| 20 May 2010
Last week I threw out a teaser about a defensive back who could be better than Bam Bradley, the junior to be superstar from Trotwood Madison. There was a good deal of buzz about it but it didn't last long. BeeseBuck figured it out. I should not have been surprised as he asked me about him so long ago that my answer was, "Who?".
The player I was talking about was DeShawn Hall from Canton Glen Oak. I had not seen him until a couple of weeks ago but my first response was that I had just seen a player who would compare to Eugene Clifford. I let it sink in for a minute and looked at his film again. I would not go so far as saying he was in Cliffords class. I would say he reminds me of Prescott Burgess at the same point in his development. As a junior, Hall is now headed into his junior year, Burgess was an exceptional prospect. He did not have the senior year that everyone expected of him but as a junior he was a special player. One of the best safety prospects I have ever seen from Ohio in all my years of covering high school football. Hall has the same kind of size that Burgess had but such exceptional speed and athleticism. He could grow into a linebacker like Burgess did but right now he is a special safety prospect. He and Bradley make up a combination that I don't known if we have seen in Ohio. I can't remember a time when we have seen players of this caliber and such prototype size. Last year we had a couple of talented safeties in Christian Bryant and Latwan Anderson but neither could boast the same kind of size that we see with Bradley, 6-2, 185 and Hall, 6-2 205.
It takes me back to the Cooper era. What almost was in 1997. The defensive backfield the Buckeyes could have put on the field that year would have been the benchmark for all future defensive backfields. The talent level was so high that a fine defensive back in Damon Moore would not have been a starter. Gary Berry would have played his more natural cornerback because the safeties would have been that good. The Buckeyes had a pair of safeties, Mike Burden from Illinois and Che Bryant from Canton McKinley, that would have been the most talented pair of safeties since the days of coach Hayes. Burden was such a hitter that his high school coach would not allow him to practice against the starting offense. Che Bryant is a player most of you don't know about because he never played. Any conversation that involves the best safety prospects from Ohio has to include Bryant. He was one of the best athletes that I have seen in Ohio. Great kid too. Just didn't like school. Burden was not college material in the classroom either. Coop got the bad news about their grades right before the season started.
When I see these two in scarlet and gray, I think about the possibility of once again seeing the most talented pair of safeties we have seen in a decade. That is how good they are.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
