Benjamin's Brandon Shed Keeps Palm Beach to Hobart Pipeline Going

Happy Friday everyone! This is post #300 for the blog (and it's a good one).

The Palm Beach Post's Jodie Wagner reports Benjamin School WR/DB Brandon Shed plans to continue his academic and football career at Hobart College.

A multi-talented two sport athlete, Shed played all over the field in 2013 for Benjamin. He caught 21 passes and three TDs as a WR, rushed for 205 yards and one TD as a RB/Wildcat QB while also tallying 27 tackles, including a defensive TD as a DB. On special teams Shed added a punt return for a TD. In the (football) off season, Brandon also stars on the Buccaneer Boys Basketball team.

What can't this young man do?!!?

On a more serious note, the article mentions some surprise that Shed didn't garner more Division I / FCS consideration. Although he stands tall at 6'3" he weighs 180 lbs which may be considered "too thin" by some coaches. I say it's their loss and a Statesmen gain! Brandon's should grow, both literally and figuratively, into a significant contributor to the Hobart program.

His highlights can be seen here.

I found it somewhat ironic that the Buccaneers colors (orange and blue) closely resemble Hobart's. I also liked how his visit coincided with my birthday (Feb 13) and his visit was extended a bit due to the bad snow storms of last month. Clearly the cold wasn't an issue and the extra time on campus sold him, as it does to most who visit Geneva, irrespective of the seasons.

With his acceptance into Hobart Shed joins four other Sunshine-State players on the Statesmen Football team.  Brandon is the second Palm Beach Gardens native (SO OLB Jacob Stanley being the other), on the Hobart squad. With Devin Worthington '14 graduating and pursuing a potential pro football career, we could see Brandon (shown below) in #5 this fall for the Statesmen.

While I wouldn't be surprised if Asst HC and OC Kevin DeWall '00 keeps Brandon as a WR, it would be pretty awesome to see a 6'3" DB patrolling the secondary for Hobart. That would be reminiscent of the days when HOFer and All-American Billy Palmer '94 covered the Boz for the Statesmen.

Please join me in welcoming Brandon to the Hobart family! Go 'Bart!

Springville's Ball Selects Hobart

Dave Deluca of the Springville Journal (WNY) reported last week that Springville-Griffith Institute's SR O/DL Brandon Ball will attend and play football at Hobart this fall. A link to the article can be found here.

Ball is an interesting story in that he played his SR season at only 16 years old, meaning he'll most likely be the youngest player on the Statesmen roster this fall. Still, it sounds like Brandon is a mature young man. He was elected Captain by his teammates and he also has the physical stats, standing 6' 2" and weighing 240 lbs. All the above look and sound good as a potential DE/DL (and he probably isn't finished growing yet).

His HC Rob Valenti (pictured below with Ball), describes Brandon as a "leader by example." Valenti, although he didn't graduate from Hobart, played for the Statesmen in 2001. That familarity had to have helped during the recruiting process.

Ball reportedly looked at Ithaca and Alfred as well as upper Division schools, such as the University of Buffalo (which offered walk on opportunities). Although the article has several typos (e.g., not getting Hobart HC Mike Cragg's last name correct) and other inaccuracies (e.g., HWS doesn't offer a degree in "athletic training", but it sure does graduate a lot of pre-med kids), it does a nice job of emphasizing Ball's leadership and accomplishments on the gridiron.

Please join me in welcoming Brandon to the Hobart Football Family!

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Broadneck's Fischer Commits to Hobart

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

The Washington Post's "Recruit Watch" reports that Broadneck SR HS (Annapolis, MD) ILB Randall ("Randy") Fischer has commited to attend and play football at Hobart. Barring other enrollees, Randy will join SO OL Patrick O'Connell, III as the only other "Old Line" Statesmen players.

Fischer was a three year starter and team captain for the Bruins, which went 8-3 overall in 2013. He led the team with 104 tackles, setting the varsity school career record with 296. He has good size at 6' 2" 215 lbs and his playing accollades were numerous, including:

• Team MVP
• First Team All County
• Baltimore Sun First Team Defense, All Metro,
• Washington Post Second Team Defense, All Metro
• First Team Defense, All State, by the Maryland Football History (web site Maryland High School Football Reference)
• Invited to play in the 18th Annual Baltimore Touchdown Club Senior All-Star Game

You can see Randy in action on the following highlight reel.  More highlights can be found at HUDL.com.

With the graduation of SR OLB Dan Sweeney, we could see Fischer in #44 for Hobart this fall.

Welcome to the Statesmen family Randy!

Go 'Bart!

Quay Committs to Hobart

James Allen of the Albany Times Union recently reported that Shaker HS SR TE/LB Dylan Quay has committed to attend and play football at Hobart.

Quay starred on Blue Bison teams that won the Section II Class AA title in 2012 and were runners up (after a 13-8 loss to Christian Brother's Academy) in 2013. 

Quay is 6' 0"-1" and 220-225 lbs making him a potential RB/TE or H-back candidate on offense. Quay also played LB at Shaker but it appears based on the Times Union article that Dylan will be slated as an H-back at Hobart.

Dylan's highlights show he has good athletic ability, can block and catch passes out of the backfield.

Please join me in welcoming Dylan to Hobart!

USSC Taps Hobart for First Camp in NYS

PRWEB.com reported today that Contact Football Camps (CFC), a subsidiary of United States Sports Camps (USSC), Inc has selected Hobart College to be it's first foray into New York State.

CFC is a summer football program that teaches kids aged 8-18 on fundamentals of the game. Statesmen Defensive Coordinator Nick Grange will act as Camp Director. Other members of the Hobart coaching staff will assist Coach Grange over the course of the program which is currently scheduled to run from July 21-24.

A link to the announcement and additional details can be found here and here.

Statesmen Looking to Impress Pro Scouts

Hobart's Head Football Coach Mike Cragg recently reported that several Statesmen players are eyeing the possibility of playing professional football.

RB Steven Webb '14 is attending a combine in Baltimore to perform in front of NFL, CFL and AFL scouts. Webb was also recently selected in the American Indoor Football (AIF) League by the Mariners as reported here by "The Baltimore Sun." While I am not sure if Webb will accept the offer to play in the AIF, I am certain he'll consider the opportunity.

That said Webb isn't the only Statesmen being looked at by scouts. OLB/DB Devin Worthington '14 attended a combine in Virginia and FS Jolyon Davis '14, Webb and Worthington are all planning on attending a CFL combine being hosted by Edminton Eskimos in Cincinnati next month. 

Speaking of Davis, the Hobart SR Co-Captain made this thoughtful address to his teammates, coaches and family at the Statesmen Football Banquet on February 21st. Jolyon is definitely a class act.

Wrapping up the pro football talk, rising SR DE Tyre Coleman and SR OL Ali Marpet were visited by scouts from the Redskins and Cardinals of the NFL last week.

All in all it's shaping up to a busy spring for Hobart Football! I will have more new recruit information next week as it appears the Statesmen have signed a strong player out of the Albany area.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Andover's Sutliff Joins Statesmen

It's been a while since my last post but life (e.g., "milestone" birthdays, work, family, etc) will do that to you sometimes. The good news is that word is starting to trickle in on HS SRs who have selected Hobart College and intend to play football for the Statesmen!

The first member of the Class of 2018 (man I'm getting old!) that I have come across is Andover High School's Matthew Sutliff. Sutliff was an anchor on the Golden Warriors OL the last two seasons, starting 23 games in the last two seasons at left tackle.

Hobart Assistant Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator Kevin DeWall '00 (who also happens to be the Statesmen OL position coach) said Matt has "good upside at OL." Given Sutliff's size (6' 3" and 275-80 lbs), leadership and consistency at Andover, I would tend to agree. Additional highlight film and stats (which I believe are from last summer) can be viewed here..  A nice article by David Willis of the Andover Townsman on Sutliff, his final game, and career at Andover can be found here.

A good friend of mine is also from Andover (and who played LB at Brown in the 90's) and had this to say about Sutliff and the Andover program in general:

"I noticed that there was a kid from Andover who is going to Hobart next year. Name is Matt Sutliff.   Don’t know anything about him except that he is (listed as) 6’3  280 lbs and plays OT. I know the team has been pretty good the last few [years]. The coach [E.J. Perry] is a guy who played with my brother back in the day and then went on to QB at Harvard ( I graduated with his sister, one of his younger brothers was my QB in high school, another brother COACHED me at Brown and ANOTHER brother I helped recruit to Brown and he set all kinds of records as a QB). That’s all beside the fact – he’s a good coach so I would expect that this kid would be prepared to take it to the next level."

Hey, based on all the above, I'm sold on Sutliff (who's on the right, standing next to his teammate DL Ben Hartford) and hope Matt has an excellent academic and athletic career at Hobart. Welcome to the Statesmen family Matt and go 'Bart!