Knoxville 7-on-7 features top talent

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - On Friday 12 teams gathered from around the South to make the Adidas 7-on-7 passing tournament. The teams in action were Haltom, Texas; Cypress Creek, Texas; Byrnes, SC; Farragut, Tenn.; Whites Creek, Tenn.; Atlanta Westlake, Ga.; Franklin, Tenn.; Stone Mountain, Ga.; Atlanta McNair, Ga.; Louisville Male, Ky.; Central Merry, Tenn. and Washington D.C. Dunbar. The camp not only featured several big time prospects for the class of 2006, but featured several top prospects for the class of 2007.

The most highly-recruited prospect at the camp Haltom City linebacker Anthony Lewis, who helped lead his team to a final four birth in the tournament before losing to eventually champion Byrnes. His film shows why he is one of the top run stoppers in the country, but on Friday he showed his ability to drop back into coverage. He has nailed down dozens of offers and will narrow his list of suitors down soon.

"My goal is to have it down to ten schools by the beginning of July," Lewis said. "I have a lot of schools that could still make that list. I know that Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Missouri and Oklahoma will make the cut for sure. I have already visited those schools and I liked what I saw."

Lewis' teammate, wide receiver Jeremy Brent also was in attendance and was extremely impressive physically. Brent is a legit 6-foot-5, 200 pounds and has tons of raw talent. This will be only his second year of playing organized football so he has large upside. Brent already has picked up several offers, but with his NFL-style body, don't be surprised if he makes a meteoric rise up the boards of many programs.

"Right now my offers are still from Houston, Oklahoma State, Missouri, Washington State and Kansas State," Brent said. "I'm also really getting a lot of interest from Mississippi State, Wisconsin and Wyoming recently. I have wanted to hear from Oklahoma, but they haven't been showing me much interest."

Another big time prospect at the event was Atlanta (Ga.) Westlake linebacker Morrice Richardson, the No. 14 prospect in the state of Georgia. Richardson did not have a full day of work, rotating in about every other series. He's attended many camps over the last few weeks and has several more still on tab.

"My most recent offers are from Alabama and Purdue," Richardson said," Richardson said. "With those two that gets me up to 23 offers. I have been to camps at Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee and LSU. I am still planning on going to Oklahoma and Florida this summer for camps."

Instead of shrinking, Richardson's list continues to grow with each offer that comes rolling in.

"I am still wide open right now," Richardson said. "I will start trying to narrow it down soon, but there are so many good schools out there that have offered that I am interested in. I want to take my visits early in the season and make a decision during the season."

Duncan (S.C.) Byrnes defensive back Prince Miller helped lead Byrnes to a 7-0 record and a tournament title Saturday as well as a state title during his junior year. He has an impressive list of offers and gives Rivals.com his top five.

"I have about 10 offers, but my favorites right now would be Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Florida State, Georgia and Georgia Tech," Miller said. "Those are my top five. I will take all of my visits before I decide. I would like to stay somewhere in the South and close to the East coast."

Louisville (Ky.) Male quarterback Brian Anderson had a solid day and has begun to heat up in recruiting circles of late as well. He has attended camps at Louisville, Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue and Kentucky this summer and picked up his first offer last week, from the Illini.

Washington (D.C.) Dunbar cornerback Vontae Davis had a solid day on the defense side of the ball, but also played some wide receiver where he scored several touchdowns. He has picked up several offers already (Maryland, Illinois, North Carolina, Duke, Temple, Akron, Kent and Rutgers) and is beginning to narrow things down.

"I like Illinois a lot," Davis said. "I visited there and it is a really good place. I think coach Zook is going to do a really good job up there. I am going to visit North Carolina in the next few weeks."

Byrnes quarterback Daniel Barton, Louisville Male athlete Doug Beaumont, Atlanta Westlake wide receiver Joseph Bryant and safety Mario Edwards were other Division I prospects in attendance.

Class of 2007 strongly represented

Washington (D.C.) Dunbar wide receiver Arrelious Benn should be a prospect that will get some five star consideration in the class of 2007. He was by far the best wide receiver at the tournament and is a different level from even most of the top wide receivers in the class of 2006 we've seen. He is a big, tall muscular prospect with great speed and leaping ability. He can make cuts like a knife. Perhaps that's why many schools are already after his services.

"I already have offers from Illinois, Virginia, Maryland and Michigan State in writing," Benn said. "A bunch of other schools like Florida State, Miami, USC, Auburn and some others are sending me mail and calling my coach and telling they will offer me during the season sometime."

Though it's still early Benn has already though a little about what schools had the best chance to land his services.

"I grew up a Maryland fan, but I don't know if that will be a factor," Benn said. "Right now Illinois, Maryland, Auburn and Virginia are some schools that I know I will definitely want to look out, but it is still really right now."

Benn is not the only class of 2007 prospect at Dunbar as quarterback/athlete Nathan Bussey is also getting attention and has picked up an early offer.

"I went to a camp at Illinois a few weeks ago and they told me that they probably wouldn't take a quarterback in my class, but they wanted to offer me as a safety," Bussey said. "I'm getting mail from North Carolina, Michigan, Pitt, West Virginia, Virginia Tech and others."

Another big time junior prospect and future Rivals 100 candidate in attendance was Duncan (S.C) Byrnes quarterback Will Korn, who already has several offers on the table.

"Clemson, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia Tech and North Carolina have all already offered me scholarships," Korn said. "They aren't allowed to talk to me yet, but they all got (Byrnes) coach (Bobby) Bentley to tell me that I had an offer."

Two other top juniors in attendance were Stone Mountain (Ga.) linebacker/fullback Donnell Smith and Atlanta (Ga.) Westlake quarterback Cameron Newton. Smith is a 6-foot-0, 220 pound well put together kid, who runs well and will get looks from some big time programs as a linebacker. Smith is a tall, thick quarterback with an absolute cannon for an arm. He is still very raw and has a ton of upside.