East Carolina’s football
recruiting Class of 2007 is starting to resemble a track and field team
as Coach Skip Holtz and his staff hit the home stretch before national
signing day.
Defensive line prospect
Steven Baker placed third in last year’s 3-A state shot put competition,
safety Emanuel Davis won the 1-A triple jump and safety Julian Carter
was a finalist in the 300-meter hurdles at the 4-A meet.
Still, more athleticism is
on the way.
Derek Blacknall
Another highly ranked
hurdler — and a state sprint qualifier — has been secured by Holtz to
play cornerback for the Pirates.
Derek Blacknall, from
Greensboro, ran a leg of both the 4x100- and 4x200-meter relays for
Dudley High School in last year’s state 3-A track meet. He also competes
in the 100- and 200-meter dashes for the Panthers.
But Blacknall’s raw speed
— he’s been clocked at 4.43 seconds in the 40-yard dash — is best
utilized on the football field, where he’s been a three-year starter for
Dudley.
The Triad 3-A Conference
selected Blacknall as its defensive player of the year in 2006 after the
6-foot, 170-pounder made 61 tackles, two sacks and intercepted seven
passes as a senior.
Blacknall’s best
performance of the season came against Burlington Cummings when he was
matched up against highly rated wide receiver Dwight Jones.
“He played primarily at
safety for us, but anytime we were matched up against a team with a
big-time receiver we’d lock him down on that guy,’’ Dudley coach Steven
Davis said. “He did a great job on Jones. He was on him all night and
held him to six catches for 53 yards.’’
Blacknall spent his
freshman year on the Dudley junior varsity before landing a starting job
at free safety as a sophomore. He also started on offense at wide
receiver as a senior and was a big-play maker on kick returns.
College recruiters began
to contact Blacknall after a junior year in which he made 62 tackles,
three interceptions and returned two kickoffs for touchdowns.
Marshall and Ohio University came through with early offers, but it was
East Carolina that made the most lasting impression.
“Toward the end of his
junior year (ECU running backs) Coach (Junior) Smith saw him on tape and
they’ve stayed after him ever since,’’ Davis said. “They did a good job
recruiting him. He felt real good about the direction of the program and
he felt real comfortable with Coach Holtz.’’
Although Blacknall spent
much of his prep career playing safety, Davis said the Pirates plan to
use him at cornerback.
“I think Coach Smith
really talked to him about playing corner,’’ Davis said. “He’s really
capable of playing both. He reads the offense really well. If it’s a
pass, he’s able to read it right away. If it’s a run, the same thing. He
just has this instinct about what’s coming up.
“I’ll be honest. If they
don’t have some good ones (cornerbacks) down there, there’s a
possibility he could start.’’
DeAndre Jones
Blacknall could have some
competition from DeAndre Jones of West Craven High in Vanceboro.
Jones is one of the
state’s top performers in the high hurdles in track. But like Blacknall,
his best efforts have come on the football field.
The 6-1, 185-pounder was
an all-around star at West Craven as a senior, playing safety, running
back, wide receiver and serving as the Eagles punter at times.
Jones was named to the New
Bern Sun Journal’s All-Area team after rushing for a team-best 649 yards
on 91 carries, catching 22 passes for 390 yards and scoring 14
touchdowns. He also made four interceptions on defense.
“He came to us as a
sophomore,’’ West Craven coach Clay Jordan said. “He went to New Bern
his freshman year. When he got here it wasn’t hard to see he was a good
athlete. He was a trackster and that first glimpse of him going over the
hurdles was all you needed to see.
“You have to have a
certain amount of explosiveness to clear the high hurdles. You have to
explode off the ground and then have speed in between the hurdles. I
think that relates directly to football.’’
Jones started at
cornerback as a sophomore before branching out to other positions his
final two years. He even played quarterback for a time during his junior
season after West Craven’s starter went down with an injury.
“He can do a little of
everything,’’ Jordan said. “He runs and jumps so well. It’s hard to get
anything over him when he’s playing corner. He reacts to the ball real
well.’’
East Carolina began
recruiting Jones during his junior season. The Pirates already had some
built-in connections to Jones. His cousin is ECU safety Pierre Bell and
he’s good friends with former New Bern cornerback Darryl Reynolds, who
signed with the Pirates last year.
North Carolina and South
Carolina also offered scholarships, according to Jones, but ECU was his
favorite from the start.
“He camped over there for
a couple of years,’’ Jordan said. “I think that’s just where he felt
comfortable.’’
