National Signing Day for Football

This is the big day the players can officially sign on the dotted line and many of our local players have been busy already today. Justin Venable signed with East Carolina at 8:35 this morning and we were there. Will have video and audio on the site later today. Tory Warren from Dudley is due to sign with NC A&T and Michael Via formerly of Page and now at Northeast Guilford is set to line it up with Virginia Tech today. Venable’s a defensive back, Warren a DB/WR, and Via’s an offensive lineman.

Many other players locally are set to sign and we will be at Grimsley at 4pm when their players make it official. Zack Maynard is bound for Buffalo up in New York, James Hinson Jr. is heading out to California to play for Siskiyous U, Jamaral Rease is going to UNC- Pembroke, and David Moore will verbally commit to Guilford. Maynard is QB, Hinson LB, Reese DL in high school maybe LB in college and Moore will play anywhere you tell him but he fits in well at RB/LB.

We go anywhere we are invited so if you have an event like today’s signings contact us here at the web site. SEG called us first and Grimsley got in touch and you can be next if you want us at your next live event.

*****We can also add at least two more names to our list of locals heading on to college and they were expected to sign with the others on this day. Kenny Okoro from Dudley to Wake Forest where he will join former Panther Dominique Midgett and Kendall Bratcher from Northeast Guilford to Wofford. Good luck to Kenny and Kendall and all of our other local players that plan on signing today.*****

+++++Despite the North Carolina hat EJ Abrams-Ward signed with Tennessee today and DJ McNeil RB from Page signed with Coastal Carolina.+++++

6 thoughts on “National Signing Day for Football

  1. Ward out of Thomasville is probably the area’s highest rated player and he signed his LOI with Tennessee. Via would be next and is a great pickup for Tech given his family’s ties to the school. Looks like Butch got a pretty good haul considering the size of the class. What do NC State and UNC need to do to outrecruit some of the highly ranked recruiting area/regional schools like FSU, Miami, Clemson, Georgia and VPI? Get some fans that care? Better facilities?

  2. In addition to Michael Via from NE Guilford…QB/DB Kendall Bratcher signed with Wofford and big OL Joe Hayes signed with UNC-Pembroke this morning. All of these guys worked very hard this season for the Rams and we wish them all the best as they continue their academic and football careers.

    Shoulda’ been there Andy… there was plenty of celebration cake to go around! (but you can still watch news2 at 6 tonight)

  3. I talked to a contact out of High Point today and they said in the High Point paper this morning that EJ Abrams-Ward was wearing a North Carolina jacket at his Thomasville Bulldog basketball game last night and the Bulldogs lost to Jordan Matthews out of Siler City 70-67 and Abrams-Ward only had 12 points. That was an off night for him. The coaches at North Carolina(Davis and Williams) have said that he can play both football and basketball at UNC.

    Via at NEG and Venable at SEG both played in the NC/SC Shrine Bowl game and I know for a fact that South Carolina(the Gamecocks) wanted Venable badly and that Via could have gone to Florida because right after the Gators won the 2006 National Championship over Ohio State I saw the text message from Florida Gator assistant coach Doc Holliday contacting Via saying they wanted him and Ohio State was after him hard too.

    Abrams-Ward was down to UNC or UTenn., but if we are to keep the local kids and get more to N.C. State or Duke, or even Wake Forest the area is going to have to start producing more blue chip players. I looked at today’s list of locals in the News and Record and it was not all that impressive. We have such small numbers of top-ranked talent that the odds are the majority of them are going elsewhere. Outside the state to a big name football school would be their first choice and if all else fails then start looking back in-state with North Carolina first because of the state-wide name, then Appalachian second because you are riding a publicity wave with the three-peat run and then Wake Forest third because of the recent surge of bowl appearances.

    Jerry Moore is the featured banquet speaker in every county in the state right now and he is the man-of-the-year and his team is carried on more radio stations than at any other time in school history. 790 the Ball-Triad, 920-Burlington, 620 the Bull-Durham, Raleigh, Chapel-Hill. Plus Charlotte, Wilmington, and Asheville…. Appalachian is still on the move.

    It will be up to the assistant coaches at the schools that are lagging behind to hit the high school circuit and try to catch up and it will up to our local High School coaches here in and around Guilford County to do a better job of preparing their players for the recruiting process, especially in the area of academics. It doesn’t matter how great a prospect you are, if you are not ready for the entry requirements SAT, GPA, ETC, then you are heading outside the lines.

  4. Footnote, I wish NEG would have called or contacted us and I would have been there. I am always up for the challenge although it has really been a busy run here lately and I have had to make a few concessions.

    I am going to have to get a schedule book for all the stops with exact time and place.

    Congrats to the kids from NEG and News 2 better start tracking GREENSBOROSports.com if they want to keep up in this here town. Can I get an AMEN brothers and sisters!!!!!

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