Pitt football recruit a track champion.... Clairton star sprinter likes football best .... Clairton's Green has 15 scholarship offers
By Mike White | Friday, May 21, 2010, 2 p.m.
I'm just sayin'
It will be interesting to see where Brandon Ifill ends up playing for the Pitt football team and what kind of career he has.
You'd probably have to say Ifill's stock has gone up this spring, simply because of the speed he has displayed running track at Penn Hills High School. At yesterday's WPIAL championships, Ifill finished second in the Class AAA 100 at 10.91 seconds (fully automatic timing), won the 200 in 21.89 and ran a 400-meter leg on Penn Hills' 1,600 relay team that finished first.
Ifill has pretty good size (6 feet, 180 pounds) and when he signed with Pitt in February, he said he was recruited as a cornerback. But keep in mind, he also played receiver at Penn Hills. Speed doesn't make you a great defensive back and doesn't make you catch passes. But it's certainly nice to have.
One to watch
You can bet college football coaches will keep an eye on Clairton's Trenton Coles the next few years (he's only a sophomore). Coles (pictured to the left) won the WPIAL Class AA 100, 200 and 400. At 6-3, 170, he's impressive physically for a sophomore, and has the frame to put on more muscle. He could easily be 6-3, 200 by the time he's a freshman in college. And why will football coaches be watching?
"Football is still my favorite sport," Coles said.
He will start at receiver and probably outside linebacker or defensive back this upcoming season for Clairton.
Speaking of Clairton football players and college, Clairton's Desimon Green was at Baldwin Thursday watching Coles at the track championships. Green is a junior quarterback-defensive end for Clairton and he said he now has about 15 scholarship offers from Division I colleges. Pitt, West Virginia, Texas Tech, Michigan, Michigan State and Illinois are some of the schools that have offered. Colleges like him at defensive end or outside linebacker, although Green said Michigan State mentioned possibly a tight end position.
Green weighed about 205 pounds last year, but is now 6-5, 220.
"A little fat," Green said with a laugh, rubbing his stomach.
Norwin too low
Norwin is playing North Allegheny in a WPIAL Class AAAA baseball quarterfinal. I would imagine Norwin is playing with a chip on its shoulder - and rightly so. Norwin won its section, had a 16-4 regular-season record, an 11-1 mark in section, but was seeded eighth? I know Section 3 might not be overly strong, but winning that section should've been good for more than a No. 8 seed. We'll see how the Knights fare against North Allegheny.
Calipari gets another top player
Kentucky coach John Calipari capped off his recruiting class this week by getting another top player - and he got the player to change his commitment. Terrance Jones, a 6-foot-9, 210-pound senior forward in Portland, had said he would attend the University of Washington. But he changed and decided to attend Kentucky.
Some good reads
Some interesting stories from newspapers across the country. Eric Sondheimer of The Los Angeles Times has a good story about private schools placing too much emphasis on athletics and how one school broke a rule because of an affair it staged to for a new football coach.
Longtime high school sports writer Dave Krider, now working for Maxpreps.com, always comes up with interesting stories and nuggets of information. He found a softball player who has 74 stolen bases this season without getting a hit. It's all about taking advantage of the "courtesy runner" rule.
Jim Halley of USA Today has a story on how the National Federation of State High School Associations will consider starting a national championship for a few different sports. You may ask why is there a need for a national championship for high schools? I agree. But here's one main reason: Already, the sports of cross country, tennis and even boys' basketball, have "pseudo" national championships run by different organizations. You know the NFHS has to be thinking: "Why should we let someone run a national championship when we could run it and maybe make some coin at it."