Running back pair is among nation's best.
Georgia Tech has Jonathan Dwyer and Roddy Jones.
The closest thing in Georgia high schools to those running backs in Tech's triple-option offense is Woodward Academy's Juwan Thompson and Delino DeShields.
Thompson and DeShields play in the same kind of offense and they are the only teammates in Georgia who are rated among the top 75 running backs in the country by Scout.com.
The only other school in the country with a pair of running backs that highly rated is St. Thomas Aquinas of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with Gio Bernard and James White.
Thompson, rated the No. 49 running back nationally by Scout.com and No. 34 by Rivals.com, is more like Georgia Tech's Dwyer, the 235-pound B-back in coach Paul Johnson's option offense who was the ACC player of the year in 2008.
"Juwan is a big, muscular kid - he resembles an Under Armour model - with power to break tackles and straight-line speed to go the distance,'' Woodward assistant coach Ryan Davis said.
Thompson, who committed to Duke last weekend, is 5-foot-11, weighs 215 pounds and runs a low 4.4 in the 40-yard dash. His vertical is around 38 inches. He also bench presses 315 pounds and squats around 450. He rushed for 1,210 yards on 171 carries last season.
DeShields is 5-9, 185 pounds, and faster than Thompson, closer to 4.3 speed, according to Davis. That resembles Tech's Roddy Jones, who is 5-9, 192 pounds. DeShields and Jones are A-backs.
Their 2008 statistics also are similar. Jones rushed for 690 yards on 81 carries for Tech. DeShields rushed for 803 yards on 83 carries for Woodward.
DeShields is rated the No. 55 running back prospect nationally by Scout.com and the No. 55 athlete by Rivals.
"He's so elusive and quick, it makes it hard for defenders to grab him,'' Davis said of DeShields. "He is also not afraid to put his head down and run tacklers over with his low center of gravity. He is a difference maker with the ball in his hands.''
DeShields also is exceptionally strong, with a squat of more than 500 pounds.
DeShields father, Deline DeShields Sr., was a 13-year major league baseball player, and his mother is a former track star at the University of Tennessee.
DeShields has scholarship offers from Georgia Tech, Mississippi and Stanford. But DeShields also is projected as a possible first-round pick in the June MLB Draft.
With DeShields and Thompson, Woodward is favored to win Region 4-AAA.The College Park private school has not won a region title since 1997.
