Sunday, May 09, 1999
N.KY. HIGH SCHOOL COLUMN
Spring combines boosting Kentucky football
BY NEIL SCHMIDT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
There was a time high school football was an afterthought to basketball in Kentucky. No longer.
Look at this decade: Chris Redman, Tim Couch and Dennis Johnson earn national prep Player of the Year awards. Couch turns UK around and becomes the top pick in the NBA draft. Redman and Shaun Alexander appear on lists of 1999 Heisman favorites.
Highlands makes USA Today's Super 25 three straight seasons. Spring practice returns after a 22-year absence. Offseason weight programs and summer passing camps proliferate.
Now comes the latest step, a series of five combines around the state to showcase seniors-to-be for college scouts. The final one is Friday at Boone County, following one each in Western Kentucky (Caldwell County), Eastern Kentucky (Hazard), Lexington (Bryan Station) and Louisville (Ballard).
“We are working hard to shed the image as any kind of step-sister to anybody,” said Scott County's Jim McKee, president of the Kentucky Football Coaches Association. “We have a real year-round approach to what's going on: weightlifting in the winter, spring ball is back, and passing leagues in the summer. And this is a natural step toward marketing our athletes.”
The combines will be run like the ones the NFL conducts. Each player will be timed in the 40-yard dash and the 20-yard shuttle run (which measures change of direction), tested for how many times he can bench-press 185 pounds and checked for vertical leap.
Officials at the combines will have info on each player's GPA, coach's name and school address to hand to college scouts. After the combines, all results statewide will be put into a master book that scouts can buy from the KFCA.
More than 600 players are expected to attend the five combines.
“This can help kids get on coaches' lists early enough,” Boone County coach Rick Thompson said. “The Division I-type kids are already known about, but this really helps kids that are Division II, I-AA, Division III kids that might not necessarily have a chance to be seen.”
SIGNEES: Several seniors have made recent college commitments:
• Scott's leading scorers in boys and girls basketball have signed: Anthony Matracia with Lincoln Trail Community College in Robinson, Ill. and Beth Lye with Kenyon College, a Division III school in Gambier, Ohio.
Matracia, a 6-foot-7 forward, averaged 20 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.9 blocks this winter.
Lye, a 6-foot forward who averaged 18 points and 14 rebounds, received an academic scholarship. She earned the Loyce Meadows Award as the top student-athlete in Northern Kentucky girls basketball this season.
• Highlands' Joe Herald will attend Oglethorpe University in Atlanta and play basketball for the Division III program. The 6-1 guard averaged 13 points, three rebounds and two assists this winter.
• Newport Central Catholic's Sam Beiting will attend Centre College in Danville, Ky., and play football for the Division III program. Beiting is a three-year starter at center and defensive end and earned all-state honorable mention honors in 1998.
• Conner cross country star Katie Scheben has signed with Morehead State. She earned The Enquirer's 1997 Runner of the Year honors after placing second in the Class AAA regional title and fifth in the state meet, and repeated Enquirer all-star honors in 1998.
• Campbell County wrestler James Bartlett has accepted a partial scholarship from Cumberland College. He was 37-4 at the 140-pound weight class this winter, placing third in the state.
MOHR RETIRES: Campbell County baseball coach Tom Mohr will retire after this season.
Mohr, 52, is 359-161 in 19 seasons with the Camels. He won Ninth Region titles in 1984, '86 and '89. Former players will honor him Saturday before a 7:30p.m. home game against Newport Central Catholic.
Neil Schmidt is The Enquirer's Northern Kentucky sports reporter. Send e-mail to nschmidt@enquirer.com.
Sports Stories
CUBS 7, REDS 4
REDS NOTEBOOK
Box, runs
