Sousa

Last week: Lake Nona is held off by Tenoroc, 20-26. Sousa's coach tells Tom that Kevin finished 19/24 passing for 389 yards and 2 TDs with a pick, while rushing 13 times for 121 yards and another score.

This week: Lake Nona visits Winter Haven on Friday at 7:00.

OH OL Jack Miller

Last week: St. John's defeated Toledo Catholic Central 39-14 in the Hardcore Football Game of the Week. Video:

This week: 9-1 St. John's hosts Greg Brown's Fremont Ross in Round 1 of the State Playoffs. The game is Saturday (time TBD) at BGSU's Doyt Stadium.

MI OL Jake Fisher

Last week: TC West fell to Rockford 14-35 in Round 1 of the State Playoffs.

On defense, Jake Fisher led the way with 12 tackles.

WZZM has video highlights:

This week: Traverse City West's season has ended with a 6-4 final record.

OH DE Chris Rock

Last week: DeSales needed a win and some help to make the playoffs. DeSales beat Cleveland Benedictine 35-24.

This week: 5-5 DeSales faces rival Bishop Watterson in Round 1 of the State Playoffs.

MI DE/LB Brennen Beyer

Last week: Plymouth defeats Saline 27-7 in Round 1 of the State playoffs. Beyer notched 2 sacks for 20 yards on a single drive - but there's no other mention of him. Another article:

Plymouth’s defense also flourished, with Fox and senior Brennen Beyer doing serious damage on Saline quarterback Trey Heren and Hornet running backs throughout the game...

Beyer had one sack and half of another, along with several crisp tackles. Beyer had one sack and half of another, along with several crisp tackles. “I just got off the ball really well and got to the quarterback,” Beyer said.

Local fluff on Beyer and his teammate, ND commit K Kyle Brindza.

This week: The 8-2 Wildcats will face cross-campus rival Canton this weekend.

TX LB Kellen Jones

Last week: St. Pius X beat Houston Christian 49-7. Jones's coach tells Tom that Kellen had 8 tackles, 1 for loss with a sack. He also blocked a punt for St. Pius X.

* Blocked punt.

This week: St. Pius rematches St. Thomas on Friday at 7.

OH CB/S Greg Brown

Last week: Fremont Ross defeated Sandusky 21-7.

Just 2:08 later, Fremont Ross would take its first lead of the night when Greg Brown took a reverse 20 yards for the score.

The Fremont Ross Forum Blog has no mention of Brown. There's also a highlight video on Youtube. Brown is #3 on the purple team.

This week: 9-1 Ross faces Jack Miller's St. John's Jesuit team on Saturday at Bowling Green.

MI CB Delonte Hollowell

Last week: Cass Tech beat Southeastern 35-0 in Round 1 of the State Playoffs. Link has video, but no Hollowell.

Next Week: The 10-0 Technicians host Dearborn Fordson in Round 2 of the State Playoffs on Friday.

FL OL Tony Posada

Last week: Plant had a bye week.

Next week: Plant faces Chamberlain on Friday.

Season Complete

MI WR Shawn Conway

Seaholm's season is over, with a 4-5 record. Conway finished the year with about 22 catches for 375 yards, and 11 kick/punt returns for 393 yards. Seaholm's coach resigned following the final game.

For live updates of the games I'm attending, follow me on Twitter @varsityblue. If you can help out finding articles on any of the commits, @reply me on Twitter or e-mail me, and I'll try to include your contribution.

FL QB Kevin Sousa

Last week: Lake Nona was destroyed yet again, this time dropping a 7-41 decision to Sebring. The grisly details:

The Blue Streaks' Clarence Counts recorded the first of four interceptions against Lake Nona star Kevin Sousa on the first play of the game...

Lake Nona was able to avoid the shutout when Sousa found Dmitri Fontana behind the defense on a 28-yard touchdown pass with 35 seconds remaining in the third quarter...

The Sebring defense made life miserable for Sousa all game, holding the future Michigan Wolverine to 20 yards rushing and 8 of 17 passing for 126 yards.

"He's a good player," Sutton said. "Our defensive line did a good job and our middle linebackers spied on him, so we did pretty good... We wanted to shut him out," he said. "We know how good we are. We could have shut them out easily. We had a few mistakes and we just have to get better at it."

Article 2. Sousa has uploaded highlights of his last two games:

If that's what the blocking looks like on the good plays, I can only imagine how bad it is when he's forced into poor throws.

This week: Lake Nona plays Lake Wales on Friday.

MI WR Shawn Conway

Last Week: Seaholm lost to Auburn Hills Avondale 24-52. The Maples' quarterback threw three Stanziballs to the same guy. No word on Conway's exact stats, but he did have a pair of TD grabs.

FridayNightHighlights.tv has comprehensive highlights, as usual.

This week: The Maples travel to Hazel Park Friday at 7.

OH OL Jack Miller

Last week: St. John's lost to Toledo Whitmer 24-49. No mention of Miller in the game article.

This week: St. John's hosts winless Toledo Start Friday at 7pm.

FL OL Tony Posada

Last week: Plant smoked Riverview 56-6. The Panthers' starters got to rest the entire second half, though Posada missed the game with a knee sprain.

This week: Plant hosts Armwood in "The Rivalry" on Friday.

MI OL Jake Fisher

Last week: Traverse City West smacked Gaylord 36-6. Fisher made three tackles, and added a sack. Game highlights.

This week: TC West plays Dearborn Edsel Ford on Saturday at 6 at Ferris State.

OH DE Chris Rock

Last week: DeSales lost to Orchard Lake St. Mary's 0-24. Game highlights. I was there, so enjoy some original video (Rock is #54, playing defensive end and right tackle):

Those highlights should be HD, but obviously are not. I'll try to figure out what the technology problem is for the next edition. Scouting report:

I was not impressed with Rock's play. It's possible he was just having a bad night, but there have been reports from this entire season that suggest Rock is "just a guy" out there. Though St. Mary's gameplanned a bit to keep him out of the game (running away from him, double-teaming him, etc.), that's not the only reason he wasn't a factor.

He was routinely stoned by St. Mary's tackle #72, and it's not like that guy's going to go on to play Division-1 football. For being the biggest (not fattest) guy out there, Rock's strength seemed to be seriously lacking, and his movement skills left something to be desired.

With a guy Rock's size, you assume that a couple years under a collegiate strength and conditioning program will mold his body into a more powerful, quicker one, but it's not at that point right now. On offense, Rock's effort, even on simple cut blocks, left a lot to be desired.

This week: DeSales takes on Maumee on Thursday night..

MI DE/LB Brennen Beyer

Last week: Plymouth took down Livonia Franklin, 24-7. Beyer had a touchdown catch:

Plymouth snapped the 7-7 tie on its first second-half drive when Austin connected with Beyer with a 34-yard spiral to make it 14-7.

The article also mentions Beyer's coach praised his defensive efforts.

Article 2 provides a bit more detail on the reception:

senior receiver Brennen Beyer (4 catches, 78 yards, 1 TD)...

According to Beyer, Plymouth’s offensive coordinator told him he “saw an opening on the slant and that they were going to throw it to me."

This week: 3-1 Plymouth hosts Westland John Glenn on Friday at 7.

TX LB Kellen Jones

Last week: St. Pius X had a bye.

This week: St. Pius takes on St. Thomas Catholic on Friday at 7:30.

OH CB/S Greg Brown

Last week: Fremont Ross pasted University 38-10. Only Brown mention:

After a 40-yard run from Greg Brown, Gabe Tayar knocked in a 32-yard field goal.

The Fremont Ross Forum blog on the game.

Update from the Cleveland Benedictine a couple weeks back: we already knew that Brown kicked off the game with a big touchdown reception, and his final stats were 4 receptions for 147 yards.

This week: The Little Giants take on Findlay on Friday.

MI CB Delonte Hollowell

Last week: Cass Tech took down Martin Luther King 25-0. Article. No mention of Hollowell.

Next Week: Cass Tech goes to Detroit Mumford on Friday at 4.

For live updates of the games I'm attending, follow me on Twitter @varsityblue. If you can help out finding articles on any of the commits, @reply me on Twitter or e-mail me, and I'll try to include your contribution.

FL QB Kevin Sousa

Last week: RB Jarius Pace made his debut for Lake Nona, but couldn't prevent the Lions from losing to University 21-59:

Sousa had 151 yards passing but threw three interceptions. He was 9-of-24 and was hurried quite often by the University defense.

Sousa had 2 TDs through the air, and added an 8-yarder on the ground (on 9 carries for 67 yards, according to what he told Tom), but two of those picks were true Stanziballs:

...things appeared to get to Sousa after that as the senior Michigan commitment threw back-to-back interceptions that Johnnie Griffin and Jachary Baldwin each ran in for touchdowns.

This was University's first win on the year, so Lake Nona is still very bad. Sousa clearly doesn't have much help around him.

This week: Lake Nona hosts Sebring on Friday at 7:30.

MI WR Shawn Conway

Last Week: Seaholm fell to Detroit Country Day 21-28. Conway tweaked his ankle covering a punt early in the game, and Seaholm's starting QB was also out. These factors, along with the weather, limited his production, though he still did some stuff through the air. I was there, so enjoy the (mostly unedited) highlights:

And the scouting report: Don't be too alarmed by the defensive play where Kenny Knight (#8 on Country Day, considering Minnesota and others) ran right by him. It was the play immediately after the ankle injury - probably why DCD decided to test him - and Conway fell for a pump-fake. He won't be playing defense at the next level, so it isn't much of a concern.

Offensively, the backup QB for the Maples couldn't throw a bubble screen to save his life, and those are typically a pretty big part of the Seaholm offense (and Conway's involvement in it). He did get chewed out on the sidelines by head coach Chris Fahr (his stepdad) for giving up on routes during the game, so with a 100% effort, he might have had a bit more success.

In all, this definitely wasn't his best performance (it's a shame this had to be the one Rod Smith and Tony Dews saw in person), but there are enough reasons to explain it, so I don't think it's anything to worry about. I would also point out that Country Day has five or six Division-1 prospects over the next couple classes, whereas Seaholm has... one. Conway was a big part of the Maples even staying in this game.

FridayNightHighlights.tv has comprehensive highlights, as usual.

This week: The Maples host Auburn Hills Avondale on Friday at 7.

OH OL Jack Miller

Last week: St. John's pasted rival St. Francis 42-10. The Titans scored nearly every time they touched the ball, and rushed for nearly 200 yards.

This week: St. John's heads to Toledo Whitmer on Friday at 7. Jack will be tested by elite defensive ends Kenny Hayes (2011 OSU commit) and Chris Wormley (2012 Michigan prospect).

FL OL Tony Posada

Last week: Plant traveled to Abilene, TX to take on the Abilene Eagles. ESPN pregame breakdown, and Posada-focused pregame fluff:

"I told some people if it appears it's shady out there Thursday night, it's because of this lineman," said [Abilene coach Steve] Warren of the 6-foot-5, 295-pound Michigan commitment. "He's the biggest person I've ever seen. Why doesn't he just go on to the NFL instead of Michigan? He's huge."

The game didn't go so well for the Panthers, as they fell 17-27. It was on ESPNU, so I got a chance to watch. The story on Posada remains the same: he's massive, but will need to work on his conditioning before he's able to contribute at the next level.

This week: Plant takes on Riverview at home on Friday night.

MI OL Jake Fisher

Last week: Traverse City West lost to Cadillac 35-58.

This week: TC West hosts winless Gaylord on Friday at 7:00.

OH DE Chris Rock

Last week: DeSales avenged their 2009 State Championship lost to Cardinal Mooney, beating the Cardinals 41-31. Article 2.

This week: DeSales heads North to take on Orchard Lake (Mich.) St. Mary's on Friday at 7:30. I should be in attendance, though I make no guarantees.

MI DE/LB Brennen Beyer

Last week: Plymouth beat Livonia Churchill 41-27.

Michigan-bound Brennan [sic] Beyer led the Plymouth defense with 10 tackles, including three sacks.

This week: 3-1 Plymouth heads to Livonia Franklin on Friday at 7:00.

TX LB Kellen Jones

Last week: St. Pius X defeated Worthing 20-12. Jones didn't play, because he's resting his ankle injury from last week, and wants to be healthy for conference play.

This week:

OH CB/S Greg Brown

Last week: Ross defeated Cleveland Benedictine 47-7:

The Little Giants even came together early Friday night, racing to a 7-0 lead on Greg Brown's 85-yard touchdown reception on Ross's first offensive play. Wolf skied a pass to Benedictine's 45-yard line, Brown reeled it in and then raced to the end zone for the game's first points...

Fremont head coach Derek Kidwell said, "Greg Brown started the game off well for us."

The proprietor of the Fremont Ross Forum blog mentioned Brown's TD:

From the first quarter when Tyler Wolf hit Greg Brown on an 85 yard TD pass to the runback of a fumble by JJ Moreno in the fourth quarter, Ross was hitting on all cylinders last night.

This week: The Little Giants host University School on Saturday night.

MI CB Delonte Hollowell

Last week: Cass Tech dominated Detroit Southeastern 42-0. No mention of Hollowell.

Next Week: Cass Tech faces Detroit King on Friday.

A trio of 2010 Michigan commits participated in All-Star games over the weekend. The Brothers Talbott played for Team Ohio in the annual Big 33 Classic against Pittsburgh, while preferred walk-on Baquer Sayed (#4 at right) was on the East team in the Michigan High School Football Coaches' Association All-Star game. Paul and I took in the MHSFCA game in person, and I watched the Big 33 on NFL Network.

East-West Game Report

The MHSFCA All-Star game was without many of Michigan's best players (ironically enough). The likes of Nick Hill and William Gholston from Michigan State didn't play in the game, and the Wolverines' quartet of Ricardo Miller, Austin White, Jeremy Jackson, and Devin Gardner all enrolled early, so they couldn't play. Gardner in particular could have made this a much more entertaining game to watch. The QB play was iffy at best.

The East team had nothing going offensively in the first half, finishing with 7(!) yards of total offense and giving up a safety. The West took advantage, building a 16-0 lead going into the break, courtesy of two Chris Robinson (Ovid-Elsie - Grand Valley State) touchdown runs. Field position played a huge factor, as the East team rarely even made it into opposing territory.

After halftime, however, the East offense came alive, partially due to a little more aggressive play calling. While pass plays functioned as scramble drills in half one, they became part of a functioning offense in the second with Jason Fracassa (Sterling Height Stevenson - Northwood University) able to move the ball through the air. The East scored 20 unanswered points with Fracassa touchdown passes to Eric Cogan (Petersburg-Summerfield - Saginaw Valley State) and Torico Searcy (Warren Mott - Grand Rapids CC) before a last-minute West penalty allowed East coach Jim Sparks (Clawson) the opportunity to forgo a game-tying field goal to go for the win. Jeremy Langford (Westland John Glenn - Michigan State) lined up in the I-formation and sealed the victory for the East.

With such a sloppily-played game, few players truly impressed, but Spartan-bound wideout Tony Lippett (Detroit Crockett) was HUGE in comparison to the rest of the All-Stars. West running back Chris Robinson was somewhat impressive behind a sketchy offensive line, and West QB Jordan Beachnau (Holt - Grand Valley State) showed very good elusive abilities in traffic. I was not impressed at all by Jeremy Langford.

Photo Gallery

Sayed Report

Also impressive was Michigan's lone representative in the game, Baquer Sayed. He was routinely open on the occasion that a pass play was called, but he was often missed (either the quarterback threw a bad ball or didn't throw it his way at all , often because he was running for his life) or interfered with. On top of one key pass interference drawn, he caught 3 passes for 45 yards, with a long reception of 22 yards. He was thrown to two other times, but both passes were uncatchable.

Big 33 Game Report

The Big 33 Classic annually pits some of the best in Ohio against some of the best in Pennsylvania. A number of college commitments participated (Pitt led the way with 10 commits, though Ohio State and Penn State each had 4), and like the Michigan game, it was a defensive battle for much of the contest.

It's very rare that you'll see two separate games start with 2-0 scores in an entire year, much less one day, but that was the case Saturday, as Pennsylvania took that advantage all the way into halftime. Missed field goals from both teams (including onetime Michigan preferred walkon-turned-Vanderbilt kicker Carey Spear of Team Ohio) and generally sloppy play limited the scoring, and quite honestly, fan enjoyment of the game.

After halftime, the game opened up somewhat, as Pennsylvania QB Anthony Gonzales (Liberty - Pitt) threw a pair of touchdown passes, one to PSU-bound Alex Kenney (State College) and another to future teammate Andrew Carswell (Sto-Rox). Ohio was not to be outdone, as Ohio State commits Verlon Reed (Marion Franklin) and Christian Bryant (Glenville) scored TDs. Reed's came on an 80-some-yard scamper, and Bryant's was a 26-yard reception with less than a minute on the clock to put Ohio up for good.

I was impressed with the performance of Alex Kenney and Andrew Carswell from Pennsylvania. Carswell should be a big target for Pittsburgh in the coming years. Wisconsin-bound Mannesah Garner (Brashear) was a terror on the defensive line, though he's expected to be a wideout in Madison. The surprise star of the day was Rich Gray (Woodland Hills) who's headed to Kent State, of all places. He was constantly in the Ohio backfield, and if he can stay on top of his conditioning, the Golden Flashes have uncovered a serious diamond in the rough.

A few Ohio players impressed as well. Verlon Reed and Christian Bryant showed good athleticism, though Reed couldn't pass the ball well at all, and Bryant looked lost in coverage at times (in man, he let Andrew Carswell get free by about 15 yards for one of Pennsylvania's touchdowns). JT Moore (Youngstown Boardman - Ohio State) got good pressure on the quarterback as well.

Talbotts Report

Michigan's representatives in the game, brothers Terry and Terrence Talbott, had mixed results. For the record, their jerseys both said "Talbott"—the organizers probably figured that 6 inches and 75 pounds would be enough for observers to differentiate between them.

Terry had one sack (@ 2:59 in the video below) and a couple other QB pressures, but no other real production. Terrence had a fumble recovery on special teams, one pass breakup and a couple tackles. Terrence was also responsible for one of Pennsylvania's touchdowns, however, as PSU commit Alex Kenney ran a streak down the sidelines, finding himself  a step past—and a lot bigger than—Talbott.

Big 33 Video

That wraps up Michigan commits' All-Star performances for the year, and Friday Night Lights will go into hibernation until late August, when the Class of 2011 gets its time to shine.

The high school season is long over, but there are post-season honors to cover, and a number of Michigan commits took part in All-American games over the past few weeks. Here's a roundup of those performances in what is likely to be the second-to-last FNL for the 2010 recruiting class (after Signing Day, I'll recap the seasons of everyone who commits after today).

MI QB Devin Gardner

Gardner was part of the winning Black Team in the Under Armour All-American Bowl, completing 2-of-4 passes for 15 yards and a score, while rushing 4 times for 14 yards. The Black Team won 32-7.

Gardner drew similar praise from Black team coach Sam Wyche, a former head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"Devin is going to be a big-time player at Michigan," Wyche said. "He and (Alabama commitment) Phillip Sims are guys to me that are going to come quickly to the scene. Devin has a great smile. He is going to sell a lot of product for somebody. He's got a great personality. He's smart -- you can change directions with him and it doesn't bother him at all. He is ready to go."

Game highlights, courtesy of Under Armour:

Gardner's TD toss takes place at the 2:00 mark. As mentioned elsewhere on the blog, Gardner did not enroll early in Ann Arbor.

SC QB Conelius Jones

Named All-State honorable mention at wide receiver, which is odd because he only played quarterback this season. He was also named the All-State QB for Class AA in South Carolina.

MI RB Austin White

Named Honorable Mention All-State at RB.

PA DE Jordan Paskorz

Named to the Pittsburgh-area "Fabulous 22," the 1st-team all-area list. He was named 1st-Team All-Conference, and 1st-Team All-State.

FL DT Richard Ash

Ash participated in the Outback Bowl All-Star game. No word on how he did.

OH DT Terry Talbott

3rd-Team All-State at defensive tackle.

LA S Carvin Johnson

Named 1st-Team All-State in Louisiana's 5A Class. Honorable Mention for the All-South Team. He also made the All-Area 1st-Team offense as an athlete.

PA CB Cullen Christian

Local pregame fluff. Christian participated in the Army All-American Bowl over the weekend, playing corner. His East team fell to the West, 30-13. Christian was thrown at 4 times, with only one pass completed - a 39-yarder to USC commit Robert Woods. Postgame fluff. Cullen has been selected to the Big 33 Game.

WI P Will Hagerup

Hagerup also played in the Army game, as Christian's teammate on the losing East team. Will punted just 3 times, but averaged more than 45 yards per kick, despite shanking his first attempt.

"My brother has been in some big stadiums before and he was saying after that first kick you'll be a lot more calm," Hagerup said. "The first kick I was real nervous and it definitely could have been better. I was definitely more relaxed for the second two."

The MGoCreeper van headed to Southgate this weekend for its latest excursion, to see Devin Gardner and the Inkster Vikings take on the Titans of Southgate Anderson. Inkster walked away with a 35-7 victory, behind yet another stellar performance from Gardner:

Gardner finished the night with 74 yards rushing on 11 carries. He also passed for 171 yards and 2 touchdowns on an 11/19 performance.

This was not Devin at his most impressive, but it was still enough to blow out a team in the quarterfinals of the state playoffs. A couple of the rushes he had were sacks that came on bad snaps where he had no chance to react, and some of the passes were catchable balls that the receivers weren't able to come down with. Still, it's clear that Devin is the best athlete on the field regardless of who steps onto it, and he's also been the better quarterback every time we've seen him play.

Inkster next takes on Warren De La Salle at 1PM on Saturday at Ferndale High School. Alas, we shall not be there, because there's some college football game going on at the time or something. If the Vikings win, they'll be in the State Finals.