A Happy Signing Day

Home

Editorial

A Happy Signing Day

Other Sun Publications

FREE DELIVERY!
Get Free Delivery! Request your Osceola News Gazette Today.

Login Form

2013 Osceola Health

2013 Sexual Predator Sexual Offender List sexualpredatorcover13

Windows on the Classroom March 2013

School Calendar
2012-2013

View our other Special Sections

A Happy Signing Day

Sports

Saturday, 06 February 2010 00:54

Four Kowboys sign off to Division I football schools
By Ken Jackson
Sports Writer
It’s become a familiar sight the first Wednesday of February — the balloons, the cake, the cameras and the well-wishing family and friends.
Osceola High School sent four players to Division I college football programs during Wednesday’s National Signing Day festivities inside the OHS performing arts center.
Marc Deas, who played quarterback and linebacker, acted on his long-standing commitment to Georgia. B.J. Butler was going to join him, but the coaching regime change at Louisville convinced the defensive end to head a little farther north.
Defensive back Shaq Bell will see some familiar faces in Fort Collins after signing his letter of intent to play for Colorado State.
Absent was Akeem Daniels, who officially signed on to Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, Ill. He’s already enrolled there, joining his brother, cornerback Kairee Daniels, a 2006 OHS alum. He will be in attendance when spring drills begin March 23.
Kowboys Coach Jeff Rolson has a special kinship with this close-knit bunch. They were freshman when he took the OHS job beginning in the 2006 season, and are the first class he’s seen come all the way up through the program.
“Your first graduating class is special. I’ve seen their four years of dedication, now you see the hard work pays off,” he said. “We’ve been blessed, because of what they did, they’ve left a legacy of strong Kowboy football.
“There’s no question we will miss them. We will miss their leadership.”
Wednesday put the number of college signees during Rolson’s tenure into the high-teens. He expects a few more to sign between now and the start of summer, moving the four-year number of college signees to or over 24.
“We care about getting guys on to the next level, and getting them money for their education,” he said.
Deas (6-1, 185), one of four Floridians in Coach Mark Richt’s signing class, will be in the SEC along with his OHS quarterbacking predecessor, T’Sharvan Bell, Shaq’s brother who signed with Auburn two years ago. Deas started under center in the 2007 Class 5A state championship game against St. Thomas Aquinas in relief of Bell, who injured his knee in the state semifinal the prior week.
Deas, who originally committed to the Athens, Ga., school back in the spring, was fielding texts from Georgia recruiting analysts instead of other programs before Signing Day because he committed so firmly, so early. It helped him get a good night’s sleep on Tuesday.
“I just wanted to be a Bulldog. Progressing to the next step is emotional, even though I made the decision early,” he said. “I never had any second thoughts or doubts, which was a blessing. I know this is just the first part of the journey.”
Richt and the UGA staff recruited Deas as a safety. His biggest contribution to the Kowboys last season came at quarterback, but he closed their last win with an interception return for a touchdown in a 34-14 playoff win over Oviedo.
He was the 2008 county Defensive Player of the Year, tallying 114 tackles and three sacks at middle linebacker.
If he’s played his last down of football on offense, he said he’s comfortable with that.
“I love making plays and just being on the field,” said Deas, who reports to Athens in June. “I’ve been working on getting my feet faster.”
The Bulldogs were 8–5 in 2009 and won the Independence Bowl, 44–20, over Texas A&M.
Butler’s change from Georgia to Louisville happened in early January when former University of Florida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong replaced Steve Kragthorpe as the Cardinals’ head coach.
Deas said his sadness about losing Butler as a teammate was short.
“Just knowing that he’s getting an opportunity to play somewhere, it’s easy to be glad for him about that,” Deas said.
Butler (6-2, 250) became a key part of Strong’s signing class of 20 players assembled in just 55 days. Recruited as a defensive end, Butler rated as a four-star recruit by both Rivals and Scout.com.
He said that after OHS defensive backs coach Shannon Benton got him in touch with Coach Strong’s staff, it set a chain of events in motion.
“I visited around Jan. 8, and Georgia wanted an answer on where I was going before I left for Louisville,” Butler said. “When I told them I wanted to wait until I got back, they suggested that we go our separate ways.”
After visiting the campus in Kentucky, Butler felt he went in the right direction.
“It just felt familiar,” he said. “I had a good connection with Coach Strong, and everyone in the program seemed cool and laid-back.”
Butler stemmed any last-minute recruiting by accident — he broke his cell phone a couple of weeks ago, so there were few distractions on Wednesday morning.
“I slept really well, then when I got up my mom had the paperwork all ready to sign and fax in,” he said.
Playing on the Kowboys’ basketball team this winter also has occupied his mind of late, since contributing on both sides of the ball in the 2009 season.
He led the team with 233 receiving yards and three TDs to go with 33 tackles and four sacks at defensive end.
Louisville was 4-8 last season under Kragthorpe.
Bell, one of 10 Floridians in Colorado State Coach Steve Fairchild’s 28-player signing class (that includes St. Cloud’s James Boone), will find Momo Thomas, a major cog in that 2007 Kowboys offense, waiting for him in Fort Collins, where the Rams are set to use him at cornerback at his current size (5-11, 180), or at safety if he got bigger.
Bell said Wednesday’s signing came as a relief, because Florida Atlantic was also bidding for his services.
“(FAU) said the programs were similar, and that I should stay in Florida closer to my family,” he said, but chose to maintain his commitment made last spring.
“Coming from Florida, we bring our speed and our swagger,” Bell said, noting that Floridians don’t bring thick blood to stand the mountain winters. “I have to put some heavy clothes on the list.”
Bell rang up 90 tackles and two interceptions in his junior and senior seasons combined.
The Rams were 3-9 last season in the Mountain West Conference.
Daniels, listed as an “athlete” with Northern Illinois after playing fullback, cornerback and return man for the Kowboys last year, is one of three Floridians in Coach Jerry Kill’s 26-player recruiting class for the Mid-American Conference school.
He said Thursday from a cold, Dekalb, Ill. (“It’s nine degrees here right now”) that the Huskies, who went 7–6 and lost the International Bowl in Toronto 27–3 to South Florida last season, would use him on offense and in the return game.
“Having Kairee here made it easier for my parents to travel,” he said. “In middle school I thought that I wanted to enroll early, I’m glad I was able to make that happen.”
Daniels was the Kowboys’ leading rusher in 2009 (116 carries, 801 yards, nine TDs), and returned two punts and a kickoff for scores.
The quartet shared lasting memories of their Osceola football experiences that would go on to college with them.
Butler said the 2007 run to the state title game is still fresh in his mind.
“Playing with T’Sharvan, Momo and Bubba (Brown) is something I still think about. I really wanted to get back there the last two years to do it again.” he said.
Camps and team events that brought the players together also were a hot topic.
Said Bell: “Since our freshman year, the coaches showed us how to become closer, how to become a family and rely on each other.”