Prep Stars Powell and Wilson Are Commitments!?!

[Stallion]

according to a story on the athletic page(click news by category-Athletics) at www.forkunion.com both LB Curtiss Powell and RB Tyrone Wilson of Fork Union Military Academy have already committed to SMU. Apparently, they were interviewed by some Dallas radio station(I believe THE TICKET) doing a story about Fork Union and Eddie George and the interview of Cadet Tyrone Wilson is on the net at that site. I can't access it for some reason. If someone can confirm that they are commitments not just visits we could make sure

[ALEX LIFESON]

good work Stallion, let's keep'em coming in!

[Mike Damone]

Those military academies are pretty closed off to the media and the recruiting guru's. There's a decent chance they did commit and it wasn't reported.

[PK]

Confirmation: I was able to access the interview and they have both commited to SMU. Rusty Burns was the coach who recruited them.

[Stallion]

BTW both Powell and Wilson were listed in the Virgina Top 50 under the Category of 25-50 in The Roanoke Times. For perspective Virgina usually produces about 50 recruits per year according to Texas Football but I don't think Texas Football includes Prep school players which are commonplace in Virgina.

[Pony Fan]

How big and fast are they?

[Stallion]

see Fork Union post for all the info I got

[Corso]

I got some of the interview to come through. Here's some of the things Tyrone Wilson said:

"I'm really happy, thankful for coach (Micky) Sullivan and coaching staff for helping me along the way. I had to be very patient, waiting for this moment … this is my third year (at FUMA) -- I'm a senior … when I came in it was -- I didn't think it was really a tough transition. I was thankful to get the chance … I'm from Washington D.C. -- my dad had seen a special on ESPN about Eddie George, and they were talking about how he went to Fork Union. At that time, when my dad saw the special, it wasn't my time to come to Fork Union -- it was years before. So when it was time for me to come here, it stemmed from my dad and seeing the special, and he thought about Eddie George, and what it (Fork Union) did for him … In my opinion, I thought I was always a pretty good athlete, but coming to Fork Union, it helped me develop them to a level I never had before in public school. That's the training that I've gotten here, the discipline … (On decision to go to SMU) I always was praying for that one school that would give me the opportunity to show what I can do. I wasn't really interested in having a lot of schools give attention to me. SMU was that school.

(The announcer then asked him what assistant coach recruited him, and he identified Rusty Burns. He also asked if Wilson if he was told anything about the chance to play early, and he said it was mentioned as a possibility. He also agreed with the interviewer that SMU is getting ready to turn the program around.)

The announcer then had this to offer:
"Coach Bennett, besides being a really good football coach, he's a great man, and you're going to really really enjoy being around him. He's going to take care of you. I've known Phil for a long time, and that's one thing about him and his brother Jerry … as Ty (??) mentioned, they are turning this program around."

[EastStang]

Virginia is fast becoming a solid HS football state. It shows at both the 1-A, and 1-AA levels. James Madison and William and Mary along with Delaware, all have excellent crops of Virginias. UVa, VT both had lots of Virginia recruits as did Maryland and UNC.

[KnuckleStang]

This link shows what schools the other (Roanoke Times) "Virginia Top 50" are committing to. SMU looks awfully out of place (on this most Virginian of lists), but it looks like we could be in worse company. I like the idea of a Fork Union pipeline.

http://www.roanoke.com/sports/notebookplus/16345.html

[Thumper]

Anyone ever sort out what the deal is with Wilson?

[Recruiting Guru]

I finally located some FUMA film, and watched Curtiss Powell, and frankly, I was impressed. (I have no way to verify his size without seeing him in person or talking to his coach, which I haven't. But most reports I've seen list him around 6'1" and 215 or 220, and that looks about right.)

On offense, Powell is a pretty appealing fullback. He runs pretty well, and he seems very explosive as a blocker. He doesn't try to steer a defender to the side, he seems to be trying to punish blockers. In the limited film I've seen, he twice hit a guy so hard the defender landed on his shoulder pads, rather than simply stumbling backward before falling.

Defense is where Powell stood out to me. He plays inside in FUMA's 4-4 defense, and he's one of those guys who seems to be at the bottom of the pile on nearly every play. Again, he runs well and can get up and seal off a running lane very quickly. Far more impressive, however, was his lateral movement. From what I saw, he's extremely adept at sliding around-would-be blockers and then sliding back into the lane to make the tackle. He turns and changes direction very well, and seems to have good recovery speed. He plays a little upright for my taste, but that's something that's very correctable with coaching. On the film I saw, he didn't have a pass thrown his way on offense. He dropped into coverage a few times on a tight end, and ran well with him. One ball was thrown his way, but it was overthrown -- no chance to knock it away. Powell was most impressive coming up to hit runners, and he can really hit. When he gets up a head of steam, he can punish a guy.

Tyrone Wilson was fully intent upon playing at SMU, but didn't qualify academically. He's now considering Kansas, among others.

[PonyFan]

Thanks for the report/analysis, Guru.
Interesting: as a FB and LB, Powell inspired use of the word "punish."