May 7, 2018
by

the GRIND: Metchie receives another SEC offer

Much like our social media feeds, CFC100 and CFC60 prospects are always moving at a quick pace as they dart from camp to camp and campus to campus in search of their next stepping stone towards university football. Each week we’ll do our best to keep up with the top players in Canada through the eyes of social media as they begin to make a name for themselves on both sides of the border.

Highlights of the week:

    • Metchie receives another SEC offer
    • Martin returns for more

Class 2019 GRIND

REC John Metchie (St. James, MD)

Just when you think he’s done racking up the offers, John Metchie returns with papers in hand from the Georgia Bulldogs.

Metchie is the top ranked Canadian in this class, and it’s easy to see why now that he’s got offers from both Georgia and Alabama, who went to overtime in last year’s National Championship game. Doesn’t get much better than that, and now he’s got three different options in the SEC if you include his offer from Kentucky. The pot continues to thicken, and we already know he’s got a lot of interest in Penn State, Notre Dame and Syracuse, so really we’re all just waiting on the final schools to get their offers in, then Metchie can make his final decision. At this point last year, top ranked Jesse Luketa had already signed with Penn State, which puts a totally different dynamic on following this class since Metchie is still free game.

He’s also got offers on the board from Michigan, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Nebraska, Michigan State, Maryland, Buffalo, Central Michigan, East Carolina, Kentucky, Temple, Western Michigan and Oregon State.

DB Jett Elad (St. Ignatius, OH)

Where there’s a Metchie offer, Jett Elad is never far behind, and he’s now collected his tenth from Western Michigan.

Elad has got a nice spread of programs after him, and Western Michigan definitely resides near the front among a bunch of interested MAC teams. The Broncos are coming off .500 season, but just two years ago they claimed their first conference title since 1988 with a 13-1 record, and ended up finished ranked 15th in AP Polls. They also just signed CFC100 Chase Brown, which is never a bad sign and can give them an edge against certain teams.  Unfortunately for them the MAC is probably the most popular conference for Canadians, and he’s already got offers from Buffalo, Kent State and Akron, so if you were a gambling man, the MAC would be your odds on favourite for Elad’s final destination.

He’s also got offers on the board from Cincinnati, Eastern Kentucky, Indiana State, Youngstown State, New Mexico State and Liberty.

LB Kervens Bonhomme (Clearwater Academu, FL)

Business is picking up for Kervens Bonhomme, who makes back-to-back appearances with another offer from the Maine Black Bears.

Last week we saw UMass give him his first offer, and maybe that’s opened the floodgates for him because he also got some love in the press down south at the Rival 3 Stripe Camp in New Jersey. The Maine Black Bears have created their own little slice of Canada on the roster, and most recently they signed CFC100s Katley Joseph and Justin Sambu. The Joseph signing is of particular note since he’s former teammates with Bonhomme at CFC50 St. Matthew’s, and they’ve been seen multiple times visiting campuses together over the past two years. It could mean nothing, or could mean everything in the end, but it’s the type of connection you want to keep an eye on. As for their production on the field, Maine is coming off a 4-6 season in the Colonial Athletic Association, which features some of the stiffest competition in the FCS with four top 25 ranked programs last season.

ATH Jared Wayne (Trinity College, ON)

7v7 football has been gaining a lot of traction, and Jared Wayne is a great example of why it can be so fun to watch. It’s also a great way to get high intensity non-contact training in during the off-season, plus you can get your name out their with sweet highlight films like this. Last week Wayne was featured on the GRIND with his first NCAA offer from Old Dominion, and I doubt it’ll be long before we hear from him again.

LB Jake Taylor (CFC50 Salisbury, AB)

It’s been a little while since we got an update from Jake Taylor, but he found some time this past week to take a visit with his hometown Alberta Golden Bears.

Taylor has been generating interest from all over the continent, but you best believe the Golden Bears would like to see him sporting gold and green for the next five years. They’ve got him ranked highly on their board, and they pulled out all the stops on social media with some fancy graphics to go along with the visit. Alberta is an underrated program who’s got a track record of producing pro talent – including a couple CFC100 in the CFL Draft – so while they’ll be in deep, never sleep on a hometown Cinderella Story breaking through.

We’ve also seen Taylor generate interest from UBC, Simon Fraser, North Dakota and North Dakota State.

DB Devonte Ballantyne (CFC50 Catholic Central, ON)

Get ready for a whole bunch of Rivals Camp news, and it begins with Devonte Ballantyne, who did in fact warn us that he’d be showing up in Ohio intent on taking names. You can never really tell how this stuff went unless you’re actually there, but it’s the fact that they’re down south trying to get their names out there that really matters. Ballantyne has been a mainstay on the GRIND since we began our series, and he never stays still for long, evidenced by his trip to the Laurier Junior Day this past week as well. We also spend a lot of time talking about guys at prep schools, which is fine, but Ballantyne is on a different type of journey operating straight out of London, Ontario at Catholic Central.

QB Ethan Martin (CFC50 London South, ON)

Speaking of London, a familiar face will be sticking around town for one more year after Ethan Martin announced his decommitment from Guelph.

It’s the type of news that surprising, but also not surprising at all if you’ve been following Martin’s journey the past couple years. He had a ton of interest from the Ivy League, he’s got the grades to match, and he’s got one year left of eligibility, so why not try to chase your dreams when they’re staring back at you in the mirror? This is a split decision, because while I’m sure he wants to get to the NCAA, he made it clear he wasn’t pleased with ending his high school career on the sidelines at last year’s OFSAA Festival, which turned into the first loss in his time at South. If you’re apart of the Gryphon family, this one sucks no doubt, but if you’re a high school football fan, strap yourself in because things just got a whole lot more interesting in London.

Click the link to read the full interview with Martin about his decision.

Class 2020 GRIND

QB Christian Veilleux (St. Peter’s, ON)

The 2020 Class was well represented at the Rivals 3 Stripe Camp, and top ranked Christian Veilleux made sure he didn’t miss out on the opportunity to learn from the coaches and get his name out there. He’s already got an offer from Buffalo and was seen visiting Temple earlier in the year, so this is just the beginning for the young pivot out of Ottawa.

DL Kenny Mestidor (St. Peter’s, ON)

Hey scouts? Yea I’m available for a visit next weekend. Or something like that.

Once again, not like we can really fill you on news based off this picture, but Kenny Mestidor joined his teammate at the Rivals 3 Stripe Camp, and by the looks of it at least had some fun while he was there.

DL Deondre Doiron (CFC50 Catholic Central, ON)

If the picture looks familar, that’s because Deondre Doiron joined his teammate Devonte Ballantyne on their trip to the Rivals 3 Stripe Camp. No speculation on this one, Doiron confirmed he had some fun down in Ohio, and hopefully he was able to turn some heads too. It should be fun to watch Ballantyne and Doiron take on Martin if it comes down to another South v.s Catholic Central showdown in the city finals this year.

DB Peter Kemeni (CFC10 Clarkson Football North, ON)

We can get to some more concrete news, and Peter Kemeni was off on another adventure this week to see what Ball State has to offer. They’re another MAC school who’s been poking their head around the list, and they’re also hot on the trail of CFC60 Frederik Antoine, who’s the lone top five prospect left on the board. We last saw Kemeni taking some pictures at Syracuse, and eventually these tweets will turn into offers once he gets a little deeper in his recruiting journey.

QB Nicholas De Jesus (CFC10 Clarkson Football North, ON)

Teammates stick together, and Nicholas De Jesus was also seen at Ball State with some VIP access to the Cardinals way of life. De Jesus is under a different type of microscope since he’s a quarterback, but the MAC has proven to be a great destination for CFC100 Nathan Rourke, and maybe it could be down the road for De Jesus as well. Way to early to take that statement any further, but it’s nice to see another Canadian quarterback getting some much-deserved love from the FBS.

 

[/private

Advocating for football prospects one story at a time.

Tags: , , , ,

More in High School / CEGEP

 

Leave a Reply