Cincinnati school boasts two top 09 prospects

Last fall, Cincinnati Woodward High won their final four games to finish 6-4 on the season in the difficult Cincinnat Metro League. The Bulldogs were led offensively by a pair of juniors in quarterback Orlando Spikes and running back Eric Finklea who are now receiving substantial college interest.

The 6-1, 175-pound Spikes is listed as a dual-threat quarterback and he accumulated over 700 passing yards with seven touchdowns and 460 rushing yards with six touchdowns last fall. Woodward head coach BT Sherman says that while Spikes can make plays with his feet, it is his arm that has caught college coaches' attention.

"He has a rocket arm," Coach Sherman said. "He can play other positions, but can he play them at the Division 1 level? I don't know. At quarterback, the kid can play though. He's real smooth. His speed and that stuff on paper doesn't stand out to you, but he gets the job done."

The attention from colleges thus far in the recruiting process backs up Coach Sherman's assessment of Spikes. One offer is on the table and summer camps could produce more.

"He's got an offer right now from New Mexico and then he has about 10 pending offers when guys see him here when he comes to visit," Coach Sherman said. "Schools like Indiana, Akron, Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Cincinnati and Ohio State even came down to see the kid. You know they don't just make courtesy visits.

"West Virginia is interested also, but at this point they are pretty solid at quarterback so I don't know how good of a fit that'd be."

Backing up Spikes in Woodward's backfield last year was Finklea, a 6-1, 200-pound running back who rushed for 804 yards and scored 11 times en route to first team all-conference accolades.

"He's a power back with speed. That kid passes the eyeball test all day long," said Sherman of Finklea. "I compare him to that freshman from Georgia, [Knowshon] Moreno. He'll unload into you, but also he'll break one for 70."

Like Spikes, Finklea also boasts offers at this stage of the process and could be in line for more when he makes on-campus visits.

"He's got offers from Akron and New Mexico," said Sherman. "Then you have schools like Michigan State, Miami (Ohio), UC and pretty much every MAC school. I think they'll be offering too in this next month, they just want to do the eyeball test on him and like I said he'll pass that all day long."

The pair of prospects spent time at the University of Cincinnati for their Junior Day this winter. Spikes also stopped in at Junior Days with Indiana and Miami (Ohio) Coach Sherman will bring both prospects to Ohio State this coming weekend to see the Buckeyes' spring game.