High School Sports Blog

SI praises Northwestern's football team

Sports Illustrated posted its Top 10 national high school programs today.

Northwestern came in fourth place in recognition of their football and girls' track and field state championships this past season.

The top 10 in order:

1. Jesuit (Portland, Ore.): Oregon's top athletic program the past 13 years had five state titles: Football, girls' cross-country, boys' swimming, girls' tennis, and men's golf

2. DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.)

3. Warren Central (Indianapolis): Indiana's first football program to win 4 straight state titles

4. Northwestern

5. Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, CA)

6. John Curtis (River Ridge, La.): finished fourth in the nation last year in football

7. Mater Dei (Santa Ana, CA): basketball powerhouse

8. Southlake Carroll (Texas): USA Today's defending national football champions, winners of 48 straight games, and NW's opponent Sept. 15 in Texas

9. Collins Hill (Suwanee, Ga.)

10.  Long Beach Poly (CA) and BC High (Dorchester, Mass.)

Dre's early summer top 20 Dade football recruits

As we've done in years past, we'll come out with our top 20 seniors in our official top 20 football recruits in the Dade football preview in August.

In the meantime, here are my early summer top 20 list

Again, this is not an official list just an early stab at ranking some of the top players in the county. I'm sure I'll miss tons others that I'll soon hear about from readers, so by all means let's create some buzz.

1. Marcus Forston, Northwestern, DT, 6-3, 290, 4.8, rated in the top 30 overall by rivals.com

2. Aldarius Johnson, Northwestern, WR, 6-3, 195, 4.5, rated 41st overall by rivals. UF, UM, FSU, Georgia, UNC

3. Etienne Sabino, Krop, 6-3, 230, 4.6 has over 20 offers, FSU likes a lot

4. Brandon Harris, Booker T. Washington, CB, 5-10, 175, 4.45, could be UM guy, like big brother Tim

5. Marcus Robinson, Homestead, LB, 6-2, 215, 4.5    had 18 sacks last year, can also play WR, tremendous athlete; USC, Michigan on the list as well as the big 3

6. Greg Shaw, Monsignor Pace, OL, 6-6, 275, 25-30 offers for Willie Williams' younger bro

7. Sean Spence, Northwestern, 6-1, 200, 4.6 - been watching this guy since freshman year and he's been a beast of a linebacker with all the makings of a good one at the next level.

8. Brandon Washington, Northwestern, OL, 6-4, 310, UM commit and monster o-lineman

9. Thearon Collier, Booker T.  Washington, WR, 5-9, 163, 4.5, UM commit

10. Jacory Harris, Northwestern, QB, 6-4, 169, 4.8, UM commit

11. Davon Johnson, Booker T.  Washington, WR, 5-11, 470, 4.45

12. Tommy Streeter, Northwestern, WR, 6-5, 200, 4.5

13. Benjamin Jones, Northwestern, DT, 6-5, 280, 5. 1, 3-star

14. Mike Goodman, OL, Columbus, 6-5, 270, 5.2 has offer from UM as well as interest from Maryland, South Carolina and Rutgers to name a few

15. Corey Liujet, Hialeah, DL, 6-3, 230, 4.7 - people are going to start talking about him real soon

16. Brian Moore, Ransom, OL, 6-3, 275, commit to Duke

17. Robert Sands, Carol City, FS, 6-5, 197, 4.6, Auburn high on the list

18. Travis Howard, CB, Krop, has big 3 from Florida on list

19. George Baker, Archbishop Carroll, RB, among top 35 athletes in nation

20. Donovan Varner, Gulliver Prep, CB, 5-8, 160

There are tons more but that will have to wait till August.

For now, enjoy.

Another in a grand sweep by the University of Miami football team?

Jacory Harris committing in June.

Thearon Collier rejecting Auburn and switching to UM.

Granted in this day and age, verbal commitments can change as often as one changes shirts, especially this early. But these fantastic turns of fortune just weren't happening for UM's football recruiting only a few months ago.

There are rumors all over the net that Miami has a shot of signing not only a few, but maybe close to all of Miami-Dade's top recruits - especially the elite from the teams that will begin the season ranked in the nation's top 10 (Booker T. and Northwestern).

Jacory Harris, Brandon Washington and Thearon Collier from what I've read from recruiting sites and from some of the loyal readers of this blog.

Looks like the U will be kicking &%#$ and taking names as recruting continues to heat up over the next few months.

I'm just beginning some summer vacation (notice the 2-week break between entries), but once mid-July comes around I intend to start hitting some of the schools to start preparing next season's coverage.

'07 hs football season promises to be sick!