Football Recruiting Report
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
By
Sammy Batten |
|
Pirates 'steal'
a gem in Goose Creek's Myers
By
Sammy Batten
©2012 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
Chuck Reedy seems to be
describing the son every father would want when talking about Mike
Myers.
"He's just a great kid,''
Reedy says. "He's a good student. He comes to practice every day until about
6 o'clock a lot of nights and then goes off to work at a fast food
restaurant to work. He does that on weekends, too, to help his mom.
"He is a very mature kid ...
more mature than most 17-year-olds.''
Myers has combined those
character traits with outstanding athletic ability to become a football
standout for Reedy at South Carolina powerhouse Goose Creek High School.
He's been part of the Goose Creek varsity since his freshman season and last
year, while playing defensive tackle, helped the Gators claim the state 4A
Division II championship.
East Carolina special teams
and running backs coach Kirk Doll also took a liking to Myers during a
recruiting stop in Goose Creek last spring, resulting in a scholarship offer
from the Pirates. Myers accepted in early September over offers from
Charlotte, Marshall, Middle Tennessee State, North Carolina and Southern
Miss.
Plenty of other schools would
have been interested if the 6-foot-1 1/2, 285-pound Myers was an inch or two
taller, according to Reedy.
"If he was 6-2 or 6-3 he'd be
recruited by everyone in the country,'' Reedy said. "He is an exceptionally
good player. He's probably as strong as any kid I've ever had. He benches
around 400 pounds, he runs in the 5.0 or 4.9 range (in the 40-yard dash) and
plays with great effort.
"East Carolina has gotten
themselves a jewel. They stole one in him.''
Playing his first season on
the defensive line, Myers collected 77 tackles and made five sacks in Goose
Creek's run to the state title in 2011. He contributed several tackles
behind the line of scrimmage as the Gators down Greenwood, 37-21, for the
state championship.
Goose Creek is again a
contender for state honors this season with a 9-0 record. Myers had 34
tackles, two sacks and two interceptions in those games and is expected to
be selected for South Carolina's annual North-South All-Star game later this
year.
Myers was in the seventh grade
at a local middle school when he first caught Reedy's attention. Reedy has
seen plenty of potential college players in previous jobs as an assistant
coach at Clemson and as head coach at Baylor from 1993-96. ECU head coach
Ruffin McNeil was a graduate assistant coach at Clemson during Reedy's
tenure at the Atlantic Coast Conference school.
"We have three middle schools
that feed into the high school here, so every year I go over to talk to the
rising seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders about our program and what they
need to be doing,'' Reedy said. "Even in the seventh grade, Mike was a big
kid. I immediately thought defensive lineman because of his size. But he was
playing fullback at the time, and he said that's where he wanted to play for
us.''
Two years later, Myers did
become a varsity co-starter at fullback, rushing for "about 500 or 600
yards'' and scoring 10 touchdowns, according to Reedy. He alternated at
fullback again a sophomore with similar results before coming to a
career-changing decision.
Faced with the prospect of yet
another season rotating with an older player at fullback, Myers decided to
try something new with some gentle prodding from Reedy.
"Mike had gotten to about 250
pounds,'' Reedy said. "I called him in and said, 'You can stay at fullback
if you want to. Obviously, you'll be alternating there. But you're an
awfully good football player. You can move to another position where you can
be a starter. It's your choice.'
"He said, 'Coach, I used to
play defensive line. I'd like to try that.' That's exactly what I wanted him
to say, but I wanted it to be his choice.
"We moved him to defensive
tackle and he immediately took to it.''
Reedy said Myers makes a lot
of plays in the backfield because of his strength and quickness, and he's
not talking just about tackles.
"This was quite an
accomplishment,'' Reedy said. "He had two interceptions in a game as a
defensive lineman, and he ran one of them in for a touchdown. He was rushing
the passer, but somebody else got there first and the ball pops out. He
caught it and ran it in.''
Myers plays tackle in Goose
Creek's four-man front, but has been recruited as a nose tackle for ECU's
3-4 alignment. The only other recruit for 2013 so far who may play defensive
line is
Kirk Donaldson from Vance High in
Charlotte. Donaldson has been recruited as an end or outside linebacker.
Goose Creek has one of the
most talented teams in the entire Southeast United States this season when
it comes to college prospects. Myers is one of three senior Gators who have
already committed to major college programs along with linebacker Gerald
Turner (South Carolina) and wide receiver Tramel Terry (Georgia). Two
others, defensive ends Jalen Stevens and DeShawn Evans, are also being
pursued by Football Bowl Subdivision teams.
Behind that group are also two
juniors who already have major-college scholarship offers in running back
Caleb Kinlaw and tight end Kalan Ritchie.
The Pirates also offered Terry
a scholarship, but aren't yet involved with any other Goose Creek players.
But Reedy wouldn't mind if they did because of the high regard in which he
holds ECU's McNeill.
"I've known Ruffin for 25
years,'' Reedy said. "Even though I'm not in constant contact with him, I'm
very proud of what he's accomplished. I'm really happy to have someone go up
there to play for him.''
E-mail Sammy Batten
PAGE UPDATED
10/24/12 06:43 AM.
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