The music was blaring Monday afternoon, the coaches were yelling and the West Bloomfield high school players were running routes and catching passes as defensive …
The music was blaring Monday afternoon, the coaches were yelling and the West Bloomfield high school players were running routes and catching passes as defensive backs did their best to bat away those passes. Football is back! “It’s been a great day right now,” said junior running back/defensive back Dillon Tatum. “Everybody came out with energy; helmets on for the first time, jerseys on and we look like a team so we’re going to get out there and get to it.” [ Pre-order Mick McCabe’s new high school sports book! Here’s how to do it] For at least a brief moment it was easy to look at the players on the first official day of football practice and forget we are in the midst of a pandemic with 87,960 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Michigan with 6,257 deaths. To make matters worse, shortly before the practice began they learned the Big Ten is expected to cancel its fall season. “I think that’s some bull,” said senior Donovan Edwards, one of the top running backs in the country. “I can’t really speak on it because I’m here, but I think that’s kind of unfair. Everybody’s got their reasons to do so. I just hope that one day, just bring it back out sometime this year.” [ Tyrone Wheatley is the greatest athlete Mick McCabe has covered in 50 years] There was good reason for Edwards to be upset about the possible Big Ten action, which could set off a chain reaction across the country. He was hoping to graduate early and enroll in college in January to participate in spring practice and get a jump on his freshman season. But if the college season isn’t played or is pushed to the spring, will colleges have enough available scholarships to add recruits in January? And would a high school senior even want to enter college in January and be thrown into the fray of a regular season and burn a year’s eligibility as a 17-year-old? A four-star recruit and the No.34 rated prospect in the country — he’s the No.2 player in Michigan — according to the 247Sports composite, Edwards has not taken any official visits. When asked which school hasn’t recruited him, Donovan thought for a moment and said: “Clemson. That’s about it.
