Sleeper OG is starting to pick up interest

The Commonwealth of Virginia has an abundance of offensive line talent in the state with the likes of Vinston Painter, Kyle Long and James Bennett. One player that is getting overlooked early on in the process is 6-foot-3, 295-pound offensive guard Joey Christine out of Stephens City (Va.) Sherando.

"He plays both ways for us, but is a stronger offensive lineman," Sherando head coach Bill Hall said. "To be honest, Joey never played organized sports until he came to high school, so he is young as an athlete. He started lifting two years ago and is developing physically and has tremendous upside. As he develops, his numbers will get better, but he already benches over 300-pounds and squats 450-pounds. On the field, he is very good at the point of attack and we ran behind him 85% of the time last season."

Hall claims Christine posted 100 pancake blocks on offense as a junior. On defense he registered 61 tackles, 10 for loss and four blocks.

Hall went on to discuss Christine's talent on defense.

"I think he does a good job against the double team," he said. "He gets it a lot, but knows how to get separation and can move down the line. He's got good explosiveness, hips and speed you want and allows the team to be successful."

Obviously the Virginia lineman is a talent on the field, what about off of it?

"I think he's an exceptional kid that realizes athletics are one way to be successful in life," he said. "He's getting better all the time as a student and qualifying shouldn't be an issue."

At this time, a handful of schools have begun to show interest in the offensive guard prospect.

"It's going pretty good," he said. "The coaches that have seen him definitely like what they see; they include Virginia, Virginia Tech, Maryland. He's also getting stuff from a bunch of I-AA schools. At this time I don't think there's a favorite, all this is new to him."