When I get bored/ have free time, I like to analyze high school football players, mainly midwest targets, and Deveon Smith was a guy that I've looked at a lot while he was an OSU target, and now while a Michigan commit. His tape has been what has caught my eye. If you haven't seen it, watch, and come back.
http://www.youtube.com/v/LhvxRGxNOfc
To keep it short, he looks like Jim Brown. Which is difficult to explain, because his ratings are all over the board for the most part.
This is where I need help from some of our resident HS football junkies:
He goes to Howland, a member of the All-American conference about which I knew very little before doing a little research on Howland's 2011 season. Smith's stats: 189 att, 2150 yards, and 25 touchdowns.
That season, they went undeafeated before losing to a 9-1 Kent Roosevelt team.
The teams they beat went as follows:
- Lakeside (1-9)
- Lakeview (6-4)
- Harding (2-8)
- Canfield (6-4)
- Carrick- PA (1-9)
- Beaver (1-9)
- Poland Seminary (7-4)
- Niles McKinley (5-5)
- Liberty (0-10)
Per Maxpreps, they played one other team that made the state playoffs (Poland- lost in one round), and won by 7. They lost to Roosevelt by 9 in their playoff game. Someone familiar with greater Canton area sports tell me: How much effect did this kid's team and conference have on his season? Clearly a weak conference, with a weak schedule. He's a strong runner and clearly a gifted athlete, but also seems to have taken advantage of terrible tackling.
Disclaimer: I am by no counts discounting this kid, I would just as easily take him on our team, as Michigan is.
Just looking for input and constantly trying to become a better judge of talent given confounding circumstances.
Jim Brown ... Thats a bit of a strong comparison seeing as to how he has next to no break-a-way speed ... I was never a fan of this kid just seems like a strong chain mover ... you want a better comparison ... I see Rashan Salamm ... Won a heisman played at Colorado before flaming out in the NFL ... JMO ...
Haha i wasn't comparing him to Jim Brown, that would be ridiculous. I was making a humorous analogy, since in his tape, NO ONE can tackle him. Please don't read too far into that
I live in the Youngstown area. I can tell you Niles,Lakeside, Lakeview , Liberty and Beaver are terrible programs. Canfield and Poland are respectable. Harding from time time has a decent team.
Overall not very good competition
A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men
OK, so its hard to speculate about this, but how much do you think scouts extrapolate this when they review a tape?
The area has some decent athletes, but overall coaching isn't what you're going to find in Cincinnati or Cleveland. Most scouts will take this into account, but you have to remember that virtually all scouting is opinion, especially in evaluating high schoolers. This is why one site will claim a player has good speed and technique, but needs to work on strength and the next site says good technique and strength, but lacking in speed. Smith is a good back, and if you want a good take on his ability, look at his offer list. No coach will say he's on Isaac or Green's level.
Im familiar with Greater Canton area, I live about 10 miles outside of Canton. Warren is considered Youngstown area. I do think they play some good football over there (Mooney, Harding at times) but not quite as conststent as Stark county (Canton Mckinley,Massilon,Glen Oak) and def not on the level of Cleveland or the Cincinnati.
Funnily enough, I attended Howland and actually played one year of football with Deveon before I graduated. I can tell you that our level of competition is not great, but we have a couple tough games every year. Poland and Canfield are traditionally very tough tests, although I don't know much about teams this past year. Lakeview usually gives us a tough test but don't usually have a ton of talent.
Our schedule isn't usually this bad, since we stopped Liberty from having an undefeated season a couple years back (proud to say I have tackled Michigan's Fitzgerald Tousaint and we held him under 80 yards rushing if I recall correctly), but obviously they have fallen apart. Also, Harding (of Maurice Clarret and Boom Herron fame (infamy)) traditionally is very strong, but also had a rough season due to coaching troubles (not talent I believe).
Our offense is straight out of the Bollman playbook, but we usually have a bigger and stronger line and talented tailbacks that make it pretty effective. Due to this, our running backs get the ball almost every down and are workhorses. Deveon played varsity as a freshman when I was a senior, and we knew already that he was headed for the big time. Nice kid, never had any real problems as far as I know. I'm sure our level of competition isn't as great as some, but just know that on pretty much every play the defense knows that Deveon is getting the ball. Most of the time they just can't stop him.
I didn't see their playoff loss, but I am told that he pretty much single-handedly carried the team to keep it a game, as Roosevelt's (possible Buckeye target) Chapman just tore up our traditionally very strong defense.
I have no idea how he will translate to a higher level of competition, but I have every reason to believe he will do very well for himself as a tough bruising back that never goes down without a fight. He does not have breakaway speed, but he hits the hole very fast and is a great smashmouth runner. His brother was doing pretty well at Wisconsin until he got himself into off-field issues. Most people would tell you he is better than his brother.
I hated to see him go up north, and wish him luck in every game except the last of the regular season.
Good stuff @ShaunOSU! Thanx 4 info..keep it coming
Just curious silver bullet, are you from Louisville? If so, don't forget to mention Louisville on the list of great football programs in Stark County.
Good stuff. Quick pro tip for anyone that's interested: You can embed YouTube videos pretty easily by following these instructions.
@Nolanfickas01- I from Alliance actually but your right I forgot about the leopards!
@Shaun...thanks for the information. Doesn't get any more inside than a teammate. Would you mind if I shared your post at another site? I think some of the other Michigan fans would appreciate your thoughts as much as I did.
It's funny you mentioned Fitz in there, as well, as some people have compared Smith to Fitz. Some were saying that Fitz's biggest problem was that he tried to run through/over everyone instead of reading and waiting on blocks before the holes opened. Borges and Hoke became more and more impressed by his vision as the season progressed (part of the reason he became the featured back). I guess that's just inexperience as Thomas Rawls has been thrown into the same boat by many, and, at least for now, Smith.
Those who stay will be CHAMPIONS!
~Bo Schembechler
I am a big fan of Deveon Smith, sure he does lack the top end speed in the open field. But he sure hits the whole hard and is fast enough to run by guys. His problem is more like when he gets 30-40 yards down field. He is not someone that is going to score from 80 yards out, but can score from 40-50 yards. He is a bruiser and a prototypical big ten running back. Reminds me alot of Mike Hart and Clarett. Sure, running styles are different, but all of them were bruiser backs that were tough to bring down.
Yeah, I went to Poland Seminary (team towards the bottom of their schedule) and I can tell you this... The AAC is a scrappy conference. It's a lot of smaller schools save Howland and Canfield. However, all of the teams are VERY WELL coached. At top, it was Howland, Poland, or Canfield every year. Poland and Canfield are both kinda down compared to when I was there, but I have heard from several friends who still live at home that Deveon is a phenomenal player.
Even though the AAC is down and is a "smaller" school conference, it faces high quality talent every year. Players like Fitzgerald Toussaint (current Michigan player), Andre Givens & Kurtis Drummond from Hubbard (I believe both are at Pitt now? RB and WR/LB respectively) were just a few guys we had to go up against. There definitely are some studs who come out of the conference, and the coaches are always prepared to take on these game changers.
Anyways, my point of that paragraph was to say that these coaches face a couple studs every year, and while you won't hear anyone from Poland, Canfield, Hubbard, etc. going to USC, OSU, UF or any major D1 powerhouses (mostly because of player size, lack of attention, NOT ability), their competition is still pretty solid, so Deveon's stats shouldn't feel that padded.
Deveon would have been a stud in Scarlet & Gray, shame we "missed" out on him.
Don't give up... Don't ever give up.
The same as it's a shame we missed out on Dunn. But, we get Smith this year and OSU will likely get a bruiser next year.
With Dunn, Smith helps Michigan much more than it hurts OSU not to get him.
Those who stay will be CHAMPIONS!
~Bo Schembechler
@Hail
Sure, feel free to post it anywhere you like. As I said, I can't really predict anything with accuracy, but my bet would be that he will be a good back for you that hits the holes hard and picks up the tough extra yards, occassionally gashing the defense for a 20-30 yard run. I would be surprised if you guys aren't happy with him.
Deveon Smith is a beast, but it should be duly noted that that League is terrible / a joke.