Football Recruiting Report
Monday, January 30, 2012
By
Sammy Batten |
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Pirates add
Robeson Co. linebacker
By
Sammy Batten
©2012 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
East Carolina coach Ruffin
McNeill went back to his roots to add the latest prospect to the Pirates
recruiting Class of 2012.
Drayvon Fairley, who plays at
Red Springs High School just 14 miles West of McNeill's hometown of
Lumberton, gave his verbal commitment to ECU during an official visit to
Greenville over the weekend. Fairley is expected to be outside linebacker in
the Pirates' 3-4 defensive alignment.
The 6-foot-4, 225-pounder had
been favoring ECU since an unofficial visit to campus back in October when
he watched the Pirates defeat Tulane at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. But a
scholarship wasn't extended until Saturday evening when McNeill personally
made the offer during dinner.
“When they said they wanted me
to be part of their family, I said, 'Yes,''' Fairley said Sunday afternoon.
Fairley had received
scholarship offers from smaller college programs like Charlotte, Norfolk
State, Fayetteville State and Brevard. But first-year Red Springs head coach
George Coltharp said more major schools would have been interested if
Fairley had the adequate exposure.
“He didn't really get to do
the (summer) camp circuit because I got the job at Red Springs so late,''
said Coltharp, who was hired at Red Spring last May. “So there wasn't a lot
of preseason interest because of the coaching change. In the recruiting
game, if you don't have offers by August of September, you're behind the
eight ball.
“But once we got some film on
him doing things we wanted him to do, we started sending film out. East
Carolina started looking at him, but it looked like they were going to be
filled up as far as linebackers were concerned with this class. We talked in
December with (ECU offensive line) Coach (Brandon) Jones and he said,
'Coach, right now he's on the board, but we're not sure (about an offer).'
But the next week he called back and said the defensive coordinator had
looked at the film and it just blossomed from there.''
Both Coltharp and Fairley said
McNeill's connection to Robeson County helped the recruitment. “I think Ruff
and mom knew some of the same people,'' Coltharp said.
“I knew he grew up here,''
Fairley said. “It made me feel good because in a way he's giving back to the
country he's from. A lot of colleges don't know about Red Springs because
it's a small place. But Coach McNeill knows there is talent here.''
McNeill signed another Robeson
County player last February in linebacker Joseph Blanks. But Blanks was
never able to enroll in school for academic reasons. Fairley is already
qualified academically, so he'll officially be the first Robeson County
player to join the Pirates under McNeill.
Fairley has lived most of his
life in Red Springs, a town of about 3,500. Red Springs High School has had
stretches of success in football under former coaches like local legend
Clyde Parrish and most recently under David Lovette, who now coaches at
Gray's Creek in the Fayetteville area. Under Parrish back in the 1980s, the
Red Devils produced fullback Victor McBryde, who also signed with ECU.
But Fairley didn't begin his
football career until moving away briefly to Scotland County.
“I moved to Scotland and
played on the JV team there,'' Fairley said. “I wanted to move up to the
varsity, but before that could happen we moved back to Red Springs.''
Fairley joined the Red Springs
varsity as a sophomore as a defensive end and earned team most valuable
defensive player honors. He earned All-Three Rivers 1-A/2-A Conference
honors as a junior and senior, and made the All-Robeson County team selected
by The Robesonian newspaper.
Coltharp moved Fairley from
defensive end to outside linebacker early in the 2011 season. The result was
132 tackles, 17 tackles for loss, 13 quarterback sacks and six forced
fumbles by Fairley.
The long, lean Fairley, who
has been timed at 4.6 seconds in the 40-yard dash, reminds Coltharp of two
other great players he previously helped coach as an assistant at E.E. Smith
High School in Fayetteville.
“He reminds me of Aaron Curry
and Jason Hunter,'' Coltharp said. “He has the same build, a long kid who
runs well. The first time I saw him I immediately saw him being like Aaron
or Jason. Then he put on the pads and it was evident he liked contact. He's
just an explosive guy who likes to hit.''
Curry went on to win the
Butkus Award given annually to the nation's top linebacker while he was at
Wake Forest. He was then a first-round draft pick by the NFL Seattle
Seahawks and was traded this season to the Oakland Raiders.
Hunter was a defensive end for
back-to-back national championship teams at Appalachian State, and now plays
for the NFL Denver Broncos.
Fairley will officially join
the ECU family Wednesday by initialing a binding letter of intent on college
football's national signing day. He'll immediately begin preparing for a
freshman year in which he plans to be on the field in some capacity with the
Pirates.
“I don't like sitting out too
well,'' Fairley said. “I don't want to be redshirted. If I work hard, I know
for a fact there will be playing time."
E-mail Sammy Batten
PAGE UPDATED
01/30/12 01:26 AM.
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