| 04 November 2010
The trend in recruiting these days has made the senior year offer a rare thing. How many offers have we seen from the Buckeyes in the last five years or so to a senior once the season starts? How many of them have only been because the player was not qualifed when the season began? The number of players who are pure offers, meaning they got an offer just because of senior year performance, might as well be dubbed "unicorns" because they are so rare. I see one this year.
The excitement has been building every week as this player left people dazzled with his performance. It hit a fever pitch last week when a packed stadium saw Ursuline senior tailback Akise Teague break off a few runs that left fans in attendance slack-jawed. Ray Jaske from ESPN 990 was in attendance and came away impressed enough to ask me about him. It prompted me to go back and look at his film.
First, I want to apologize to Akise Teague and to you fans for not watching his junior film all the way through. I turned it off before I got to the part of the film where Mark Porter added in plays of him as a receiver. He is definitely an impressive receiver. He catches the ball naturally and after the catch he is as impressive as Shane Wynn. Don't take my word for it. I will be including links to his films from ScoutingOhio.com. You can look for yourself.
His junior film shows a player who is great in space. He is an outstanding kick returner. What his senior film shows are a couple of very important things. I did not see a back who could play at a school like Ohio State in his junior film. His senior film shows a back that can be a running back at Ohio State. For one thing he is one of those players who is so elusive in small spaces that he never gives tacklers a clean shot. That was the same attribute that made me a fan of Jevon Ringer when he came out of Chaminade a few years ago. It makes Teague just as comfortable between the tackles as he is in space. The other thing you will see on the senior film is a smaller kid that is physical. He runs over people. He breaks tackles. He runs through arm tackles. He doesn't shy away from contact ever. You will notice that in the defensive clips Mark put into this film. I would use the word physical in a description of Teague as a defensive player. He brings it. That is another piece of the puzzle that adds up to him being an offer player in my mind. He can play corner. He is very good. Great ball skills and yes, he is ready willing and able to play the run.
Maybe he is not a back. I am not convinced after seeing his senior film but for arguments sake lets say he is not. He can definitely be a receiver. One thing I think the Buckeyes desperately need are corners. Most corners are in the 5-9 to 5-10 range and about 180 pounds. Teague is that size. The big selling point for Shane Wynn fans is he is such a great kick returner. Put Teagues film on and then look at Wynns. Tell me with a straight face that Wynn is so much better than Teague that he rates an offer as a kick returner but Teague does not.
Jim Tressel covets versatile players. I definitely see a Buckeye caliber corner. I see a Buckeye caliber receiver. I think he could be a Buckeye caliber back. If you want to argue that a player is worth a shcolarship just to return kicks, I see that in Teague too. A player that is worth a scholarship for each of those positions individually should be a no brainer for an offer when he can do them all.
The one thing I am uncertain about is his grades. That a player of his caliber has reported offers from Bowling Green, Ohio U and Youngstown State makes me wonder if the lack of buzz about him is grade related. Whether he has an offer from the Buckeyes or not he should have a boatload from other MAC schools and the Big Ten. I will try to find out. In the meantime enjoy:
http://scoutingohio.com/index.php/view-profile.html?task=userProfile&user=940&name=akise_teague%40yahoo.com
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