The tall, athletic wide receiver picked a good game to be noticed in.
Demetrius Dean may have just been a sophomore in high school, but he played like a seasoned veteran on Sept. 12, 2008 as the Fayetteville Bulldogs triumphed, 42-37 over Jefferson City, Mo.
With Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino making the trip to watch his son play football for the Bulldogs in Jefferson City, Dean, in only his second high school game, caught 10 passes for 109 yards and three touchdowns.
The effort impressed Petrino so much that he offered Dean a scholarship, even though he had only played two varsity games.
Dean, now a 6-foot-3, 240-pound junior, plays the majority of his games just down the hill from Petrino’s office on campus, at nearby Harmon Field.
Northwest Arkansas has never been confused with a recruiting hotbed for big-time Division I schools such as Arkansas, who plays in the Southeastern Conference, a highly competitive football division.
Sure, a lot of attention was given to the ‘Springdale Five,’ a collection of players from a 2005 Springdale Bulldog team that went 14-0 and finished with a national ranking by USA Today of No. 2 in the country.
Wide receiver Damian Williams is a star at the University of Southern California, where quarterback Mitch Mustain joined him after both left Arkansas at the beginning of 2007.
And a number of other athletes from the area have gone on to success.
Auburn recruited Lee Ziemba and Kodi Burns from Rogers and Fort Smith, respectively. North Carolina got Zach Pianalto from Springdale.
Fayetteville’s own Colby Berna is now a lineman for Arkansas.
Not a single one of the players listed above, however, were offered a scholarship as a high school sophomore.
Jimmy Carter, an assistant sports editor at the Arkansas Traveler, has covered high school football extensively in Arkansas this year, and said the process of recruiting has evolved so much over the past five to ten years.
“Now you have sportswriters that wouldn't normally be near a high school field covering games to try and get the scoop on where these athletes are going to attend college,” Carter said.
Carter also mentioned the fact that the increase in technology has led to the interest in these high school athletes, like Dean, when they are only 15 or 16 years old.
“Twitter and particularly Facebook are very predominant fixtures in a high school athlete's recruiting choices,” Carter said. “These high school athletes - and college athletes - will have 3,000 friends on Facebook and a large portion of those are fans of the schools that are recruiting the athlete.”
Nate Olson, a sportswriter for Vype Magazine in central Arkansas, said that even with it gaining steam in Northwest Arkansas, there is also a strong following of these athletes in the middle and southern portions of the state as well.
“It used to be high school kids got coverage from their local papers,” Olson said. “Now, it has become big business. Web sites, magazines and TV networks cover players from all over the country. College recruiting coverage has put prep sports in the spotlight.”
Some will then ask, is the attention given to these athletes healthy for them?
“On one hand, when they get to college they have had some exposure to the attention, but then it can take away from them getting to live a regular high school life,” Carter said.
So while recruiting can a team an edge and helps that team develop a program, it can also be devastating to the individual who has the hopes of that team riding on his shoulders.
“Overall, technology and the increased coverage has put athletes in a position to receive a lot of press and publication, but it also puts them under the microscope more and can blow little things about the athletes' lives out of proportion,” Carter said.
“Many athletes comment on their relief to end the recruiting process for this reason.”
Dean went on to set records at Fayetteville as a sophomore, but had a tough 2009 as a junior.
With the target on his back as an Arkansas commitment, he didn’t perform as he did 2008, putting on weight in the off-season and struggling to stay in games because of it.
Fayetteville limped to a 5-6 finish and a first-round playoff exit with a 45-42 loss to Conway at home.
1 comment:
Lede is well written and to the point.
Is Harmon field the high school field? Why is that worth mentioning after you already say he's in high school?
Is this your nut graf? Needs a much sharper point. What is the point you are making in this story?
--Northwest Arkansas has never been confused with a recruiting hotbed for big-time Division I schools such as Arkansas, who plays in the Southeastern Conference, a highly competitive football division.
I thought this piece was about the celebrity of high school athletes and how they deal with it. Not seeing any of that. Go get it.
This long list of players doesn't serve much of a purpose.
I'mi sure Carter is knowledgeable but you need a better source. Get someone who's been covering Arkansas for years.
--Jimmy Carter, an assistant sports editor at the Arkansas Traveler, has covered high school football extensively in Arkansas this year, and said the process of recruiting has evolved so much over the past five to ten years
Story is detouring again:--Carter also mentioned the fact that the increase in technology has led to the interest in these high school athletes, like Dean, when they are only 15 or 16 years old.
Avoid rhetorical questions. But it seems like you're getting the story back on track here. Move this up. Cut out the list of athletes that went pro. not relevant.
--Some will then ask, is the attention given to these athletes healthy for them?
You can't write this story without quotes from the actual athletes. Get the interviews. And get some scenes.
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