DeVeon Smith (2013 RB, Warren (OH) Howland) IS BLUE!!!

 

 

DeVeon Smith

Recruiting Profile

Running Back

Warren (OH) Howland

5'11, 210 pounds

Scout: Rivals: ESPN: 24/7:

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Offered today.

really like his size.  anybody know anything about him?

That's my boy! Huge Michigan fan! We'll see what happens. Very strong runner. Ha deep family football roots. One brother played a couple years at Stte before transferring to YSU. Another went to Wisconsin before getting in legal trouble and transferring to Memphis.

He's got his head on straight though compared to his brothers. I've played bball with him a few times at the park. Very nice kid.

Has good strength and a good burst. However he lacks top end speed. Everything I've herd, he wants to play in a pro style offense.

I've got a good video of one of his huge runs.  Lemme get it to YouTube and post it.   Went to school with his brothers and  have had the chance to go see him play a few times over the past couple years when I am back in Howland.   Really hoping he comes to AA.

Wait you graduated from Howland too? Small world.

I've seen him play 5-6 times.  Couldn't believe he was only a sophomore season before last.
 
He's the best RB  I've seen since Clarret. 

I also think he is taller than 5'11".  He just runs over people and also can go outside.  I saw Fitz play about the same number of times in high school and this young man is far more impressive.
 
I think we will get him.

UMWingedHelmet


I've seen him play 5-6 times.  Couldn't believe he was only a sophomore season before last.

He's the best RB  I've seen since Clarret. 

I also think he is taller than 5'11".  He just runs over people and also can go outside.  I saw Fitz play about the same number of times in high school and this young man is far more impressive.

I think we will get him.

You've been hating on Fitz and Liberty HS for years. Don't know if you went to or coach at a rival school or what.
 
Fitz was a STUD in HS.
 

the way he breaks tackles reminds me of hart/clarett.  btw, i live in boardman for you youngstown guys.  REALLY small world

MichFan4Life

UMWingedHelmet


I've seen him play 5-6 times.  Couldn't believe he was only a sophomore season before last.

He's the best RB  I've seen since Clarret. 

I also think he is taller than 5'11".  He just runs over people and also can go outside.  I saw Fitz play about the same number of times in high school and this young man is far more impressive.

I think we will get him.

You've been hating on Fitz and Liberty HS for years. Don't know if you went to or coach at a rival school or what.

Fitz was a STUD in HS.

I hated on Fitz early on. I'll admit that. I was one of his biggest critics because of the competition he played and how he didn't do that well down the stretch of his senior year. He really impressed me this season. Maybe his Oline was just horrendous at Liberty. I know they had a couple big guys on that line, but maybe only one standout. He ran all over teams that were worthless, but against Howland his senior year (a team in which lost 9 starters on defense) he struggled to go over the century mark and only had 1 carry over 10 yards I believe. And that started the downward trend as Liberty eventually lost 3 straight games incuding the first round in the playoffs. Fitz was a non factor down the stretch (although at the same time, he was the reason they finished 8-3). I don't know how in the world Bell got as hyped up as he did though. That was one guy that didn't have much of a film, but got the recognition because of his size.
 
Liberty isn't what it used to be. I'm happy as hell to see Fitz doing well though. Harding can be considered the same way. Warren Harding has been on an absolute downslide ever since Manningham graduated. Boom did well there, but their team wasn't nearly as talented as the team that Manningham was on. I believe Harding went 3-7 this past year. They are just horrible now and of the good kids are going to Howland through open enrollment. One of the main problems with Harding is the AD wouldn't let this previous head coach (WHO ONLY COACHED ONE YEAR AT HARDING!) hire any of his assistants. Instead, he had to hire parents and little league coaches.
 
While I won't say Smith has played way better competition than Fitz thus far, he has played a little bit better competition. He's played Harding twice which is better than anyone Liberty has played, played Canfield (Usually a top 10 D-2 team) 3 times, Poland 3 times, and been in the playoffs 3 times.
 
It's tough to say. They're two different runners and maybe if Fitz had the line that Smith has, then maybe he would've ran for 2,000 yards. Who knows?
 
High school talent is hit and miss it seems because of the talent around the players. We see guys like Morris go 2 for 17 or whatever and somehow he's a 5 star player (note I'm not knocking Shane; just saying his teammates might suck).

WarrenWolverine

High school talent is hit and miss it seems because of the talent around the players. We see guys like Morris go 2 for 17 or whatever and somehow he's a 5 star player (note I'm not knocking Shane; just saying his teammates might suck).

Matt Barkley had the same problem his senior year at Mater Dei. His wideouts couldn't catch a cold.

Seems to me, the thing with Fitz in high school is that he was pretty much his team's entire offense.  To me, that makes his numbers even more impressive.  He doesn't have near as much talent around him as Smith has at Howland.  Basically, once Liberty faced a team with a pulse on defense, they made their focus on shutting down Smith which in turn shut down Liberty as evidenced by their 3 game losing streak to end Fitz's high school career.

WarrenWolverine

MichFan4Life

UMWingedHelmet


I've seen him play 5-6 times.  Couldn't believe he was only a sophomore season before last.

He's the best RB  I've seen since Clarret. 

I also think he is taller than 5'11".  He just runs over people and also can go outside.  I saw Fitz play about the same number of times in high school and this young man is far more impressive.

I think we will get him.

You've been hating on Fitz and Liberty HS for years. Don't know if you went to or coach at a rival school or what.

Fitz was a STUD in HS.

I hated on Fitz early on. I'll admit that. I was one of his biggest critics because of the competition he played and how he didn't do that well down the stretch of his senior year. He really impressed me this season. Maybe his Oline was just horrendous at Liberty. I know they had a couple big guys on that line, but maybe only one standout. He ran all over teams that were worthless, but against Howland his senior year (a team in which lost 9 starters on defense) he struggled to go over the century mark and only had 1 carry over 10 yards I believe. And that started the downward trend as Liberty eventually lost 3 straight games incuding the first round in the playoffs. Fitz was a non factor down the stretch (although at the same time, he was the reason they finished 8-3). I don't know how in the world Bell got as hyped up as he did though. That was one guy that didn't have much of a film, but got the recognition because of his size.

Liberty isn't what it used to be. I'm happy as hell to see Fitz doing well though. Harding can be considered the same way. Warren Harding has been on an absolute downslide ever since Manningham graduated. Boom did well there, but their team wasn't nearly as talented as the team that Manningham was on. I believe Harding went 3-7 this past year. They are just horrible now and of the good kids are going to Howland through open enrollment. One of the main problems with Harding is the AD wouldn't let this previous head coach (WHO ONLY COACHED ONE YEAR AT HARDING!) hire any of his assistants. Instead, he had to hire parents and little league coaches.

While I won't say Smith has played way better competition than Fitz thus far, he has played a little bit better competition. He's played Harding twice which is better than anyone Liberty has played, played Canfield (Usually a top 10 D-2 team) 3 times, Poland 3 times, and been in the playoffs 3 times.

It's tough to say. They're two different runners and maybe if Fitz had the line that Smith has, then maybe he would've ran for 2,000 yards. Who knows?

High school talent is hit and miss it seems because of the talent around the players. We see guys like Morris go 2 for 17 or whatever and somehow he's a 5 star player (note I'm not knocking Shane; just saying his teammates might suck).

You weren't the only one (some have continued it to this day), the camp seemed to be split on Fitz when he signed which I never understood . I always considered him better than Mike Shaw who signed in the same class and was more heralded/heavily recruited. I always look at transferable skills more than anything else. Stats are so deceiving and are influenced by a lot of different things. Even in HS Fitz showed incredible burst, vision, and cutting ability, plus he had the top end speed to top it off. Fitz EXPLODED through holes and out of cuts. Some of his 5yd runs were more impressive than other backs 50-60yd runs because he displayed a skill set that translates to the college level. Not a lot of guys can cut laterally quickly, then go from 0-60 like Fitz. He was the best player on the field at the Big 33 game his senior year. While All-Star game performances aren't the be all, end all of player evaluation, when a guy is head and shoulders above the rest, I take note.
 
A lot of the top HS WRs finish with 300-400yds simply because their team isn't capable of throwing the ball. While level of competition certainly factors into how a player performs it never trumps skill set IMO. 10.6 speed is 10.6 speed whether you're playing against kindergartners or the New York Jets. 
 
Side note: Fitz DID finish with over 2,000yds his senior year

MF4L, Shaw and Fitz were not in the same class. Fitz was '09 and Shaw was '08.
 
I don't disagree with any of your debate, just pointing out a small flaw 

Bottom line with Fitz is that we finally got to see him realize his potential this past year when he was finally 100%!  I think Fitz proved the doubters wrong by becoming the first back since Hart to break 1,000 yards and he wasn't even the full-time starter for the entire season. 

UMWolverine5


MF4L, Shaw and Fitz were not in the same class. Fitz was '09 and Shaw was '08.

I don't disagree with any of your debate, just pointing out a small flaw 

Good catch, that redshirt year threw me off
 
 

MichFan4Life

UMWolverine5


MF4L, Shaw and Fitz were not in the same class. Fitz was '09 and Shaw was '08.

I don't disagree with any of your debate, just pointing out a small flaw 

Good catch, that redshirt year threw me off

I was going to say, I didn't think Fitz was in the same class as Shaw.  Good catch UMW. 

MattyGoBlue!


Seems to me, the thing with Fitz in high school is that he was pretty much his team's entire offense.  To me, that makes his numbers even more impressive.  He doesn't have near as much talent around him as Smith has at Howland.  Basically, once Liberty faced a team with a pulse on defense, they made their focus on shutting down Smith which in turn shut down Liberty as evidenced by their 3 game losing streak to end Fitz's high school career.

 
Believe me, Smith is Howland's offense. Angle is so one dimmensional when it comes to playcalling it's not even funny. There's games where he only calls 3 passes. Where Smith gets Fitz talent wise is with the Oline. Howland usually has a pretty solid Oline.
 
Also, just a little tid bit I guess, but one of the craziest stats I've ever seen was his brother Lance. In a game his senior year against Lakeview, he had 3 carries for over 160 yards and 3 TD's. He only had 5 carries all game as he went down with an injury, but scored 4 times. The sad part is, Lakeview was actually winning the majority of the game due to a few surprise onside kicks. Lance holds about every record rushing wise at Howland.

MattyGoBlue!


Bottom line with Fitz is that we finally got to see him realize his potential this past year when he was finally 100%!  I think Fitz proved the doubters wrong by becoming the first back since Hart to break 1,000 yards and he wasn't even the full-time starter for the entire season. 

Definitely. I was skeptical and then he had that big game against Purdue and was on a tear ever since then. I was a bit worried, but he got stronger and stronger as the year went on and the game against Nebraska sealed the deal for me for considering him a good back. Then his game against OSU was outstanding. Hopefully he stays at 100% all year next year.

 
Basically he breaks one of these off per game... usually within the first series.
 
2011 Stats -  1,897 yds  11 YPC  and 22TD