Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Tice leads Miami Northwestern verbals
By Corey Long
For years, Miami Northwestern High School has been one of the nation’s top locations for college scouts to find elite prospects and solid athletes floating under the radar. While ESPN 150 defensive back and Miami commit Artie Burns was clearly the top senior prospect on the roster, he will be joined in the FBS ranks by several teammates.
Running backs Darius Tice (Cincinnati) and Fabian Johnson (Western Michigan) and linebacker Darius Redmond (Kent State) all made verbal commitments this weekend after official visits.
“We had a good group of seniors this year and they got better as the year went along,” said Northwestern head coach Stephen Field. “They listened to what we told them to do and they’ve earned the right to play college football for some pretty good programs.”
Burns and offensive guard Gerald Wright (Marshall) committed over the summer. The rest of the roster dealt with recruitment after the season.
Field credits his assistants with their help in getting game film out quickly.
“It’s a group effort,” Field added. “We told the kids to trust us and just play hard; the scholarships will come. And after the season the assistants worked hard to get the film together and get it out to coaches. It was a good weekend.”
By national signing day, Field expects to have about 8-10 players signing, including some with FCS programs such as defensive end Marquese Blanchard, who committed to Howard over the weekend.
Blanchard received a lot of attention with his camp play over the summer, but the prospect had only taken up football recently.
“Marquese would have gotten some good preferred walk-on opportunities, but he will do well at Howard,” Field added. “He’ll get the development and playing time there that he needs to get better.”
