Quick Bits 7/13

Jalin Marshall of Middletown High School and Cameron Burrows of Trotwood-Madison have been chosen to participate in the Champion Gridiron Kings competition as the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlanda, Fla.

They are among 38 high school football players throughout the nation to be chosen for the July 27-29 event. Another 26 participants will be named.

Players will be divided into regional teams and will compete in 7-on-7 games, skill challenges and performance training. The fourth annual games draw the nation’s top quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, linebackers, cornerbacks and safeties.

Marshall, 6-1, 190 pounds, is a senior quarterback. Burrows, also 6-1, 190, is a senior cornerback. Both have verbally committed to Ohio State University.

Over the summer, a handful of the Big Ten’s most successful programs over the last several years threw their names into the hat for Detroit Cass Tech offensive lineman Dennis Finley, and the four-star prospect rewarded them by putting them near the top of his list.

Michigan State, Ohio State and Wisconsin join Illinois at the top of the 6-foot-6, 275-pound tackle’s leaderboard. Those three all came with offers in succession following the Sound Mind, Sound Body camp in mid-June.

The No. 8 player in Michigan in the 2013 class, Finley has visited Michigan State several times, and his cousin graduated from the school. His sister still attends Michigan State.

Da'Shawn Hand enjoys time at Nike event

Whether competing against nationally-ranked recruits or chatting up current NFL stars, Da’Shawn Hand felt right at home during his four-day stay at The Opening in Beaverton, Ore.

The invite-only event brought together 152 of the nation’s top high school football prospects, including Hand, who was one of only three juniors in attendence.

With the first opportunity to wear pads since his high school season ended last November, the Woodbridge High School rising junior defensive lineman jumped at the chance to show why he’s already being considered as the nation’s possible top recruit for the class of 2014.

“I was comfortable,” said Hand, who was one of eight players from Virginia at The Opening. “There was a lot of great competition and you had to bring your A game.”

The 6-foot-5 Hand, who estimates he has over 50 Division I offers now, liked the opportunity to showcase his strength.

“They got to see my power, it wasn’t just finesse,” Hand said. “And being in pads, it felt good to be out there.”

Hand said a number of NFL players were in attendance there, including Ray Rice, Joe Haden and Ndamukong Suh.

“If you had a question for them, they’d answer it, but they were just chillin with us, like any normal person,” Hand said.

Hand was particularly thrilled to meet Suh, the standout defensive lineman for the Detroit Lions, who was the second overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft.

Beyond Suh’s run-stopping and pass-rushing abilities, Hand also noted that Suh was an engineering major in college. One of Hand’s priorities in choosing a college is finding one with a reputable engineering program.

“I definitely looked up to that,” Hand said. “I’d like to follow in his footsteps and be even better.”

Hand’s biggest challenge came after the event finished Sunday. He caught a red-eye flight back that included a stopover in Chicago before arriving home Monday morning.

Hand’s next out-of-town trip comes Saturday when he heads to the University of Alabama for a four-day stay. He will attend a camp down there along with Woodbridge teammate Evrett Edwards.

Hand has already made unofficial visits to Virginia, Virginia Tech and North Carolina this summer and plans to attend a camp at Ohio State later this month. He said he also might take an unofficial visit to Clemson as well before high school football practice begins for the Vikings Aug. 1.

Tracy Sprinkle (Elyria, Ohio/Elyria) is a baller. It's hard to ignore that fact, especially when looking through his Facebook page. But unlike other Ohio State football recruits, his page isn't all about penalties, pigskins and punts. Instead, it's loaded with pictures of himself playing basketball. From shots as a member of Elyria's hardwood heroes -- the Pioneers reached the Division I regional semifinals or the round of 16 last year -- to frames of playing summer ball, it takes a while to find an image of Sprinkle playing football.

Two-sport champion Cornelius Elder deserves more basketball respect

INDIANAPOLIS -- Presuming you’re reading this on a computer or iPad or smartphone, which pretty much covers the gamut of how internet columns are consumed, take a moment and do a Google search on a young man named “Cornelius Elder.” Go ahead, we’ll wait.

As you can see, just about everything returned extols his gifts as a football player. Look at him here and here. That’s him, No. 15. He does not get tackled a lot.

Cornelius Elder already has major college offers for football, but plans to play college basketball. (AP Photo)

According to 247 Sports, which ranks him the No. 144 prospect in the nation, Elder has football scholarship offers from Ohio State, Vanderbilt and Cincinnati, and Alabama and Miami are intrigued. So if he were to walk away from basketball next spring after walking across the stage to accept his high school diploma, Elder still would have a significant future in athletics.

But that is not the plan.

Sporting News asked Elder if he has a favorite sport, and he responded succinctly: “Basketball.” We asked if basketball is the sport he plans to pursue at the college level, and brevity reigned, again: “Yes, sir.”

When another reporter asked him to recite the list of schools pursuing him as a point guard, he had slightly more to say: “Um, Western Kentucky, MTSU, uh, College of Charleston, Northeastern and Florida Gulf Coast.”

These are all fine mid-major programs, some of them with distinguished histories and records of recent success. Western Kentucky reached the Final Four in 1971 and the Sweet 16 as recently as ’08. Middle Tennessee State won the most recent Sun Belt Conference regular-season championship. College of Charleston has made four NCAA Tournament appearances.

After watching Elder run the point for Team Nashville at the adidas Invitational tournament, though, it is not easy to reconcile how the list of athletic programs pursuing him as a football star is so much more glamorous than the collection of those who want him for basketball.

OK, so he is 5-10 (maybe), 165 pounds (probably). That’s pretty small. But if Urban Meyer thinks Elder is big enough to cope with 290-pound defensive linemen, it’s a mystery why no basketball coaches at a similar level expect that he can deal with a 6-8 power forward.

“I guess it’s rare to see a 5-10 point guard for a high major,” Elder said, “but hopefully they can see what I can do out here.”

Veteran recruiting analyst Van Coleman, who watched Nashville’s Thursday evening game, marked down Elder as a high-major prospect after noting his vision, quickness, speed and, presumably for a football player, a reasonably high degree of toughness. Following the game, Elder said he must improve his shooting touch.

Elder is a winner, as well. Ensworth, the private school he attends in Nashville, has claimed consecutive Tennessee state championships in both football and basketball. He rushed for 2,072 yards and scored 21 touchdowns as a junior. He scored 21 points and passed for five assists in the ’12 state final against Memphis Briarcrest, which featured top-60 center prospect Austin Nichols.

The Ensworth football team is ranked No. 22 nationally by MaxPreps in advance of the ’12 season. “Basketball, we’re on a rebuilding year but I think we have the talent” to win a third consecutive state title, Elder said.

What makes Elder an extraordinary basketball prospect is the same thing that helps him remain upright on the football field: Vision. With the basketball in his hands, he constantly is aware of where teammates are located and often recognizes before they do that scoring opportunities have developed.

“I’d probably say playing football helps out,” Elder said. “Being a running back, you have to have good vision.”

It’ll be up to major-college scouts to recognize Elder’s ability over the remainder of this month. He’ll finish up his weekend here at the adidas tournament and then be on to the Peach State Summer Showcase in Aiken, S.C., and the Super Showcase and AAU nationals in Orlando.

He already has been named MVP of the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions and the Wallace Prather Memorial Day Classic. Those weren’t open to college coaches, however. Perhaps they needed to see for themselves.