A (Brief) Interview With Baquer Sayed

It's a doubleheader Saturday for Michigan's Class of 2010. The Big 33 All-Star game takes place in Hershey, PA with Michigan's Talbott brothers playing for the Ohio Team. Taking place in East Lansing is the Michigan High School Football Coaches' Association All-Star game at 3:30PM. (The game will be aired on TV on Comcast 900 on Monday at 7PM and Tuesday at 8:30AM.)

Though Michigan doesn't have any scholarship players participating in the game, a number of other Big Ten schools do (Ohio State, Michigan State, Northwestern, and Indiana). Michigan's sole player in the game is preferred walkon Baquer Sayed. I caught up with him and East coach Jim Sparks at media day for the game.

Baquer Sayed

Tim: When are you getting up to Michigan?

Baquer: I'm moving up there in like two weeks.

Tim: Why did you pass up scholarship offers from MAC schools to walk on at Michigan?

Baquer: Family-wise [the media guide says Sayed is one of 9(!) kids in his family], and school, and degree, and everything. It's made up for by the school. If the NFL doesn't work, Michigan's better than all those offers I got in the MAC.

Tim: How would you describe your game?

Baquer: Speedy, long-ball quickness.

Tim: What can we look forward to seeing from you on the field Saturday?

Baquer: Just getting the ball and going in a scoring. Catching the fades over the corners, that's what I like to do.

East Head Coach Jim Sparks (Clawson High School).

Tim: You're running a spread offense on Saturday. Is it more run-focused or pass-focused?

Sparks: What kind of coach would I be if I told you what we're going to do? I'm just gonna say "yes."

Tim: Am I gonna see Baquer Sayed catch some passes though?

Sparks: Yeah, I would expect him to. He's a tremendous athlete, and that's why we run the offense that we do. We have so many athletes that the trick to the spread is just get those kids the ball in space and let them do their thing.

Tim: He told me he likes to go up and get the fade. Is that what you see in him?

Sparks: It's a huge part of his game. He's serious. I told him after you interviewed him that I've never seen a kid that has the ability to adjust to the ball and go up, and play that deep ball the way he does.

Thanks to Baquer Sayed and Coach Sparks for taking the time to talk to me. Here's Baquer's highlight video, for a taste of what to look forward to on Saturday: