Golden Recruits: Austin Hinder Steps Up, Forbes Named Army All-American

via media.steamboatpilot.com

Austin Hinder, QB, Steamboat Springs, Steamboat Springs, CO

Looks like Hinder has had his own version of the Flu Game against one of the best teams in their conference before his visit to Cal. Check out the video highlights here!

The Steamboat Springs High School quarterback — unable to keep any food down, save for five Tums antacids Friday, and his nerves buzzing about Palisade — had a banner day and another career game Friday as Sailors outlasted the Bulldogs, 28-21, in a game between the Western Slope League’s finest.

More on Hinder's great game after the jump, plus updates on all the other recruits!

It’s the first time Steamboat beat Palisade in two years and marks the first significant win for the Sailors in that same time period.

Hinder, who tried and failed to eat breakfast, completed 23 of 28 passes for 259 yards and a touchdown. He also carried the ball 19 times for 102 yards and another touchdown.

"We get in a rhythm, and it’s just bam, bam, bam," Hinder said. "It really feels like we’re unstoppable. Last year, they got up, and we gave up. This year it wasn’t close to that."

After that epic performance, he tuned it down in the next two outings and let the running game take over, throwing 7-13 for 118 yards and 2 scores and rushed for 23 yards in a 34-0 shutout of Rifle. Now you might be alarmed that Hinder only went 1-4 this previous weekend, except that 1 pass went for a 47 yard touchdown, and he still rushed 5 times for 124 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 61-21 destruction of Battle Mountain. Did lead to this funny quote though.

Good thing he's already committed verbally to UC-Berkeley, otherwise the best quarterback in the Slope might have to find a new college next fall.

"Maybe CMC, Colorado Mountain College," Sailors running back Joe Dover joked.

Hinder's team looks like the top team in Colorado Class 3A right now, 7-0 heading deep into conference play.

Next game: Friday vs Moffat County, 7 PM local time

Nick Forbes, Thomas Johnson High, Frederick, MD

First of all, congrats to Forbes for being recognized as an Army All-American!

"It's funny," said Forbes, who will soon be playing on the West Coast for the University of California. "I will be playing against some of the other (Cal) recruits. We were talking and I told them the East Coast would whup up on them."

He had 11 carries for 217 yards and 2 touchdowns two weeks previous in a 32-16 victory over Middletown three weeks ago. The next week, Forbes played hard, but came up a little short in a defensive battle with Urbana, 10-7.

The Patriots' offense leaned on their playmaking senior tailback Nick Forbes. Forbes, a University of California commit, converted two fourth downs on the drive and marched the Patriots to the Urbana 29.

On third and eight with less than a minute to play, Urbana relied on their defense once more, as junior defensive back Billy Kemp came up with the team's fourth turnover, intercepting Lynch's pass in the end zone to seal the victory.

Urbana's defense had the daunting task of trying to slow down Forbes, and although Forbes finished with a game high 106 yards on 23 carries, he was kept from scoring.

"Of course it's going to be tough to bring him [Forbes] down every play, but we did what we had to do," said junior defensive end Jude Merkel.

He would come back the next week with a 180 yard, 3 touchdown performance in a 41-0 destruction of Tuscarora. And yes people, he's been tackling too.

Next game: Friday vs Fort Hill, 7 PM EST

via www.maxpreps.com

Two Cal recruits tangoed last Friday in a clash of great high school squads. WR Davon Dunn of Lincoln High (pictured above) vs. OL Alex Crosthwaite of Cathedral Catholic battled their counterpart's defenses, but it was Dunn's Hornets who snapped a 26 game winning streak for the Dons in a 22-21 nailbiter, scoring 19 points in the 4th quarter to seal the win. According to the statsheet, Dunn actually did not catch the ball but was the primary tailback, rushing for 66 yards on 10 carries. Dunn did attempt one throw, but it was intercepted.

I tried to find video but it's pretty well-gated (here's a $ article from Rivals on the game and interviews with both of them), so click here for the video highlights from LAST year's game, which had more scoring and offensive madness. Dunn is #2 in green and white (he'll have a beautiful run around 0:55, another one around 1:21, and you should see him involved in a few others), Crosthwaite is #71 in red (you can see him in a few blocks and in pass protection from 0:30-0:50, and in a few places later in the video.). 

Here's more on the two's performances the past two weeks.

Alex Crosthwaite, Cathedral Catholic, San Diego, CA

Before the tilt with Lincoln, the o-lineman did plenty of damage with his unit in unleashing their running back in a 48-6 beatdown of San Pasqual.

Running back Jonny Martin did most of the damage for the Dons. The junior gained 246 yards on 16 carries and scored on touchdown runs of 45, 31 and 5 yards. By halftime, he had 202 rushing yards.

"The key to my success is my offensive line," Martin said. "They open huge holes for me."

Like Martin, Doyle credited the team's O-line for its fortunes.

"Jonny's a great runner, but we have all our guys back up front except one," Doyle said. "They do a great job."

Next game: Friday vs Mira Mesa, 7 PM PST

Davon Dunn, Lincoln High, San Diego, CA

Dunn had a more spectacular game the week before too in a 41-34 defeat to Mission Bay, passing for a touchdown, rushing for 51 yards on 7 carries, and catching 7 passes for 124 yards. Strangely, that excellent performance was overshadowed by his partner, Victor Dean, who caught 14 passes for a staggering 329 yards.

Take a look at this great feature of the Dunn father-son combo.

 When Davon Dunn was approaching high school age, his father didn't stress catching the ball or tackling.

David Dunn knew firsthand the most important thing wasn't on the field.

"I didn't play football until my senior year because I didn't have the grades," said David Dunn, a former NFL player who coaches Davon as an assistant at Lincoln High. "I made sure he had better grades than I did."

Last month, Davon (pronounced Day-Von) accepted a scholarship offer to the University of California. He can't sign a letter of intent with the Bears until February.

Next game: Friday at St. Augustine, Time TBA

Chris Adcock, OL, Dallas Christian High, Dallas, TX

Adcock helped unleash a whopping 400 rushing yards in a 34-24 victory over Prestonwood Christian; he also had a sack in this game as well as in the 17-13 win over Parish Episcopal. The running game sputtered in that game but returned to form in a 48-27 beatdown of Tyler Grace.

Next game: Friday at First Baptist, 7:30 PM local time

Tevin Carter, WR, Santee High, Los Angeles, CA

Carter scored the final points in a  41-24 loss to Spanish Springs in Sparks, Nevada, along with 8 catches and 183 yards, as well as 9 tackles on defense.

On the following kickoff, northern Nevada football fans got a chance to see why Carter, who turned down a scholarship offer from USC to go to Cal, is one of the top recruits on the West Coast. He ran by all 21 other players on the field and returned the kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown, making the score 41-24 with 10:06 still left in the game.

He caught 4 passes for 267 yards and 3 touchdowns for 88, 86 and 60 yards in a 56-0 rout of Bernstein, and 7 catches for 156 yards and 2 touchdowns for 48 and 14 yards in a 55-7 thrashing of Roybal.

Next game: Friday at Contreras, 7 PM local time

Geoffrey Gibson, OL, Bishop Gorman, Las Vegas, NV

Gibson's school is rolling, with the closest margin of victory in any game being 31. The total dominance of the run game should be noted--314 rushing yards on 27 carries in a 63 point win over Western,  342 rushing yards on 19 carries in a 72 point win over Bonanza (aren't there mercy rules in high school football?) 254 rushing yards on 25 carries in a 58 point win over Green Valley. The team this season is averaging an incredible 10.5 yards per carry on 219 carries. Gibson's coach sounds surprisingly Tedfordesque, according to this ESPN feature on their incredible season insofar.

[First-year head coach Tony] Sanchez doesn't let the roster define his team. He knows that talent alone doesn't win championships, and he makes sure his team knows that, too.

"He works us hard," said offensive tackle Geoffrey Gibson, who is committed to Cal. "He's fair to everybody, no matter who you are -- from a starter to a freshman, he treats us all the same and he expects nothing but the best from us."

Next game: Thursday at Spring Valley, 8 PM local time

Joshua Harper, WR, St. Mary's, Stockton, CA

Harper's team has also been killing it--they've won their last three games by a combined score of 160-53, and Joshua's been leading the charge. Harper had a 29 yard touchdown catch, 3 punt returns for 42 yards, and a 58 yard pick six in a 48-18 smashing of Lincoln High. He had 4 catches for 72 yards, 4 rushes for 66 yards, and 3 punt returns for 48 yards in a 50-28 knockdown of Central Catholic. He had 2 catches for 36 yards, 1 rush for 18 yards, and a 53 yard pick six in a 62-7 annihilation of West. His team is currently ranked 2nd in the Sacramento Bee's Sac-Joaquin Section's Top 10. 

If you have the paid subscription, you can read his interview with Jon Doss of Cal Sports Digest.

Next game: Friday at Stagg, 7:15 PM local time.

Cecil Whiteside, LB, Newport Harbor, Newport Beach, CA

Cecil had 10 tackles, 6 solo in a 41-7 defeat against Dana Hills; he also caught 3 passes for 43 yards. Mira Costa also defeated Newport Harbor 24-10; Whiteside scored the only touchdown on a 10 yard reception from Austin Rios, had 4 receptions for 27 yards in all, and had 8 tackles, 5 solo. He did have a crucial interception in a 23-20 upset of then-ranked #4 Los Alamitos.

Next game: Friday vs. Edison, 7 PM local time.

David Wilkerson, LB, Monte Vista, Danville, CA

Wilkerson recorded a sack against De La Salle in a closely contested 28-21 loss. Unfortunately, the stats recorded in the last three games did not have tackles listed, so I can't really update anymore on what he did in each one.

Next game: Friday vs Pleasanton, 7 PM local time.

Prospects

Jay Guy, DT, Eisenhower, Houston, TX

Guy, as expected, did withdraw his commitment to Cal and put himself back out on the market. He wanted to keep his options open before coming to a final decision. As you can tell from this list,he has plenty of options.

Defensive tackle Jay Guy (Houston, Texas/Dwight D. Eisenhower) committed to California in February, but has kept his options open. Programs such as Michigan, Missouri, Texas A&M, Baylor, Nebraska, Kansas State, Texas Tech, Ole Miss, Arizona, Minnesota and UCLA targeted the three-star prospect in addition to the Golden Bears. Guy began the process of taking official visits on Sept. 5, taking in Berkeley and followed up two weeks later with a trip to UCLA. "I've visited Cal and UCLA," said Guy. "I went to Cal with my mom and dad Sept. 5. I went to UCLA on Sept. 19 for their game against Kansas State. My mom went to UCLA with me."

Hopefully our beatdown of the Bruins will at least take UCLA out of the picture.

I'll try and have other updates on possibilities like Uko, OO and James later on.