De'Von Graves at Appomattox

[AdvocateOfMany434]

This is the kid I told yall to watch. He will be a key player in Appomattox next year. I posted his hudl before and I told yall he will take over #1 WR in the post Buster Henderson years. He is a sophomore and started as a Freshman and Sophomore at CB and WR. He has QB experience in Middle school and has a strong arm. Pretty sure Coach Smith will use him to push Javon Scruggs (another Sophmore) at QB in the post Matt Page years. I seen this kid throw 60 yards with ease. Be benches 275-285, runs 4.5/40, dont know squat and clean numbers.

Well here is what we got. He was offered a Full Ride scholarship at NC State this weekend. I know others on team that NC State is looking at but I dont want to let them names out the bag yet because I know the coaches have not let them out the bag yet. This one was made public on FB page.
See below link:


Here is a reminder of what this kid brings to the table. Proud of him and I wish him the best.

 

[AdvocateOfMany434]

Here is his his hudl highlights from freshman year.

 

[DanvilleSportsHead]

Kid looks BIG TIME! Congrats young man! Bright future ahead of him!

 

[Keith_Stone33]

Not to distract from this young man, but Appomattox football as a whole is now a spinning buzzsaw at the 2A level and will likely remain that way for a long time. They seem to be on the right path. I could see the writing on the wall when RE Lee played them 2 & 3 years ago.

 

[AdvocateOfMany434]

I still say a key position this year will be at QB. It depends if a kid can step up and take over where Matt Page left off. Sophomores Javon Scruggs (Matts backup last year), JV QB Timatheous Slaughter both have big arms and know the system. Coach might go a different route with De'von Graves taking snaps. We are loaded at WR again so it wouldnt hurt Graves to move to QB. I feel the ones that shows efforts and goes to the qb camps in offseason will get the nod. 7 on 7s will open up some eyes as well.
Whoever earns the job will have some big shoes to fill in Matt Page. I say Appomattox would have went deep in playoffs 2 years ago if Matt wouldnt have injured the collateral joint vs Nottoway (2nd game of season) as a Junior. He missed a few games and then came back to beat Gretna as the starter and jarred joint again. He mainly played CB his junior season. He stepped in vs. Lee County in 4th qtr of the 1st round playoff game and we almost pulled off upset with him airing it out. If there was 2 more minutes on that clock, Appomattox would have won that game. Our 1st string QB had a horrible day behind the snap that game.

 

[AdvocateOfMany434]

Not to distract from this young man, but Appomattox football as a whole is now a spinning buzzsaw at the 2A level and will likely remain that way for a long time. They seem to be on the right path. I could see the writing on the wall when RE Lee played them 2 & 3 years ago.

I hope your right, I know the coaches are in place and coach smith is a winner that is a great leader. The only worry I have about our talent is our freshman class this year is weak and lacks talent. The ones that are talented are 'knuckleheads' and streets are calling them already. So we have a whole freshman class that is suspect. We have some talent at the middle school though. We have 4 sophomores that started in BIG roles for Varsity (Daniel Baldwin OL, Drew Mann C, Javon Scruggs S and Backup QB, Devon Graves WR,CB).

 

[AdvocateOfMany434]

I spoke with De'Von yesterday and he actually said he "committed" to NC State. This is not only big for him but the community of Appomattox. I cant remember the last time we sent a player to the FBS. Kenny Scott played for Liberty U.

 

[shauntclair]

Good to commit early and be done with it. Good reasons for this.

Even I'd he's injured and never catches another ball in HS, NC will honor the commitment and he'll be on full scholly the first year (remember, no scholly is guaranteed beyond year one. They have to be renewed yearly).

Stay focused in the classroom and tow the line by making good choices. They will drop an offer for not being able to meet academic requirements or getting in legal trouble.

Good luck to him because he's kind of iffy. He has some speed and his size is his biggest benefit. Clearly athletic. But the video competition is so poor, he's a tough read on whether it will translate to the next level.

 

[DanvilleSportsHead]

Good to commit early and be done with it. Good reasons for this.

Even I'd he's injured and never catches another ball in HS, NC will honor the commitment and he'll be on full scholly the first year (remember, no scholly is guaranteed beyond year one. They have to be renewed yearly).

Stay focused in the classroom and tow the line by making good choices. They will drop an offer for not being able to meet academic requirements or getting in legal trouble.

Good luck to him because he's kind of iffy. He has some speed and his size is his biggest benefit. Clearly athletic. But the video competition is so poor, he's a tough read on whether it will translate to the next level.

Can't always judge the lack of competition. Trey Edmunds from a couple years back played competition way worst than this and had some great numbers at Tech before he got injured. Devon Johnson from Richlands played little to no competition in SWVA and now he's going to be 3-5 round pick in the draft.. Vic Hall in 2002-2005 beat up on everybody and had a darn good career at UVA. This kid has big time talent, and though I understand what you're saying to a certain extent, I don't think that really applies anymore. To go farther in depth, if a big time college coach gambles on a kid from Appo, rural Southside VA, SWVA...That kid has to be pretty d*mn good player!

 

[shauntclair]

Can't always judge the lack of competition. Trey Edmunds from a couple years back played competition way worst than this and had some great numbers at Tech before he got injured. Devon Johnson from Richlands played little to no competition in SWVA and now he's going to be 3-5 round pick in the draft.. Vic Hall in 2002-2005 beat up on everybody and had a darn good career at UVA. This kid has big time talent, and though I understand what you're saying to a certain extent, I don't think that really applies anymore. To go farther in depth, if a big time college coach gambles on a kid from Appo, rural Southside VA, SWVA...That kid has to be pretty d*mn good player!

He's 6'2", a Sophomore with more room to grow and has a decent 40 time. Clearly athletic. But if he was 5'10" or 11", he would be generally unnoticed. Welcome to recruiting. But you provide good samples that SWVA does and has had some talent.

 

[DanvilleSportsHead]

He's 6'2", a Sophomore with more room to grow and has a decent 40 time. Clearly athletic. But if he was 5'10" or 11", he would be generally unnoticed. Welcome to recruiting. But you provide good samples that SWVA does and has had some talent.

Agreed. The ceiling is awfully high for this kid. Reminds me a lot of Malik Clements who played at GW Danville and will be a starter at FS this year as a true sophomore at Cincinatti.

 

[AdvocateOfMany434]

He is not a "true" sophomore though. FYI

 

[AdvocateOfMany434]

here is a link on him admitting his commitment.
https://ncstate.n.rivals.com/news/de-von-graves-explains-his-decision-to-commit-early

 

[DanvilleSportsHead]

He is not a "true" sophomore though. FYI

I was speaking on Clements from GW Danville who will be a true sophomore at the University of Cincinatti this upcoming year

 

[one man]

Good to commit early and be done with it. Good reasons for this.

Even I'd he's injured and never catches another ball in HS, NC will honor the commitment and he'll be on full scholly the first year (remember, no scholly is guaranteed beyond year one. They have to be renewed yearly).

Stay focused in the classroom and tow the line by making good choices. They will drop an offer for not being able to meet academic requirements or getting in legal trouble.

Good luck to him because he's kind of iffy. He has some speed and his size is his biggest benefit. Clearly athletic. But the video competition is so poor, he's a tough read on whether it will translate to the next level.

Doeren stole him quickly from Hoos/Hokies. I heard about him middle of last season and checked him out, kid's going to be special. Great instincts, physical, long. Body still growing, hips can improve but he's naturally fluid athlete. He'll have double digit offers before he signing day. It doesn't matter where you play, what matters is if you have "it." In my opinion, he's got it.

You've given him sound advice, good luck to him.