For those ready to greet the high school basketball season, the Buchtel Griffins will host a preview of teams from Northeast Ohio at the school on 1040 Copley St.

The Richmond Heights Spartans will face off against Cleveland Collinwood at 6 p.m. followed by the Griffins vs. Cleveland East Tech at 7 p.m.

Game:  Buchtel (1-3, 1-0) vs. East (0-4, 0-1)

Where:  InfoCision Stadium at the University of Akron

When: 6 p.m.

What to look for:  Coach Ricky Powers’ Buchtel Griffins got their first taste of victory last week against Garfield whether that translates to a run for the team remains to be seen.  Buchtel still has the speed, but in some respects they are young and it remains to be seen whether Powers and his coaching staff have players in right positions.  As for East, they have the QB in Tevin Richards and some solid players.  Why that isn’t translating into wins?

Game: Buchtel Griffins at Massillion Tigers
Time: 7:30 p.m. at Paul Brown Tigers Stadium
Outlook:  Buchtel High School has to figure out how to replace 25 seniors from last year, including quarterbacks and wide receivers.  Look for a couple of interesting moves on Buchtel’s side of the ball, including Powers moving Jarrod Wilson to the QB spot.
Coaches corner:
Buchtel’s Ricky Powers: “We’re young.  We’re still fast and we’re inexperienced.  We won’t know what we have until we step on the field tonight.”
The Tigers’ Jason Hall could not be reached via phone or email for comment.

Buchtel Griffins coach Ricky Powers

Is it too early in the football season for a gamesmanship?

The Buchtel Griffins are scheduled to kick-off the season against the Massillon Tigers Thursday night at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, but coach Ricky Powers and his staff have little idea what they’ll be facing when the teams play.

Powers, by his reckoning made seven requests to Tiger coach Jason Hall to trade film with Massillon and he received no reply.  His defensive coordinator, Kemp Boyd, also made multiple requests to Hall, Powers said. Powers appealed to the Tigers’ assistand athletic director – Hall is the school’s top athletic administrator – to speak with Hall but still received no reply.

Hall finally sent Powers the following text message:  “We have decided not to exchange film.  We couldn’t get anything off last years (sic) film due to the poor quality,” he wrote. “We scouted the scrimmages and we are good.  Thanks.”

The excuse for not returning at least seven phone calls from Powers himself?  Hall left his phone at home, he said in another text.

There’s a gentleman’s agreement that teams exchange film in high school football and it’s normally done the weekend prior to a game.

An informal survey of a group of footbal coaches in the area said that the way Hall handled this was shady at best and dishonest at worst.  Efforts to reach Hall via phone and email proved unsuccessful.

Buchtel dominated the Tigers in last year’s season opener 29-13.

• Buchtel FS/QB Jarrod Wilson will graduate early and enroll at the University of Michigan so he can be at spring practice.
• The mascot’s name has changed for East High School officially.  The teams from East will now be known as the Dragons. instead of the “Orientals”.  An official with the Akron Public Schools said that a survey was done to choose the name and “Orientals” a term considered offensive by many Asian Americans was the most popular choice with alumni.  Apparently some people just don’t get it.
• Things are looking up for both Kenmore and North high schools.  Coach Ed Peltz of the Cardinals reported that his team is up to 50 members now and North, which could barely field a team last year, is up into the 40s according to coach Mike Laktash.
• Firestone coach Tim Flossie seemed grateful to even be at the event:  “I”m glad to be back; it didn’t look good for a while there.”  Flossie came under scrutiny after a parent accused him of  hitting their son on two separate occasions last year.
• Buchtel took the City Series crown last year and the consensus among league coaches and the media in attendance was that the Griffins will continue claim another title.

According to Larry Sullivan, one of the four young men involved, the four Firestone players who transferred to Buchtel High School in the hopes of playing for coach Ricky Powers will attend Ellet High School and play for the Ellet Orangmen.

Sullivan, along with Timote Anderson, DeDonte Cheatham, Dierre Smith became embroiled in a controversy when they tried to transfer and were declared ineligible.

For fans of high school football, this is the beginning of the best time of the year.

I started by taking in 7-on-7s Tuesday night at Buchtel High School where the Griffins went through passing scrimmages (no contact) with East High School, Warrensville Heights, John F. Kennedy and John Adams from Cleveland.

You don’t learn a lot from these things, but you can pick up on which players have potential to be successful on the field.  For Buchtel, with respect to speed, it’s a clear case of reload, not rebuild.  It’s evident that they have the athletes at skill positions despite losing Corey Smith, Nate Harris, Tyler Jones, Steve Parker, Marlon Oden and a total of 25 seniors overall.  Look for Ernie Calhoun, Elijah Bell to step up.

Because they lost both quarterbacks to graduation, coach Ricky Powers has made a curious move, putting senior defensive back Jarrod Wilson into that offensive slot.  He didn’t participate in drills so there’s no way to know at this point what he has, but Powers is obviously looking for some senior leadership.  And Wilson, who verbally committed to the University of Michigan recently, definitely has the athletic skills.    He, however, will split time with a sophomore at QB.

Speaking of the quarterback position, East QB Tevin Richards, who recently picked up an offer from Hampton University in Virginia, could be one to keep an eye for the season.  I watched as he carved up the Ellet defense to the tune of 400-plus yards and six TDs during their game last year.  Richards stands 6-foot-6, which allows him to see the field well, and has a canon for an arm, but shows a nice touch on occasion as well.  He’s raw, but there is a ton of potential there.

Tonight I will be at Tallmadge checking out Tyrin Williams and his teammates and coach Joe Vassalotti’s team.

Buchtel Griffins defensive back Jarrod Wilson has verbally committed to play for the Michigan Wolverines in the fall of 2012, according to AkronNewsNow.

The defensive standout was one of the key reasons Buchtel went so far in the state playoffs.

Wilson had offers from Penn State, Michigan State, Notre Dame and others.

Nate Harris, who played wide receiver for the Buchtel Griffins, received an offer to play football for the Indiana Hoosiers  Harris who runs track for the Griffins as well and recently broke a state indoor track record will also be able to continue that aspect of his career.

According to a source close to him, Buchtel wide receiver Corey Smith has received a scholarship offer from the University of Alabama.

The Crimson Tide join a host of colleges who are after Smith. He’s also been offered by Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Michigan State, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Tennessee, Toledo, Vanderbilt and West Virginia