Top 50 football recruit Jameel Poteat crosses off USC
By Joseph Santoliquito
Jul 9, 2010, 11:45am
Pennsylvania star running back still has Notre Dame, Florida, Tennessee, Iowa and Connecticut on short list.
Jameel Poteat is special. There’s no question about that. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound tailback out of Bishop McDevitt (Harrisburg, Pa.), is rated the best high school player in the traditional prep powerhouse state of Pennsylvania by MaxPreps.com, and among the best players in the country. He finished an amazing junior year and finds himself in demand, yanked in myriad directions each time he steps out of his house.
Jameel Poteat is the No. 50 recruit in the country.
Photo by Richard Rector
“Where are you going, what school are you going to, I’m getting it everywhere, it’s crazy, people have even come up and are asking my mom,” said Poteat, laughing. “The process is worse than I expected. I didn’t expect it to be this stressful, because I’m asked everyday, by what seems like everyone, where am I going, where am I going.
“It’s great people care like that, I have to be honest; and believe me, I appreciate it. But it’s gotten to be a little ridiculous sometimes. I’m playing in a seven-on-seven league and someone came up to my mom asking her. My mom can’t sit down and watch me play without someone asking her.”
One school that won’t be on Poteat’s list is USC. New USC coach Lane Kiffin offered Poteat a scholarship when he was at Tennessee, and the offer was still good when Kiffin landed at Southern Cal. But because of the stringent sanctions the NCAA handed down on USC, which includes a two-year bowl ban and a loss of more than 20 football scholarships, Poteat’s been forced to reconsider.
USC’s penalties stem from what the NCAA defined as improper benefits given to 2005 Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush and now seem far reaching into the recruiting of stellar players like Poteat, who rushed for 1,664 yards, scored 28 touchdowns and averaged 128 yards a game and 6.19 yards a carry last season as a junior.
He's ranked the No. 50 recruit overall from the Class of 2011 by MaxPreps.com recruiting expert Tom Lemming.
“I have to be honest, what happened at USC really affected my decision,” said Poteat, who follows a long line of special tailbacks at McDevitt, which is turning into Tailback High, producing former NFL all-pro and Super Bowl champion Ricky Watters and Philadelphia Eagles’ 2009 second-round draft pick LeSean “Shady” McCoy.
“The [sanctions] USC was hit with were pretty hard, and not to play in a bowl game the next two years and the loss of scholarships, it’s a lot to think about. Coach Kiffin is a good man, but this is an important life decision. USC is not a real consideration anymore. And besides, I haven’t spoken to anyone at USC in the last two or three weeks. They were in contact with me pretty regularly until then. There’s no USC in the picture. I don’t see that happening, not now after everything happened. Besides, I like being a little closer to home. USC was far, far away, maybe too far for me.”
With his explosive speed, versatility to swing out of the backfield to catch the ball, and shifty ability to avert tacklers, Poteat will have more than his share of fine selections out there. He said he includes Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Cincinnati — in no particular order — among his top three choices.
Aside from them, Poteat has a long list of suitors that also include Notre Dame, Florida, Tennessee, Iowa and Connecticut.
His timetable will fall anywhere from August to sometime in mid-September before he makes a choice.
“I have to put something out there, because some schools have backed off because everyone thought I was going to Pitt,” said Poteat, who plans on playing in the Army All-American game and the Big 33 game. “That’s not true. I know there’s a great tradition of McDevitt players going to Pitt, and Pitt’s a great school. But right now, everything is still up in the air. I’m not saying I’m not going to Pitt. I may still go to Pitt. But right now, I’m undecided. That’s a fact. Undecided.”
Poteat said he’ll take three official visits and he put a personal deadline on his choice to within the first two or three games of the upcoming McDevitt season.
“I want to make sure I get it right, wherever I go,” Poteat said. “It is nice to be wanted and getting all of this attention. I’m blessed to be in this position, I really am. It’s why I want to make my choice. This has been like a job. I’m looking forward to just relaxing. I can’t wait until this is done so I can go back to being a big kid again and enjoying myself.”
Joseph Santoliquito covers high schools for the Philadelphia Daily News and is a contributor to MaxPreps.com. He can be contacted at JSantoliquito@yahoo.com.
