Last night, Paul and I took in a game at Canton South High School, the home of 2010 wide receiver commit Jerald Robinson. The Wildcats took on the Dover Tornadoes, one of their big rivals in Ohio's Division 3. Since this was a pretty big game, the local TV stations were in attendance, and the game was televised live in the area.
The game got off to an unceremonious start for Canton South, as their first play from scrimmage was a snap over the quarterback's head, recovered by Dover near the 3 yard line. The Tornadoes easily punched it into the endzone, and Robinson returned the ensuing kickoff near the 30 yard line. Two plays later, lightning struck again, as their running back fumbled the ball, and Dover recovered yet again, easily converting another touchdown.
From that point forward, Canton South had to throw the ball to stay in the game, something that was tough to do with an overwhelmed quarterback in his first game. When I predicted whether Robinson would be able to move up in the rankings, I said the QB play would be a factor - so don't expect him to have much of an opportunity to move up.
Robinson was targeted a couple times early on slants, and ran one reverse for 7 yards, but later in the game, he was hardly getting the ball thrown his way at all, and oftentimes wasn't even running routes as the QB rolled away from his side of the field. I would guess that he got slightly injured early in the game (and he did have his ankle rolled at one point but got immediately back up), and couldn't cut as well as he'd like. Later in the game, when they started throwing his way again, it was almost exclusively on fade routes, which were mostly well-defensed or poorly-thrown. Defensively, he didn't always appear to put in the utmost effort, and though part of that may be a matter of scheme (don't let anybody get behind you, no matter what happens), he also seemed hesitant to tackle at times, and his better upside seems to be at wideout. He finished with 2 receptions for 6 yards, 1 solo and 6 assisted tackles, and one 7-yard rush.
The Wildcats mounted a valiant comeback effort on the back of two catch-and-run touchdown receptions by James Lucas, the team's #2 receiver, but the deficit was too much for them to overcome, and they ended up on the wrong side of a 27-14 result. The teams were fairly evenly matched (especially with South not being able to use their whole playbook playing from behind), and if they played again, the result could just as easily go the other way.
Video Highlights (Photo Gallery included in next week's Friday Night Lights feature).
This is a great post and an awesome addition to the site. Thanks Tim.
After watching the video I think Jerald is obviously one of the best players on the field, and is physically more impressive than most of the players I saw in the video. That being said, he did not look as impressive as I thought he would be with regards to his speed. He looked like a solid possession receiver and I'm excited to see his progression throughout his senior year of high school.
I know this is over used, but I think he could really use a good year of training with Barwis before he is ready to see game action as a Wolverine.
Nice work I loved the "spy" video singling up Robinson. Analysis was spot on he didn't look to interested in sticking anybody. I like how you showed a little of everything and not just a highlight package. Too bad logistics don't allow for this every week. Great work.
yeah Tim, this is a great addition to mgoblog. On a side note, with that tackling I think it's safe to say that J-Rob won't be playing safety for us.
Also, say J-Rob comes to Michigan and kills it at WR (a lot of summer camp reports said he was our best WR recruit, over Ricardo). But b/c he has a very mediocre QB his senior season and didn't attend many camps he's not likely at all to get a high ranking (as Tim noted). Anyway, just a rant on my part on how these rankings especially for a position like WR where you're so reliant on the QB play can be very hit-or-miss.
I just don't get it. If I'm a high school coach and I have a kid good enough to go to Michigan, I make sure to get him the ball more than 3 times. Whatever it takes man, bubble screens, more reverses, some snaps at tailback, maybe even flex him out and run some option. Do something, jeez.
He was blocking a bit better and coming to the ball more aggressively on defense more in the first half. I really think he tweaked his ankle and was told to take it easy. A lot of the time, they would roll the QB out to the other side, and Jareld wouldn't even really have a route.
