Chicago Public League Sports Blog

Pipkins has a chance to shine

Juwayne Pipkins (jr) of Robeson will be performing at this week's US Army football combine in San Antonio.

 The Chicago Sun-Times wrote a good article on Juwayne Pipkins(jr), a 5-8, 165lb football player from Robeson. Pipkins plays quarterback and cornerback for a very good Robeson team that finished 4th in my final 2009-10 CPS football rankings. Pipkins will be attending the US Army National football combine for high school football players this Thursday through Saturday in San Antonio, TX. A good showing by any high school athlete at this combine can propel an athlete high in the eyes of college scouts. I will say this. I have seen Pipkins play in person. He has the athlethic ability to take over a game.  He can run past potential tacklers with his speed and he has above average throwing abilities with his arm. He plays similar to all-city quarterback Keith Lewis of Curie from a couple years ago. Curie went on to play football at Western Illinois. Pipkins future though seems to be at corner back. The combine will measure pure athlethic tangibles like speed, jumps, etc.

I'm not sure exactly how Pipkins will stack up against some of the best athletes in the country at the US Army combine. But I do know he is an exciting football player. You will see more of Pipkins in the upcoming track season. Pipkins runs sprint relays for a Robeson track program that excels in sprint relays.

Mason Fuller - Urban Prep's first big time football prospect

Mason Fuller (class of 2011) college football prospect from Urban Prep (Facebook photo).

Urban Prep has not been around too long. In fact, the south side charter school has only had a football varsity team for two years and this past football season was the first season the school has even had seniors.

One up and coming player is Mason Fuller (jr- class of 2011). Fuller is a 6-3, 290lb lineman that plays both offensive and defensive lines. According to Urban Prep coach Anthony Griffin: "Mason is a big strong interior defensive lineman. He has very good pass rush capabilities. He also is pretty good versus the run. He needs to continue to improve on his knowledge of the game and being even more aggressive with his hands."

As a result of his football abilities, Fuller is beginning to get looked at by college scouts. According to Allen Trieu from Scout.com:

"Fuller does not have any scholarship offers just yet, but Griffin says Illinois, South Carolina and Kansas have shown interest."

He was listed on the outstanding performanace list at Schuman's National Undercity combine in 2009.

Fuller still has a long ways to go. He would probably benefit by going to more off season football combines.

I'll try to get more of take on Fuller by asking about him from his Urban Prep teammates and keeping up on he he performs at football combines. As I get it I'll give an update in the comments section or on a separate post.

Fuller in his football gear (Scout.com photo)

Rich Rio Steps Down as Lane Tech Football Coach

Rich Rio after a Lane Tech and Whitney Young football game

In a move that can only be described as surprising, long time Lane Tech head football coach decided to Rich Rio decided to step down as football coach for Lane Tech.

Rich Rio took the reigns of head coach at Lane in 1998. In that span, Lane won two city championships and 8 conference championship. Lane won the city championship in 2008 and 2004. The 2004 team, led by quarterback Couri Benz and wide receivers Dwayne Pillow, Xavier Torres, Deon Floweres and Tiff Hamilton was the best and most exciting CPS football team that I've seen in the 20 years I've been watching high school football.

Rio, 63, will remain as the Lane Tech athletic director and name his own successor. I'm not going to speculate who it will be, but in my opinion it will be someone in his current coaching staff.

Sun-time article

Rich Rio with a member of the Chicago Bears ownership. Photo was taken in 2006 after the dedication of the Lane Tech stadium field turf.

Tom Lemming list several CPS football players in underclass all area team

Juwane Pipkins (jr) of Robeson (max prep sports photo)

High School Sports blogger lists several CPS football players in his 2009 Underclassmen All-Area Team.

Included in this list is:

Juwane Pipkins (jr) - Robeson
Duwane Pipkins - Robeson
Willie Allen - King
Dariel Crowder - (so) - Morgan Park
Mario Jones - Hubbard
Tarrance Wafford - Bogan

2 Morgan Park Football Players Pick Ball State

Brian Jones (5-11, 180lb, sr, DB) verbally committed to Division I Ball State.

The Morgan Park football machine keeps churning out football players. Defensive Back Brian Jones (5-11, 180lbs, sr) and Defensive End Matthew Mosely made verbal committments to play football for Ball State University. Ball State is a large Division I school with over 20,000 students located in Muncie, Indiana. They are in the MAC conference (Northern Illinois, Miami of Ohio, Central Michigan, Toledo, etc).

"I've been getting mail and emails so far from Iowa, NIU, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Louisville, Iowa, and Northern Iowa", said Jones in the past. Jones ended up picking Ball State.

Jones and Mosely both made the Chicago Sun-Times CPS All-conference teams.

Jones is one of the fastest runners in the speed rich Chicago Public League. He finished 4th in the 200 meter dash at the city finals just behind all-state runners Chris Kyles of Lane Tech and Richard Wooten of Hubbard. Jones also ran on Morgan Park's 4x1 and 4x200 meter relay teams. Their 4x200 one one of the state fastest times last year with a time of 42.52 in the state prelims.

Mosely is one of the city's top defensive ends and also finished all-city in the discus (in track and field).

Robeson Track and Football Video

I know it is old, but I found this cool video about Robeson track and football. A lot of CPS teams can relate to running in the halls.

CPS Elementary Football Web Site Added to Links Page

Marcellus Ellis (6-4, 290lb, lineman, class of 2014) of the Wolfpack from CPS Youth football.

I added the CPS elementary school football web site to the links page. It is still raw, but hey it's a start.

Urban Myth?

There has been undocumented reports all over the Internet (here, EdgyTim, and even cop blogs) that Simeon trashed the locker room after their prep bowl loss to St Rita in a controversial game. The story goes that Simeon caused $10,000 in damages to the locker rooms- apparently in rage after losing the game. At first I thought it was true, but then I got this email from an anonymous source:

Simeon Trashing the Locker Room afterwards is a complete URBAN MYTH!

The only damage afterwards was that Simeon left a bunch of orange peels on the ground.

I covered the game. It was easily the best game that I covered in the last 10 years. Too bad a very questionable call had to decide it.

I was in the Simeon locker room after the game. The Simeon coach's and players acted with class and dignity there. I didn't see any damage. I did see orange peels on the floor. Big deal. I have seen way worse.

As far as the assistant coach that was escorted out, I was standing right next to the Public League officials after it happened. They ere embarrassed at the whole situation. They have the coach's name and he has already been suspended.

There are obiviously forces at play here trying to bring down Simeon. Hubbard, St. Rita, CCL, CPS foes, even CPS officials could be actual culprits trying to spread this URBAN LEGEND. I'm telling you right now. It did not happen.

Video Interview - 8th grader Marcellus Ellis (6-4 290lbs), CPS football prospect

CPSfan.com speaks with Marcellus Ellis (class of 2014) a 6-4, 290lb elementary school lineman playing with the CPS elementary school team Wolfpack. This lineman prospect will be going to either Simeon or Morgan Park. The south side keeps reloading.

Final 2009 CPS Football Rankings

Gregory McDowell (sr), all-conference quarterback from Orr.

1. Simeon - Prep Bowl and CPS Champs. Gave close games to Mt. Carmel in the state playoffs and St. Rita in the Prep Bowl. Return their top offensive weapons stud QB Robert Gregory and running back Horatio Banks. Will be ranked #1 in the CPS to start the season next year. Simeon has the best line play in the CPS.

2. Hubbard - City runner-ups. Only one of two CPS schools to advance to second round of state playoffs, losing a close game to Belvidere North. Starting quarterback Quincy Skanes is only a sophomore. Combine Skanes with really good sophomore team and Hubbard should be fine the next few years.

3. Morgan Park - Beat Brother Rice to open season. Also beat Hubbard and Simeon during the regular season, largely behind senior QB Daron Brown. Only one of two CPS teams to advance to 2nd round of state playoffs. Sophomore DeShaun Hurley appears to be the heir apparent to Brown. Some say he could be just as good if not better than Brown. Morgan Park will need to reload after losing lot's of players to graduation.

4. Robeson - Another solid season for CPS state semi-finalist- giving city champion Simeon all it can handle. Won conference....again! Robeson will return junior quarterback Juwane Pipkins- one of the top QB's in the city after Robert Gregory of Simeon.

5. King - 2nd to Robeson in conference. This is a one of the top rising football programs in the CPS. You will hear more about King football in the next few years. Word on the street is that the top CPS elementary football players want to head to King. To move up to the next level, King will need to work on a few things like their passing game and getting more of their kids academically eligible.

6. Curie - 2nd to Simeon in the Illini-Red Bird Conference- including victories over Dunbar and Lane. Curie's hopes next year will be on teh development of quarterback Maurice Fleming. He is only a sophomore. Curie returns almost it's entire line.

7. Lane Tech - After winning city last year, a disappointing year for the Indians. Finishing an uncharacteristic 3rd in conference, missed state playoffs, and getting knocked out in the first round of the city playoffs to Hubbard 33-0. Lane will have to replace it's starting running back, starting quarterback, and two of it's top lineman all-stater Laken Tomlinson (Duke) and Louis Pasat-Trinca (Iowa).

8. Al Raby - This could be the best of the Chicago Conference teams -winning with an undefeated 7-0 record. Al Raby surpised the heck out of everyone -including myself losing only by a score of 16-9 to traditional power Morris in the first round of the state playoffs. I'm looking forward to see how Raby does in the Illini conference next year.

9. Bogan - Undefeated regular season in the Chicago Windy City Conference - including victories over Julian and suburban Tinley Park. Bogan moves up to the Illini-conference next year.

10. Mather - Mather wins the Chicago Big Shoulders conference - including a 34-13 victory over 8-2 Taft. Mather may have the top athlete in the city in all-everything Ameen Solebo. Solebo is an all-city football player, city runner up in wrestling, and city shot-put champion in track.

Others - Taft, Julian, Dunbar, Foreman, Brooks, Orr, Harlan

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