High school football: Recruiting combines showcase local talent

More than 30 players located throughout the Cox First Media coverage area reported receiving scholarship offers, including some who had none when the week began.

Springfield had at least five players report getting new offers while Lakota West had six.

At Northmont, sophomore Dorian Brew reported new offers from Oklahoma and Penn State while not far away Trotwood-Madison junior quarterback Tim Carpenter Jr. added Temple, Kent and Western Michigan to his list.

The offers went to players in the classes of 2024, ‘25 and even ‘26 as the recruiting calendar continues to evolve and coaches look to get involved with players earlier and earlier.

But what was special about this week?

Several area conferences and teams held recruiting “combines” or “showcases” on a designated day during the week in hopes of letting players work out for and get to know college coaches from every level of the NCAA from all over the state and beyond.

Springfield coach Maurice Douglass said around 70 schools were on his campus Monday afternoon despite wind, intermittent rain and temperatures stubbornly unwilling to get out of the 40s.

“Even with the weather, we’re glad that we had all these guys out here today,” Douglass said. “We had USC. We had teams from up north, down south. We had people from everywhere.”

Ohio State secondary coach Tim Walton made multiple stops in the area along with coaches from Penn State, Michigan State, Purdue, Minnesota, Navy, Iowa State, Indiana, Duke, Rutgers, Marshall, James Madison, Youngstown State, Pittsburgh and West Virginia (among others).

Not surprisingly, the Mid-American Conference also was represented well with Miami University, Ohio, Central Michigan, Ball State, Akron and Kent State gear spotted.

Area schools Dayton, Central State, Wittenberg and Wilmington College sent recruiters, too, along with other smaller schools such as Mount Union, Grand Valley State, the University of Charleston, Baldwin-Wallace, Tiffin, Butler and Muskingum.

Douglass was happy about that, of course, as he has stressed to his players the importance of getting a degree (and financial assistance) from anywhere a player can make his way.

“We have kids at Ferris State, and we had a kid go to Grand Valley State,” Douglass said. “They’re back-to-back Division II national champions.”

Springfield junior receiver Duncan Bradley III received a scholarship offer from Thomas Moore College, a Division II team in Northern Kentucky, while sophomore defensive end Jackson Heims received a Toledo offer Monday.

“So those guys are getting the opportunity, and it doesn’t matter the size of the school. It’s just the opportunity to get to go and play this game,” Douglass said.

Such an event can’t be pulled off without cooperation by the high schools, and Centerville coach Brent Ullery credited his counterpart at Springboro, Ryan Wilhite, for hatching the idea in 2019.

“Other people were doing it and he kind of pulled all the coaches in the conference together and said, ‘Let’s do this. Let’s collaborate,’” Ullery recalled Monday.

“The nice thing that the college coaches like is they don’t have to parade in one at a time all spring. They know they can come, they can watch it with their own eyes. They can see the kids compete. They can see their body types and how they move their hips and everything.

“That is phenomenal for the kids for coaches be able to see that and then they can move on because they can get their evaluations done. They don’t have to just meet a kid and try to time up am I walking in while he’s lifting weights or whatever. They know it’s scripted, so I think it’s a lot better personally for them in the college level and for us because it’s all concentrated on really one day.”

Stacking these events year to year could pay dividends down the line, too, as a coach who attends annually can build up personal knowledge of players as they grow and mature from freshmen to sophomores to juniors.

“I can’t tell you how many times coaches out there earlier came up to me like, ‘I remember him from last year. That kid’s really developed. Give me his GPA,’” Ullery said.

“You see the questioning elevate because they recognize them from year to year even though their jersey number changes or whatever, but it’s good even for the young guys that think that they’re not getting watched. The coaches saw them make plays, and whether they wrote their name down or not they’re going to see them next year making better plays and so on and so forth. And it just gives everyone a better foundation for the recruiting process.”

Notable new offers this week:

Lakota West linebacker Grant Beerman (2025): Massachusetts

Northmont athlete Dorian Brew (’25): Oklahoma, Penn State

Trotwood-Madison quarterback Tim Carpenter (2024): Temple, Western Michigan, Kent State

Xenia offensive lineman Gabriel Funk (’25): Western Michigan, Massachusetts, Central Michigan

Springfield defensive end Jackson Helms (’25): Toledo

Lakota East tight end Derek Jackson (’24): Toledo

Trotwood-Madison receiver Quinten Johnson (’24): Temple, Kent State

Fairfield receiver Noah King (’25): Bowling Green, Toledo

Lakota East quarterback Jamison Kitna (’25): Massachusetts

Lakota West defensive back Drew Minich (’24): Toledo, Navy

Fairmont defensive back/receiver Kamron Payne (’24): Ball State

Centerville safety Reggie Powers (’24): Michigan State (already had over 20 offers)

Fairfield receiver Derion Prophett (’25): Bowling Green

Wayne tight end Kamaurri Smith (’25): Kentucky, Ball State, Akron

Stebbins offensive lineman Isiah Stoudemire (’25): Ball State, Marshall

Hamilton defensive lineman Trey Verdon (’25): Massachusetts

Trotwood-Madison lineman Jamarcus Whyle (’26): West Virginia

Northmont receiver Dalin Wilkins (’24): Massachusetts, Temple

Northmont defensive end Cedrick Works Jr. (’25): Kentucky, Ohio, Massachusetts, Toledo