Friday, April 11, 2008
Third Stone Bridge player commits to ACC program
Future Hokies make first-team All-Washington Metro
Doug Doughty
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Stone Bridge High School, the burgeoning Loudoun Country program that won last season’s Group AAA Division 5 football championship, already has had three juniors make commitments to ACC programs.
Michael Olson, a 6-foot-3, 185-pound linebacker, made an oral commitment to Wake Forest this week. Classmates David Wang and Brian Slay earlier had committed to Virginia Tech and North Carolina State, respectively.
A fourth ACC program, Virginia, is hoping to get in on the fun. The Cavaliers are considered the team to beat for Stone Bridge defensive end Zach Thompson, whose father, Mickey, played at UVa in the late 1970s.
Mickey Thompson is the head coach at Stone Bridge and has twin sons, Zach and Patrick. Patrick was the starting quarterback for Stone Bridge last year and threw four touchdown passes in the Division 5 title game.
Patrick Thompson (6-2, 205) has expressed interest in going to the same college as his 6-5, 240-pound brother but probably will return to tight end, his former position. The Thompson twins’ mother is a Virginia Tech graduate.
UPDATING THE LIST of the state’s top 100 seniors and where they will be playing in college:
No. 59 Kykeem Brodie, a running back from Western Branch in Chesapeake, is going to Old Dominion.
Brodie is one of eight Roanoke Times Top 100 seniors to commit or sign with Old Dominion, including linemen Bryan Morrison from Broad Run and Robbie Duncan from Park View-Sterling.
They were Nos. 97 and 99, respectively, on the list.
No. 62 Thomas Mulabah, a nose guard from Park View-Sterling, has committed to Division II California of Pennsylania.
No. 64 Will Wilson, an offensive lineman from Langley High School in McLean, will play for Army.
No. 74 C.J. Leizear, a prolific quarterback from Park View-Sterling High, is going to Division III Christopher Newport.
ERICK GREEN, one of two juniors who have committed to the Virginia Tech men’s basketball program, was named first-team All-Met by The Washington Post.
Green, a 6-foot-3 guard, was instrumental in Millbrook High School winning the Group AA championship and finishing 29-1. Green averaged 18.6 points and six assists as a senior.
The interesting note for Virginia fans was the selection of Gonzaga’s Cam Johnson to the All-Met boys’ third team. Johnson has signed with UVa for football but is giving some consideration to playing basketball for the Cavaliers.
Gonzaga finished 34-1 and was rated No. 1 in the Post’s final poll.
Getting back to the Hokies, they also had a representative on the All-Met girls’ first team, 5-11 Shanel Harrison from Good Counsel in Olney, Md. Harrison averaged 17.8 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.8 blocks and was named Washington Catholic Athletic Association player of the year.
JUST GOT the Oak Hill Academy final statistics from Lisa Smith, wife of head coach Steve Smith, and it’s easy to see how point guard Brandon Jennings was named Parade magazine national player of the year.
Not only did Jennings score 35.5 points per game, but he attempted 392 3-pointers (making 138), went to the free-throw 286 times (converting 82.5 percent) and had 46 dunks. He also had 235 assists.
Jennings broke the single-season Oak Hill scoring record previously held by Josh Smith, a former first-round NBA Draft pick who is in his fourth year with the Atlanta Hawks after going directly from Oak Hill to the pros.
Jennings is the first Parade player of the year for Oak Hill, no minor distinction considering the players who have played for Smith, including Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durrant and Michael Beasley.
TECH AND UVa men’s basketball recruiters were waiting to hear the results of a meeting today (Friday) between Marquette signee Tyshawn Taylor, new Marquette coach Buzz Williams and Taylor’s coach at St. Anthony’s Prep in Jersey City, N.J.
Taylor had indicated he would like to be released from his letter-of-intent after former Marquette coach Tom Crean left for Indiana, but the appointment of Williams, a Crean assistant who had been involved in Taylor’s original recruitment, was able to get the Warriors a face-to-face meeting.
DUKE’S CONNECTIONS to the Hurley family didn’t pay off in the Blue Devils’ efforts to get an oral commitment from 6-9, 263-pound junior Greg Echenique from St. Benedict’s in Newark, N.J.
Echenique, who committed to Rutgers, plays for Danny Hurley. Hurley is the son of Bob Hurley Sr. and the brother of Bobby Hurley, a collegiate standout for the Blue Devils.
