The word on the street on Morehead, Thompson and Heavner

In the high school sports world, it is often misconstrued that players from the winningest teams have the best player or players. In many cases that could be true, but it does not mean that those players will have the most success when they leave or that college recruiters will only look at those players for their respective schools.

Case in point. Ricky Lewis a Quarterback from Dudley was the State Player of the Year from a program that went undefeated and won two straight State Championships. Does that mean he was the best quarterback in the area? Was he heavily recruited?

If so, what schools were recruiting him for that position? He signed with NC A&T University a team that is trying to right its ship and has not had a polished quarterback since Alan Hooker and Cornell Maynor. He may never play quarterback there and even though he is considered under the position Athlete, that can also mean there is no position.

In Layman terms, it is called “Jack of All Trades and the Master of None”. Now some are going to misinterpret this, but lets see how it plays out.

Zach Maynard from Grimsley is the starting quarterback for Univeristy of Buffalo. Did Grimsley win any State Titles? Zach only quarterbacked one year at Grimsley after transferring from Eastern Guilford.

Keenan Allen is in a class all by himself and deservingly so. He is that good and barring injury or anything else, he will be an immediate impact at whatever college he attends.

Now here is a kid that many may be overlooking but has the same skill level as Allen, is Josh Morehead over at Eastern Guilford. Josh Morehead? One would ask. Eastern Guilford? Aren’t they 0-4 and have lost 9 games in a row since last year? They would be correct on both questions. Now ask who was Torry and Terrence Holt when other teams and players were the marquee names in Guilford County during that era?

Looks to me that Torry is on his way to the Hall of Fame and has placed himself in the NFL record books for receiving yardage and has a Super Bowl ring as well along with All Pro status and his brother Terrence has a pretty good NFL career after they both left NC State.

Josh Morehead could be that kid that many think that no schools are watching except the College scouts who do not base decisions in recruiting on wins and losses. Keep reading the papers and see if his name keeps coming up. Running a subpar 4.4 helps as well as being multitalented. Just imagine if Keenan Allen and him were still playing together like they did in junior high?

Josh Thompson of Western Guilford is one of the best quarterbacks in the area even though he is only a sophomore. He has the proper techniques and a quiet swagger that most successful quarterbacks have got to have. Now Western Guilford’s team might not be as successful as a Page, Northern, Dudley or Northwest but it does not distract from him being highly saught after at the right time.

Luke Heavner of Ragsdale ia another quarterback that is one of the best in the area.. He has the coolness and proper techinque to play at the next level. He has demostrated that he can operate very well in big games. He showed great posie against Dudley in Ragsdale’s win and was nearly perfect against Page, who came in riding pretty high. He would make a great mid major college prospect .

Now folks tend to get caught up in high major, mid major and low major titles. A very big mistake. Go where you can play and finish your education. Scott Riddle from Eastern Randolph is a prime example.

He has done wonders for Elon and has placed himself in a position that NFL teams have him on their radar. I know for many to say going to Carolina, Duke etc.. sounds more gratisfying. But it has no bearing on ones success.

It is never the school that you attend that is important. It is what you do while you are there that matters the most. Does anyone know of any athlete that may have attended a school based on the name or what others thought and it has not turned out well? If you can play they will find you. Never forget that and do not be lured in by high school coaches who tell you other wise.

14 thoughts on “The word on the street on Morehead, Thompson and Heavner

  1. This is one of the best post I have read on this site. This is what I have been preaching to all of the athletes that I have come in contact with in recent years.

    Collage coaches find players wherever they play. Putting together a great program that wins year after year you have to have good players, but a great player on a bad team will still be found.

    For those athletes that are collage prospects, make the choice that gives you the best opportunity to play and help your team win. It’s great to be in a big time program, but its better to play than to watch others perform.

  2. A very good post, indeed.

    It will be interesting (over time) to see how Eastern’s program develops now that there’s a new sheriff (er…superintendant) in town.

  3. I didn’t see any mention of Quarterback Matt Pawlowski “”Sophomore”” at NWG. He has quitely lead his team to a 3-1 record and averaging 114 yds per game passing, cool under pressure, 6 feet 1 inch tall and only 15 years old. You will hear alot about this kid in the future.

  4. Heavner is throwing the ball well, no doubt. And he is faster than most people realize (he was all-conference in track). But his biggest strength may be his decision making ability. He gets rid of it when needed, tucks and runs when needed, gets out of bounds when trying to preserve the clock and sliding to stay in bounds when he wants to keep the clock moving.

  5. I agree that this is the best post that I have read and deals more with common sense and a great evaluation of talent of kids that can often fly under the radar.

  6. Eastern Guilford is truely got a superb football player. I was overtaken by the athletic ability of Josh Morehead. He is really leading that football team and got REAL talent. I was in awe with all the positions he was playing and may I say playing well. I agree with other comments on this was a good evaluation article. Keep up the good work.

  7. I heard that Moorehead kid has played every position (rb,cb,safety,kr, now qb)and was the QB vs Western Guilford. can he throw, do he have weapons, or is he there just using him for the run. is he really a true athlete

  8. MOREHEAD indeed a true athlete. A player that is virsitile on the field, and delivers the results in each position that is entrusted to him. He does an AWESOME job in each position that I have had the privilege to watch him play in. Josh Morehead has TRUE TALENT, that can not be disputed. God Bless him!

  9. I watched Matt Pawlowski over @ NW Guilford and that kid can play! He made some real Clutch throws @ Smith in that 14 point come from behind win.

  10. Andy,

    Andy, I totally agree with you on this subject. The one thing that you are leaving out in this, these young men High School coaches. If these coaches were sending film out on some of these players, just maybe they may be highly recruited. Yes believe it or not a high school coach can make or broke a young man chances. Some kids may not have a chance to go to different football camp, can’t afford to pay to attend these camp. You used Allen Hooker and Cornell Maynor as an example, but keep in mind that both played qb when College coach tried to chance blacks from QB’s to DB’s. Rickey Lewis was not highly recruited because of grades. Yes, keep talking about the kid at Eastern but is the Head Coach doing anything to help the young man that is the question. From what I can see the only Coaches that are helping these young men are Dudley High School and a Coach that is no longer coaching in Guilford. Their is so much talent in Guilford County but we have some very lazy Head Football Coaches in this county. Just my point of view!

  11. Tarheel,

    I guess you are the only one who does anything for kids…Dudley coaches do a great job, but there are coaches all over who send off film of players…You just like to come on here and bad mouth these coaches to try and make yourself look better…Why can’t you hold down a coaching position?..Why does everyone think you are a joke?..I hear nothing but bad things about you, and I don’t even know you…I’m not talking about one or two people talking about you, I’m talking about 20 to 30 people who don’t like you…You are egotistical and think your s*&^ don’t stink…The coaches you bad mouth may not have the money to take them to Oregon like you do, but let us be honest, your connection with Philyaw at Oregon is your only way of ever helping kids into that program…Without Philyaw, you wouldn’t be able to knock on any of those doors…

    Let us get this straight, not every kid needs you like you think they do…They will do just fine without you…So, you have helped 120 some kids get into college?..Direct quote here, “I have helped over 120 kids get into college blah blah blah”…Don’t you see how egotistical that sounds?..It is cool if you want to help kids get into college, but you would have more allies working with the high school coaches rather than bad mouthing them on here…However, you don’t see it…You want it all for yourself, so that you can be the man who helped save all these kids from their big bad coach…Get a life man…Better yet, get away from Guilford County all together…

  12. Dudley coaches do a great job of getting their folks in to college. They are the Hall Mark of how a program should be ran. No other schools in this area are even close. THE HOME OF STATE CHAMPIONS!

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