Prep Football Insider: Plenty of new faces in Senate Athletic League

Bob Fortuna and Tim Warsinskey, Plain Dealer Reporters, August 13, 2009 8:59 a.m.

Plain Dealer slideshow on the opening day of practice for Aurora: 

Monday's opening of high school football camps has brought about plenty of movement in the Senate Athletic League.

Former Collinwood coach Cecil Shorts Jr. is the new leader at Cleveland South, which lost Jarvis Gibson to St. Peter Chanel.

"There's a lot of talent at South and I'm thankful for the opportunity to continue the success that Jarvis established," said Shorts.

Succeeding Shorts at Collinwood is Sgt. Gregory Anderson, a retired Army medic who retired after 23 years.

"My immediate goal is to point the program in a positive direction," said Anderson, a Cincinnati native and an ROTC instructor at Collinwood. "And there will be discipline."

The picture isn't as clear at East Tech and East. Anthony Simeone recently resigned at Tech after accepting the athletic director's position at Lincoln West.

Marzell Pink stepped down at East after four seasons to take a part time assistant coaching position at Baldwin-Wallace College. "Keep an eye on Tech in the future, though," said Pink, "because they have a very good junior class."

Their exits have left both schools looking for head coaches mere weeks before the season starts Aug. 27.

"We should hopefully know who our coach is by midweek," said East Athletic Director Andre Haynes.

Tech's search could conclude by the end of the week.

"The opening has been posted within the district and that ends [Tuesday]," said Tech Athletic Director Joe Dallas. "Interviews will be conducted Wednesday and Thursday."

Until a coach is named, assistant coaches at the respective schools are running preseason camp.

Camp schedule: Here's the schedule as teams ease into the full practice routine:

Monday and today are the first two-a-days, and players can wear helmets, shoes and shorts, but no pads.

On Wednesday, they can wear shoulder pads. They go to full pads on Friday, but contact practice doesn't begin until Saturday. Sunday is a mandatory day off.

Next Tuesday is the first day for scrimmages. The first weekend of the regular season is Aug. 28-29.

Quarterback question: With Cuyahoga Heights' Zach D'Orazio committing to Akron over the weekend, who are the other area senior quarterbacks being recruited?

None are major-college recruits just yet, but there's a pretty good group of QBs whom colleges have their eyes on this fall. Among them are: Demetrius Craig (Glenville), Kyle Snyder (Barberton), Sam Mayse (Mentor), Jake Voight (Solon), Ty Watson (Aurora), Richard Barnes (Harvey), Danny Frate (University), Steven King (Manchester), Mark Myers (St. Ignatius), Anthony Westren (Woodridge), Cash Culver (St. Vincent-St. Mary) Dejuan Rutledge (John Adams), Lee Longo (Mayfield), Nick Bowling (Garfield Heights), Alex Basinski (Amherst), Casey Pierce (Normandy) and Richie Piekarski (Hudson).

Myers and Snyder probably are the top guys in that group. Ohio University really likes Snyder. Watson (6-4) is a first-year starter who has the attention of some Mid-American Conference schools. Mayse (6-5) is raw with a lot of upside. Craig is a transfer from Nordonia who can play several positions.

Statewide, various recruiting sites report there's a decent crop of senior QBs, eight of whom have committed. Among them are Cincinnati Moeller's Andrew Hendrix (Notre Dame) and Middletown's Caleb Watkins (Bowling Green). Others to watch who are uncommitted include Steubenville's Dwight Macon, Youngstown Ursuline's Alex Zordich, Cincinnati St. Xavier's Luke Massa and Ada's Mitchell Faine.