Champion Gridiron Kings First Day Report

The Champion Gridiron Kings event, part of the ESPN RISE Games is happening this week and several recruits of interest to Michigan fans are participating.

Champion® Gridiron Kings is one of four elite events that anchor the ESPN RISE Games Presented by Target, July 14-27, and includes performance training, position-specific training, skills challenges and a 7-on-7 competition.  [The event] features 65 of the best players in the game’s seven skill positions – quarterback, running back, tight end, wide receiver, linebacker, cornerback and safety. Champion® Gridiron Kings is scheduled for July 24-25 at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. 

This article and several tweets indicate that Dee Hart, DeAnthony Arnett, and Curtis Grant (Richmond, VA LB) have all performed well in today's drills and skills challenges.

Other standouts today were Southeast tight end Nick O'Leary (West Palm Beach, Fla./Dywer); Southeast safety Karlos Williams (Davenport, Fla./Ridge Community); Southeast running back Demetrius Hart (Orlando, Fla./Dr. Hart); Southwest running back Hershcel Sims (Abilene, Texas/Abilene); Southwest cornerback Quandre Diggs (Angelton, Texas/Angleton); Southwest wide receiver Jaxon Shipley (Brownwood, Texas/Brownwood); Midwest linebackers Curtis Grant (Richmond, Va./Hermitage), Travis Hughes (Virginia Beach, Va./Kempsville) and Conner Crowell (Waldorf, Md./North Point); and Midwest wide receiver DeAnthony Arnett (Saginaw, Mich./Saginaw).

"It's been real fun out here," Arnett said. "We are just trying to call get a feel for the quarterback. There's so much competition. But I feel confident and I am playing well."

Then there's this tweet from Victors_Valiant:

Michigan prospects doing well at the Gridiron Kings.. could be several super prospects visiting with Dee Hart to UM this fall.. HaHa!

Wonder if that last bit is a reference to Hart's HS teammate and Alabama commit Ha'sean (HaHa) Clinton-Dix.  Clinton-Dix has been outspoken in his desire to get Hart to join him at 'Bama, but is there a chance that the opposite could happen?  Even if it's not, if Hart is in fact bringing "several super prospects" with him to A2 this fall, Hart's intentions toward Michigan seem to be highly positive and his influence as a potential elite commit could have a major effect on how Michigan rounds out its 2011 class.

Mike Farrell of Rivals on Arnett:

Deanthony arnett standing out at gridiron kings, best wr here so far

Given Arnett's latest comments, it seems that he wants to take his talents out West.

Arnett is still considering his options, which include Michigan State, Iowa, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Southern Cal and California.

"I like the West Coast teams. I don't know if I'm going to end up there, but I want to make the trip to check them out. The probabtion at Southern Cal doesn't bother me. All the four-star receivers they have there don't bother me either. I think I can do things better than they can."