Doran Grant set to announce college choice

A memorable few weeks for St. Vincent-St. Mary (Akron) senior Doran Grant is expected to conclude with a big announcement Wednesday night.

Grant, a 5-foot-10, 177-pound cornerback, joined Centerville offensive lineman Michael Bennett and Springfield linebacker Trey DePriest on USA Today's second-team all-USA team announced in late December.

Grant next will compete in the Under Armour All-America game at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, which will be broadcast on ESPN. At some point Wednesday night, Grant also is expected to announce his college decision.

Grant has 18 Division I offers, and according to several news outlets including the Akron Beacon Journal, is expected to choose between Ohio State and Michigan State. Grant's father, Ted Jones, played for Michigan State in the early 1980s.



"Over the past (few) weeks I've decided to take it down to two, Ohio State and Michigan State," Grant told Cleveland's Fox 8 news. "Both the schools are really such a great fit for me. I feel like I can take advantage of my skills at either place. (My father) just wants me to make the best decision for me and to be comfortable with my decision."

Grant was the Ohio AP Defensive Player of the Year in Division III and is ranked among the top cornerbacks nationally according to most scouting organizations.

At the Under Armour game, Grant will be teammates with Wayne (Huber Heights) quarterback Braxton Miller and McKinley (Canton) defensive end Steve Miller on the White team.

BROOKHAVEN PICKS COACH
Brookhaven (Columbus), which has advanced to the state playoffs in seven of the past nine seasons, will have a new coach next fall in Trevor White.

The Bearcats went 5-5 last fall but finished 24-10 in three seasons under former coach Anthony Thornton, who resigned Nov. 22.

White, a 1994 Groveport-Madison (Groveport) graduate, was an assistant at Brookhaven (Columbus) from 2000-06 and served as linebackers coach when the Bearcats won the 2004 Division II state championship. He has been a co-defensive coordinator at Marion-Franklin (Columbus) since 2007 and helped the Red Devils reach a Division II state semifinal in 2009.



"(Being a head coach) is something I've always wanted to do," White said. "It's almost a homecoming for me."{PAGEBREAK}CARTER LIKELY OUT AT JOHNSTOWN
According to reports on ThisWeekSPORTS.com, Johnstown-Monroe football coach Mike Carter won't have his contract renewed at the school's next board meeting Jan. 10.

Carter has guided the Johnnies to a 65-31 record in nine seasons and led the program to its first playoff berth in 2002 and to additional postseasons each year from 2006-08. Carter also has been serving as the school's dean of students and its athletics director.

RECRUITING NEWS
The Akron Beacon Journal is reporting that Walsh Jesuit (Cuyahoga Falls) senior quarterback Connor Cook will keep his verbal commitment to Michigan State despite the fact that Spartans offensive coordinator Don Treadwell recently was hired as Miami University's new head coach. Cook has been verbally committed to Michigan State since early April. … According to several news outlets including ScoutingOhio.com, Glenville (Cleveland) senior wide receiver Frank Clark recently was offered a scholarship by Akron. He also has offers from California, Eastern Michigan, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina and Toledo. … Also according to ScoutingOhio.com, Frank Epitropoulos of Upper Arlington (Columbus), Allen Gant of Southview (Sylvania), Tom Strobel of Mentor and Chris Wormley of Whitmer (Toledo) all have received scholarship offers from Toledo. The organization also is reporting that Chase Hounshell of Lake Catholic (Mentor) has been offered by Notre Dame, Cameron Wilson of Jerome (Dublin) has been offered by Boston College and William Mahone of Austintown-Fitch (Youngstown) has been offered by Bowling Green.

Jarrod Ulrey covers Central and Northern Ohio for MaxPreps.com. He covers prep sports for ThisWeekSPORTS.com and can be reached at julrey@thisweeknews.com.