The Under Armour/Scout.com Combine tour will be making a stop at Stargell Stadium this Saturday for what should be one of the biggest events of the year in terms of numbers as slightly over 200 prospects from nine states and Canada will take part in the event. Let’s take a look at some of the players who have registered for the Queen City event.
Greenwood (Ind.) Center Grove four-star Jordan Luallen leads a talented and diverse group of athletes at quarterback. Luallen is one of the most highly coveted signal callers in the Midwest with offers from Georgia Tech, Stanford, Louisville, Maryland, Iowa, Indiana and Akron among others. At 6-foot-5 and 195 pounds, Merrilville (Ind.) standout Dolapo Macarthy towers above most players at his position. He currently holds offers from Indiana, Iowa and Bowling Green. Macarthy is intriguing and definitely a player we want to see sling the ball around. Jamal Ramsey will be making the trip to Cincinnati from Tennessee to try and impress. Ramsey holds an offer from Cincinnati. Courtney Dalcourt from Franklin-Simpson High in Kentucky has been seeing increased interest and the sleeper has already picked up offers from Stanford and Kentucky. Darwin Rogers is scheduled to make the trip from Chicago (Ill.) Leo High. At 6-4 and 205-pounds, Rogers has a ton of upside. He missed part of his junior season. Tyler Beckman is familiar with Ohio even though he is traveling up from Stillwater, Oklahoma. He is the son of former Ohio State and current Oklahoma State coach Ken Beckman. The sleeper in this group could be Kettering (Ohio) Alter rising prospect Austin Boucher or Ft. Thomas (Ky.) Highlands star Tony Guidugli.
There aren’t a ton of running backs headed to the combine, but what it lacks in quantity it more than makes up for in quality. Cincinnati (Ohio) Sycamore four-star prospect Bud Golden holds a number of offers from the likes of South Carolina, Indiana, Purdue, Louisville, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. Detroit (Mich.) Cass Tech standout Teric Jones is already committed to Michigan, but that won’t stop him from showing that he deserves to be mentioned with the best in the country. Rolandan Finch from Louisville (Ky.) St. Xavier holds offers from Northwestern, Cincinnati, Kentucky, NC State, Louisville and Stanford. “Deuce” came to our Louisville event as a sophomore and is making a return trip. Indianapolis (Ind.) Warren Central will be represented by Eric Williams who holds an offer from Northern Illinois. Kentucky standout Shenard Holton will test his skills against the best from the region. The Warren East prospect holds offers from Western Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky and Ball State. Making a return trip will be Brandon Rice of Columbus (Ohio) Walnut Ridge. Rice earned All-Combine honors in Pittsburgh, but he is looking to better his numbers.
No player has blown up more in the state of Indiana than Duwyce Wilson. Over the past few months Wilson has gone from a relatively unknown prospect to holding a handful of BCS offers from the likes of Cincinnati, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin. The Columbus East wide receiver is out to prove himself even more. Paducah (Ky.) Lone Oak wide receiver Jamarielle Brown is a player we really liked on film. With a solid showing at this event, we suspect Brown could blow up. Redford (Mich.) Covenant standout Jamonne Chester has picked up offers from Indiana, Central Michigan and Ball State. North Carolina commit Joshua McKie will make the trip from Mauldin, South Carolina to test his skills against some defensive backs from the Midwest. Cincinnati (Ohio) Elder receiver Josh Jones has already pledged to Cincinnati, but he wants to get some national recognition. There will also be a handful of tight ends on hand including Indianapolis (Ind.) Warren Central’s Ed Hazelett who holds offers from a number of schools including Arkansas, Boston College, Louisville, Kentucky and Virginia. Cincinnati (Ohio) Elder tight end Curt Graman is not a household name just yet, but it is not because he is not good. It is because he spent last year backing up All-American and Notre Dame pledge Kyle Rudolph.
There will be several talented offensive linemen at the Cincinnati event including some of Ohio’s best, Toledo (St. John’s Jesuit) tackle and Ohio State pledge Jack Mewhort never backs down from any competition. Trotwood Madison big man Chris Freeman holds a slew of offers from the likes of Alabama, Florida, Illinois, LSU, Miami, Michigan and Oregon. Freeman is out to prove that he is legit after not playing much as a junior. Columbus (Ohio) Bellbrook tackle Sam Longo has reached 22 offers now. Penn State, Florida State, Cincinnati, Wake Forest, Bowling Green and Miami (Ohio) are just a few of the schools that have offered. Cincinnati (Ohio) Elder lineman Austen Bujnoch has quietly compiled a nice offer list consisting of Indiana, Cincinnati, Akron, Louisville, Miami (Ohio) and Ohio. Chicago (Ill.) Leo lineman Leon Hill is committed to Illinois, but he also wants to prove that he deserves to be talked about with the region’s elite. The sleeper in this crew could be Rensselaer (Ind.) tackle Terry Davisson or Beechwood (Ky.) guard Dominic Mainello.
Cornellius “Tank” Carradine
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There aren’t many defensive ends with a highlight reel to rival that of Cincinnati (Ohio) Taft’s Cornellius Carradine, “Tank” holds a number of offers from schools such as Wisconsin, Illinois, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. Montez Robinson from Avon (Ind.) has picked up offers from Cincinnati, Purdue and Indiana. Columbus (Ohio) Walnut Ridge standout Zakee Bashir can play end or linebacker. He was recently offered by Toledo. Chicago (Ill.) Leo defensive tackle Lendell Buckner is committed to Illinois. He is scheduled to attend the Cincinnati event. Buckner was outstanding at the U.S. Army All-American Combine in January. Indianapolis (Ind.) Ben Davis gap plugger Jordan Stepp has recently picked up offers from Northern Illinois, Ball State and Central Michigan. A sleeper in this group could be Patrick Henry (Ohio) defensive tackle Cody Pettit. The son of a highly successful coach has offers from Akron and Kent State.
The linebacker group is similar to the running back groups, not strong in numbers, but deep in talent. Ridge Wilson from Louisville (Ohio) Central holds offers from Kentucky, Louisville and Arkansas. Tim Edmonds from Cincinnati (Ohio) LaSalle can play linebacker or fullback. He currently claims an offer from Tennessee. Ryan Cheek from Lancaster (Ohio) has seen his stock rise in recent weeks. He holds offers from Cincinnati, NC State, and Maryland among others. Ohio State commit Zach Boren was scheduled to attend, but since his baseball team is on a hot streak he will likely not make it. Keep an eye on Austin Moore from Springfield (Ohio) North. Moore had a standout performance at the New Level/Badger Sport Skills Pass Camp in Akron and he is looking to build off of that showing.
Middletown (Ohio) defensive back D.J. Hunter holds a number of offers from the likes of Ohio State, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Wake Forest and Illinois. Hunter still feels like he doesn’t get the pub that he deserves, so expect him to be lights out on Saturday. Cincinnati (Ohio) North College Hill athlete Everett Horne is another Cincinnati Bearcat commit with something to prove. Cincinnati (Ohio) LaSalle cornerback Ricky Steele comes highly endorsed by former LaSalle star and current Ohio State Buckeye commit DeVier Posey and that is good enough for us. Steele recently garnered offers from Buffalo and Bowling Green. Lawrence Barnett from Ft. Wayne (Ind.) Bishop Luers holds an offer from Bowling Green, but with a strong showing he should gain a lot of attention. Lakota East is always a solid program in Ohio and their best player this year could be Jared Riley. Taylor Schoen Benton (Ind.) Central is another player who impressed us at the New Level event in Akron. Winston Hines is a do-it-all player from Pulaski (Ky.) County. Stefan Levy will make the trip down from Canada. The Meadowvale athlete will be out to make a name for himself.
You have to have a little bit of an underclassman flavor at any combine and the Cincinnati event will feature some of the Midwest’s best in action. Princeton (Ohio) star Spencer Ware has already been dubbed by many as the best underclassman in the state of Ohio, we’ll see if he can live up to the lofty expectations. William Gholston is the not so little (6-7) brother of former Ohio State standout and first round NFL draft pick Vernon Gholston. The younger Gholston who hails from Detroit (Mich.) Southeastern will be one of the Midwest’s top players in 2010. Another Detroit star Dior Mathis will also be repping the (313). The Cass Tech athlete can fly and we look forward to seeing him in action. Lexington (Ohio) athlete Courtney Avery earned All-Combine honors in Pittsburgh. Derek Roback (Waverly) is one of the more impressive quarterback prospects that we have seen in Ohio to date. He will be on hand to show off his skills. Highlands (Ky.) safety Austin Collinsworth will not find the atmosphere in Cincinnati very foreign. His dad Chris Collinsworth played a number of years for the Cincinnati Bengals. James Hurst from Plainfield (Ind.) is widely considered the top underclassman along the offensive line in the state of Indiana. His brother Nelson Hurst is headed to Mississippi State. At last year’s combine Wyoming (Ohio) defensive tackle Larry Black put himself on the map and eventually committed to play at Indiana. This year, his little brother Jibreel Black will be laying the groundwork for what he hopes is as successful of a prep career as his brother. Ben Davisson of Rensselaer (Ind.) will be heading to the event with his older brother. It is tough to call him big brother when the younger Davisson stands at a massive 6-foot-9 and 300 pounds and is only in the class of 2011. Another class of 2011 standout is Huber Heights (Ohio) Wayne athlete Braxton Miller who already holds a verbal offer from Cincinnati.
***Due to unforseen circumstances the combine has been moved from the Cincinnati Bengals practice facility to Stargell Stadium***
Stay logged on to Scout.com for all the post-combine recaps, All-Combine teams, MVP, results, photos, videos and much more. The Under Armour/Scout.com Combine in Cincinnati is full. There will be no walk-ups accepted.
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