Hopewell's Shell likes Florida

  By Mike White | Monday, Oct. 26, 11 a.m.

During an interview with Hopewell sophomore running back Rushel Shell the other day, I posed a hypothetical question to him just for fun. I asked him what if the NCAA passed a rule saying you had to sign with a college team immediately, even as a sophomore. And if you could sign with any team in the country, who would you sign with?

Shell said Florida.

Now this does not mean Shell is headed to Florida. It does not even mean the Gators have offered him a scholarship. They haven't. Please don't jump to conclusions. But it does show a little of what school Shell likes. He said he has always liked Florida.

Shell will undoubtedly have numerous scholarship offers within the next few years. He got one from Pitt as a freshman. When I asked him if any other school had offered, he said he simply gets a lot of letters.

Shell, by the way, attended the Pitt game Saturday against South Florida.

To see the entire interview with Shell, you have to go to our PG + site here. and sign up. Note that it is a premium site.

Erie McDowell and the WPIAL

Erie McDowell has played a WPIAL conference schedule the past four seasons, even though McDowell is a District 10 and can't compete in the WPIAL playoffs. For two years, McDowell played in the Northern Six and the past two seasons in the Foothills. McDowell had said it wanted to join the WPIAL next season and also be part of the WPIAL playoffs. But that now appears to be in question.

Here is an interesting article from John Dudley of the Erie Times-News about McDowell's future and also the future of Class AAAA in District 10.

51 already clinched

Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, 51 teams have already clinched WPIAL playoff spots. That leaves 13 spots open.

Check tomorrow's Post-Gazette and we'll have a conference-by-conference breakdown of playoff scenarios.