Bobcat Attack - Ohio Football Recruiting - 2014 RB Maleek Irons (Abbotsford, BC, Canada)

Ohio Football Recruiting Topic

Topic: 2014 RB Maleek Irons (Abbotsford, BC, Canada) - Ohio Signee

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mf279801

1/17/2014 5:55 PM

L.C. wrote:expand_more

Article that talks about the recruiting of Maleek.

abbynews wrote:expand_more

Months ago, coaches from the Ohio University Bobcats football team told W.J. Mouat Hawks coach Denis Kelly that Maleek Irons, his star senior running back, was their No. 1 recruiting priority.

It might be easy to dismiss such lofty talk as simply part of the sales pitch, but the NCAA Div. 1 program backed it up in a big way. Three times this fall, the Bobcats sent a member of their coaching staff on a cross-continent flight to watch Irons play and chat with the 17-year-old....

Wow! Talk about a full court press!

One question for those more knowledgeable than me. The article states that he has already signed his L.O.I. It was my understanding that that couldn't be done before National Signing Day. Am I wrong on this? Did the paper use the wrong terminology for verbally committing? Or is it that letters can be signed early, but they are not binding until NSG?

Thanks

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L.C.

1/17/2014 6:00 PM

I would say it's a matter of wrong terminology. Not a lot of Canadians sign LOIs, so they probably aren't all that familiar with the exact process. I'm glad to know that Ohio landed their #1 recruiting priority.

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LoganElm_grad09

1/17/2014 8:11 PM

OUs LONG Driver wrote:expand_more

GoCats105 wrote:expand_more

LoganElm_grad09 wrote:expand_more

The only times I remember actually seeing Canadian/American games were when a Canadian team would play at Amanda Clearcreek. To put it as polite as possible, even a school as small as AC (DV at the time) played at an entirely different level.

Is Amanda Clearcreek still dominating folks? My high school played them in D5 Playoffs back in 1999 and lost in the first round. We were happy we lost to an eventual state champ with D1 college talent on it. We also kept the score the closest than anyone else they played in the playoffs.

I'm a 2000 AC Grad. Although I was Basketball/Golf/Baseball.

Football program declined big time when Ron Hinton left and went to coach Chillicothe. I remember hearing that AC won more games in the 90's (maybe it was some other 10 year period in about that era)than any other school in the state at any level. From what I hear now, they are pretty average. My good friend and College roommate, Scott Hinton, was the QB for the 2001 State Championship team and nephew of Ron. He's the Varsity girl's basketball coach at Alexander now. Doing good things there.

For the Canadian team they played in 2000 (think the other was in 99), they were atrocious. I think it was 80+ to 0. The Canadian football team actually came down early and went to school with us that Friday. It was really strange.

I've always believed the advantage AC had at the time was the youth program which was in place before anyone else and was ran from the top. They ran the same plays with the same calls from grade school through HS. Now the other programs in the MSL have caught up and passed AC since those programs are all much bigger in size and now have the same youth programs. Also, open enrollment didn't hurt as a couple players from other schools transferred strictly to play football.

Also, the only D1 talent from the state championship years was Dan Davis who committed to EMU and I think washed out before his Freshman season even started. He wasn't exactly college material.

You're correct; Ron did it right with the youth league. No matter what kind of talent they had, they were the most fundamentally sound team in the league. I thought they started to go downhill after his longtime defensive coordinator left, then turned back into an average team when he left. If I'm not mistaken, they also had to have a really high pay to play for a while and their numbers took a hit.

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Beastmode

1/24/2014 11:43 AM

New article:

http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/01/23/irons-the-man-for-bobcats-mouat-superstar-rb-re-writes-record-book-en-route-to-ohio-university/

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L.C.

1/24/2014 2:39 PM

Excellent article. Thanks for the link. I can assure you that Ohio fans are at least as excited as Maleek is about him coming to play for Ohio.

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smc22

1/31/2014 1:40 PM

one thing i would re-iterate...

from what i see in newspapers BC high school football teams have a combined winning record vs. oregon/washington high schools, so i think level of play is not an issue (or it's an issue tons of places in USA too)

as i had said it may be suburban BC teams against small town USA schools, but 25 years ago it would have been 60-0 for small town USA

any danger maleek flips to pac12 on signing day... article mentioned W, WSU, Colo. but i wonder if W offered or if it's wait till signing day and see if we have spot

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L.C.

1/31/2014 2:55 PM

smc22 wrote:expand_more

...any danger maleek flips to pac12 on signing day... article mentioned W, WSU, Colo. but i wonder if W offered or if it's wait till signing day and see if we have spot

Gosh I hope there isn't any danger of that. This is the guy in the class that I would hate to lose.

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TheRealMikeDrake

1/31/2014 3:28 PM

Same here. I don't want to lose any of our commits, but this one would sting.

Some positives though:

- I remember reading the comments of his high school coach on the amount of times our coaches have come out to meet him, which support the investment we plan to put into him.

- and his own comments about being able to start here early as opposed to being buried on a pac-12 roster.

Wednesday is going to be a long day anyways, but with the time difference between Ohio and BC, my guess is a long day is going to seem longer.

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Doc Bobcat

2/5/2014 7:01 PM

Kudos to the person who put his 2 minute Ohio vid together.....of course where most of the time he takes the ball on the 4 and goes TD then it may be hard to mess that vid up.

Love Papi's vid...but Maleek's vid is sick....liked the one where he stiff armed 3 dudes.....not on the Ohio vid but I guess it shows he can be tackled.....but maybe he just fell down?

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L.C.

2/6/2014 5:03 PM

Doc Bobcat wrote:expand_more

Well, when both scored 30+ TDs, they had to settle on just 5-6 for the video. It must have been hard to choose. Now that the ratings are in, though, we have learned that Maleek has garnered bare minimum ratings from all four rating services, so apparently they think he's one of the worst recruits in America.

Papi managed a bit better than a bare minimum from Rivals, so I guess he's a tad better than awful. I'm betting all four services totally missed two very, very good players.

I think Walker's rating was reasonable, and I think these two are right up there with him.

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OhioCatFan

2/7/2014 11:38 AM

Just watched his video and I'm going to hand out another DITR (diamond in the rough) rating. This guy looks very good and I can see why he was our number one recruiting priority. I think Irons plays as a freshman. One question: Do Canadian high schools play be the same (or similar) rules to the CFL: 110 yard field, two men in motion before the snap, can be in motion toward line of scrimmage, etc. And, if they do play by these rules, what rules do they use in games against teams south of the border? Home team rules apply? Just curious. Does anyone know?

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mf279801

2/7/2014 11:54 AM

OhioCatFan wrote:expand_more

Someone on another thread (or this one?) stated that canadian HS football is generally played more-or-less by US rules.

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OhioCatFan

2/7/2014 3:45 PM

mf279801 wrote:expand_more

OhioCatFan wrote:expand_more

Someone on another thread (or this one?) stated that canadian HS football is generally played more-or-less by US rules.

Thanks. Interesting.

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L.C.

2/7/2014 4:24 PM

At about 2:00 of the conference;

solich wrote:expand_more

I think we're going to have a couple of exceptional running backs in this class

At 2:45 of the press conference

Solich wrote:expand_more

You look at Maleek, and he's the kind of running back that you'd like to just turn around and hand the ball to and let him go to work..

If Solich knows one thing, he knows a good running back when he sees one, and in this class, he sees two. You can tell he's really happy with both these guys.

[QUOTE=Beastmode].... Maleek has a large frame and can easily be 215 -225lbs pounds with 4.5 speed. ...[/OUTER_QUOTE]
And this is exactly the kind of running back Solich likes. Some other running backs of similar size that Solich has coached, and note that they are all remarkably similar in size:
#21 Roger Craig 6'0" 222; 11 years NFL, 8189 yards
#30 Mike Rozier 5'11" 210; 8 years USFL, NFL
#1 Lawrence Phillips 6'0" 224; 2 years in NFL, off the field problems
#30 Ahman Green 6'0" 220; 11 years in NFL, 9205 yards
#30 Dahrran Diedrick 6'0" 220; 10 years in NFL/CFL
(had a hard time finding him on film, he has some carries around 2:20)
#5 Kalvin McRae 5'11 208 (again, not much film on him available, he has 2 carries around 1:50 mark)

All these backs are similar in some important ways. They are all fast, and especially, they can all see holes and accelerate at the right time to get through them. They all keep the legs churning, and keep moving, going north-south all the time. They all have great balance, use some stiff arms, spin moves, or give a limp leg at times, but they none of them jitter and dance. They occasionally run over people, but until there is a clean tackle they keep moving, but when there is a clean tackle, they accept that they are going down, but get the maximum possible yardage on the play. Now watch Maleek again. He has already developed many of these same traits. [Note: they all have good blocking in front, and especially downfield blocking from WR, but hopefully, so will Maleek.]

Don't get me wrong. Maleek has a lot of work ahead, but my hope is that someday he's be considered another memorable Solich running back.

Last Edited: 2/8/2014 11:06:27 AM by L.C.

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L.C.

2/14/2014 4:17 PM

In evaluating how competitive BC Football is, BC apparently competes in the the FBU International Games, which takes place in Austin, TX, as a part of the All-America games. Maleek apparently was selected for the 2013 team. In 2013 Team BC won the tournament, beating the American All-star team 38-18 after beating the European team 49-14.

He was selected again for participation for the 2014 games, but was not on the final roster (perhaps Ohio asked him not to play?). The 2014 team defeated Europe 45-7. That's the only result I found, but indications are that BC football is not bad at all.

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Casper71

2/14/2014 5:20 PM

Seeing this guy and with the big QB, I just have to believe FS and Co are gonna go back to a bit more smash mouth football. I'm not saying a shotgun or pistol will never be used but I think we'll see some two back and/or I too. And, I think that is what is needed! We need to be a lot tougher and more physical vs the teams in the East.

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L.C.

2/14/2014 6:27 PM

Well, they could do a fullback set next year, since they do have a fullback on the roster, Tim Edmonds, but for 2015 and beyond they would need to either recruit one, or move someone to that position, perhaps a middle linebacker such as DiCillo. Since Isphording is coming from Toledo, and will be a co-Offensive Coordinator, let's look at Toledo to see what they ran.

Stats:
Rushing:
Ohio 462 attempts, 1742 yards, 16 TDs, 3.8 per carry, 134 yards/game
Toledo 482 attempts, 2887 yards, 26 TDs, 6.0 per carry, 240 yds/game

Passing
Ohio 256-425-13, 3190 yards, 22TDs, 7.5 yards/attempt, 245 yards/game
Toledo 213-361-10, 2481 yards, 19 TDs, 6.9 yards/attempt, 207 yards/game

Ohio was 53% runs, Toledo was 57% runs. Toledo was MUCH more effective running the ball. If Isphording can blend Toldedo's running game with Ohio's passing game, we'll have a winner. As near as I can tell, Toledo ran pistol, too, so that may be here to stay. Their running back was a big guy, David Fluellen, at 6'0" 215.

I don't care what formation they use, really. What I do care about is that they are able to run the ball effectively. Toledo certainly did, so I'm cautiously optimistic.

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TomCat

2/14/2014 6:31 PM

Great work, LC. My coffee crowd--all but one in our 80's, and Solich fans--eat this stuff up. Kudos!!!

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Beastmode

2/17/2014 11:56 AM

Maleek also participated in Team Canada when he was 14 at the FBU all American Bowl, team Canada beat Team USA.

The competition in BC is on par with the US, the challenge is the exposure Canadian kids receive in the US, there is virtually none. Unless parents are willing to take their kids across the border and participate in US camps it will be very difficult. The trend in Canada at this time is for kids to go the Prep school route, those kids end up with multiple offers after one year at Prep school.

From what I understand Maleek had been attending camps in the US from the time he was 14, he would usually walk away from those camps with MVP's etc. As well, his HS team went to Washignton each season to play a US HS and Mouat would always win. Maleek was fortunate to have multiple offers however being Canadian he not only had to prove it on the field his family had to make a large investment for him to pursue his goals.

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TWT

2/17/2014 7:08 PM

Beastmode wrote:expand_more

BC is not too different culturally from Seattle and the Pacific Northwest states and I imagine that trickles down to the HS sports culture. Of any place in Canada that is probably the most true. Once you get into Quebec and Nova Scotia there is an appreciable difference I would think but in Massachusetts this summer I couldn't believe how family oriented the towns were around there in an intense way.

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smc22

3/5/2014 6:04 PM

i've posted this a few times....

i see vancouver high schools at either 3-0 or 4-0 vs. oregon/washington high schools this year..

the days of random small town USA high school destroying big city/huge enrollment canadian school are long gone.

of course, a washington, oregon or ohio powerhouse high school program would probably beat maleek's team 50-0 or similar but that's a select group of schools.

and having watched maleek and other teams at the highest level of canadian play i'd say the level of play is pretty high. the players look like they should for their positions and they train hard and have sophisticated coaches. large enrollment schools and a reasonable number of black kids often (not like most places in USA though).

anyway, i think you can see by watching the videos that the level of play is pretty decent..

it's basically the opposite of USA vs. canada in hockey where USA has taken monster strides the last 30 years and is basically as good as canada for the top all-star team. but i'd assume canada's 10th best team >>>>> same in usa.

i see terrell davis has transferred from ASU to UBC (british columbia, canada) and his brother has joined him there. his brother couldn't get a scholarship from USA or at least the one he wanted. he was in with WSU very late but i guess no offer. so UBC for him too.

i see a kid from my high school went to a california HS for senior year, had to sit a bunch of games due to transfer rules, don't think he made huge impact in the games he played (WR) and got scholarship to washington. no way he'd have gotten that if he'd stayed in canada IMHO. of course i could be wrong.

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smc22

3/5/2014 6:29 PM

yes, canadian high school football anywhere i've seen in american rules on the most basic stuff.

canadian university is canadian 3 down big field rules. makes for very very uncompetitive play as the best teams don't need 4 downs but the worst teams could move the ball and eat the clock with 4 downs...... canadian university is basically a "free for all" on funding/scholarships/etc. from what i can see. so the best few schools take all the best prospects like old time NCAA football.

i had forgotten about all-star games...... canadian HS all-star teams have done really well against US HS all-star teams, although it's best canadian players against "not the best" US players (but most US players are getting scholarships).

in the 1970's canadian university all-stars played US "similar to mid-major level today" all-stars. USA won 30-10 type scores. not sure how the rules were though.

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smc22

3/5/2014 6:33 PM

Beastmode wrote:expand_more

i have to agree... i think marcus davis from mt douglas in victoria BC would have had 30+ division 1 offers if he played the whole time in top division seattle HS football. but from what i could see he had none at D1 level. not sure why someone like wyoming or NMS wouldn't offer him sight unseen (or meeting/seeing him play once say)

the big 12 had two rushing title holders from canada in recent memory (diedrick at nebraska, cornish at kansas) and still they haven't recruited another canadian TB since from what i can tell..

it's strange how little burn canada gets from USA programs........ one thing i guess is offering a kid from a los angeles or seattle HS has so many other benefits/efficiencies even if the kid doesn't end up playing well for your program.

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BillyTheCat

3/5/2014 9:09 PM

Saw four Canadian teams this year and man they were bad.

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Bcat2

3/6/2014 8:06 AM

BillyTheCat wrote:expand_more

Saw four Canadian teams this year and man they were bad.

Did you see any D1 athletes?