Football Recruiting Report
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
By
Sammy Batten |
|
Va. DB
locks in, Ga. QB peels away
By
Sammy Batten
©2012 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
East Carolina added one
dynamic athlete to its recruiting Class of 2012 over the weekend, but
also lost a significant prospect.
The Pirates received a verbal
commitment from Midlothian, VA, defensive back Deshaun Amos while he was
still on campus last Sunday completing an official recruiting visit to
Greenville. About 24 hours later, ECU lost Flowery Branch, GA, quarterback
Kanler Coker to in-state rival North Carolina.
The 6-4, 217-pound Coker had
given an oral commitment to the Pirates back in December. But when UNC's new
offensive coordinator Blake Anderson visited Flowery Branch High School
earlier this month in hopes of talking with the team's Oklahoma State-bound
receiver, C.J. Curry, he got a glimpse at Coker's senior highlight film.
Coker threw for 2,809 yards
and 31 touchdowns after transferring to Flowery Branch for his senior
season. He amassed 3,800 yards of total offense, according to Coach Chris
Griffin.
Griffin said Coker struggled
with the decision to switch his commitment because the ECU staff had done
such a great job recruiting.
“He's the type of kid who
doesn't like to disappoint anybody,'' Griffin said. “Until North Carolina
came into the picture, he was totally committed to East Carolina. They are
good people there at ECU. So I know it was tough on him.''
Coker told the ECU coaching
staff personally in a phone call about his decision.
“I'll say the East Carolina
coaches were really good to me,'' he said. “It wasn't the best situation,
but at the same time they wished me the best. They hoped that I have a
bright future and wished me the best of luck. I told them the same thing.''
The loss of Coker was offset
somewhat by the addition of Amos, a versatile three-sport athlete who earned
All-Dominion District football honors at three positions as a senior for
Manchester High School. Amos was a first-team selection at wide receiver and
kick returner, and a second-team pick as a defensive back.
ECU was the first school to
offer a scholarship to the 6-1, 175-pounder, who has also starred for the
Manchester basketball and baseball teams. But it's on the football field
where Amos showed his promise as a freshman playing for the Manchester
varsity.
A “family decision'' sent him
to the sidelines as a sophomore, and that was followed by an injury-plagued
junior season. The setbacks caused Amos to have limited exposure to college
scouts entering his senior season.
“We saw him play in middle
school, and we knew he had potential,'' Manchester coach Tom Hall said. “But
what happens is as a sophomore playing three sports, sometimes a kid gets
overwhelmed, and his family gets overwhelmed. So the family made the
decision for him not to play his sophomore season.
“Then he gets injured his
junior year, so he flew under a lot of (college) people's radar. But I was
always telling (college) coaches, 'If this kid steps up and plays the way I
know he can, he's going to be something special. And he was. His senior year
was incredible.''
Griffin said Amos scored 12
touchdowns on the season — five on offense, five on special teams and two on
defense.
The performance didn't just
happen. Amos spent much of the time between his junior and senior years
training hard in preparation for the 2011 season.
“He bought into everything we
did in our off season program,'' Griffin said. “He didn't miss a single play
his senior year. He was the only kid on our team who played both ways full
time.''
Amos developed a knack of
making big plays for Manchester when it needed them most. Perhaps the
biggest of those came in a 21-13 early season upset of rival L.C. Bird. Bird
was riding a streak of 33 straight district victories, but was deadlocked
0-0 with Manchester at halftime.
Bird seized momentum early in
the third period with a long touchdown drive.
“It pretty much took our
momentum away,'' Griffin said. “But then they kicked off to us. Deshaun
returned the kick 80 yards for a touchdown and we took it from there.
“In our biggest games, he had
the biggest plays.''
The Pirates are hoping Amos
can continue his big plays next fall playing cornerback or safety, both of
which he played in high school. ECU loses both its starters at cornerback
and one at safety to graduation.
“I think one of the things
that is attractive about Deshaun is he's a tall, long kid with great speed
who could play cover corner or the free safety spot,'' Griffin said. “He's
excited about getting to East Carolina. He's already talking about going up
this summer and taking classes, so he can be ready to compete next fall.''
E-mail Sammy Batten
PAGE UPDATED
01/18/12 07:55 PM.
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