Friday, September 25, 2009
Early report on Sigmon premature but not misleading
Greenberg expects marquee group
Doug Doughty
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Careful readers of The Roanoke Times’ preseason high-school football section may have noticed that Northside linebacker Nick Sigmon was listed as a commitment to Liberty.
Eventually, prep editor Robert Anderson cleared up the confusion in a Sept. 10 notes column in which he indicated that Sigmon was uncommitted, but it struck me that there was an absence of reaction to the original report.
It made a lot more sense Thursday night after I spoke with Sigmon for the first time. While he hasn’t committed to Liberty, at least not officially, the Flames clearly are Sigmon’s first choice.
When I asked if Sigmon might make a decision before the end of the month, he replied, “I think it might be sooner than that.”
He added, “Something drastic would have to happen for me not to go there.”
Sigmon said he also has been in contact with Richmond, Old Dominion, Marshall and William and Mary.
He also said that Vikings’ head coach Burt Torrence had spoken to UVa assistant Wayne Lineburg, who recruits the Roanoke area for the Cavaliers.
“Coach [Torrence] said they told him that I would have an offer in December,” said Sigmon, a 6-foot-2, 235-pound linebacker. “But, then again, that’s quite a while. I might get injured, or something, and not be able to bank on it.”
Why December?
“Maybe they’re waiting to see how the season turns out and what happens with the other commitments because they were only recruiting, like, two linebackers,” he said. “I think they had two commit already.”
Presumably, that reference was to 5-11, 216-pound Ryan Cobb from Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J., and 6-2, 230-pound Henry Coley from Bayside High School in Virginia Beach.
(My research indicates that something may have been lost in translation regarding a Virginia offer, although the Cavaliers certainly are aware of Sigmon, as is Virginia Tech, and both schools like his productivity).
Sigmon has been a tackle machine for the Vikings, with 154 stops as a junior, including 108 unassisted. He has been timed in 4.79 seconds for 40 yards, “but I definitely could get faster,” he said. “My game speed makes up for it.”
Sigmon thinks that his college of choice will try and take some weight off of him and then put it back on while making him stronger.
Sigmon plays in a 3-4 scheme for Northside and sees himself playing inside in a 3-4 in college. That’s the scheme that Liberty plays under head coach Danny Rocco.
“I’m not saying this just because Liberty was the first to offer,” he said, “but I like Liberty. That’s a school I’d want to go to regardless. Me and coach Rocco are pretty good friends now. I know he definitely knows how to coach.”
ON THE FIRST rating I’ve seen of the state’s top football recruits, Brian Mohr of HokieHaven.com has only two Timesland-area players on his top 30. Jefferson Forest running back Rashad Hall (6-0, 187) is 22nd and “athlete” Terrance Mazon (5-11, 170) from Galax and checks in at No. 30.
No. 1 on Mohr’s list is Curtis Grant, a 6-3, 222-pound linebacker from Hermitage High School, followed by 6-5, 275-pound defensive lineman Landon Turner from Harrisonburg.
The best junior prospect I’ve seen locally this year is 6-3, 185-pound Cave Spring junior quarterback Josh Woodrum. Northside linebacker Dakota Jackson (6-3, 224) is the most impressive sophomore I’ve seen.
Sigmon and defensive back-wide receiver Stephen Barnette from Salem would highlight the seniors.
AMONG THE PEOPLE hoping for a break in the weather at today’s Virginia Tech-Miami football game is Hokies men’s basketball coach Seth Greenberg, whose staff will be entertaining a handful of top prospects for the entering class of 2011.
Scheduled to be in Blacksburg are 6-6 Michael Gbinije from Benedictine High School in Richmond; 6-8 Mikael Hopkins from DeMatha High School in Hyattsville, Md.; 6-7 C.J. Barksdale from George Washington High School in Danville; 5-11 Marquis Rankin from Vance High School in Charlotte, N.C., and 6-8, 220-pound Lavon Harper from Fuqua School in Farmville.
Tech and Virginia are listed by rivals.com as having made offers to Gbinije, who played for Christchurch School as a sophomore. So has Maryland, and those same three schools have offered Barksdale. Wake Forest and Tech have offered Rankin.
