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FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK: Ellis flips, Bracey commits, Edwards hurt, Harrison to stay In D3
• Chippewa Valley senior wide receiver and return specialist David Ellis got a ticket to the Big 10 this week, de-committing from Central Michigan and committing to Indiana University, his first power-conference offer. Ellis (6-foot-1, 190 pounds) has been brilliant this fall on offense and special teams, scorching the comp with his elusive brand of diversity and helping lead Chip Valley to an undefeated 7-0 record so far.
• East Kentwood senior wide out Stephan Bracey committed to Western Michigan this past weekend, pulling one of the state’s most reliable slot receivers off the recruiting board. Bracey and his EK Falcons are 6-1.
• West Bloomfield (5-2) will have to try and return to Ford Field and the Division 1 state finals next month without its star rusher. Sophomore blue chip running back Donovan Edwards is most likely out for the season after suffering a knee injury in the Lakers’ 37-35 loss to Southfield A&T last Friday. The onus for the Lakers running game now falls on the more-than-capable shoulders of junior Anthony May, who has proven to be one of the top back-ups in the OAA this year and an explosive player in his own right.
• If fabled Farmington Hills Harrison qualifies for the playoffs in the historic program’s final season, the Hawks will be forced to compete in the Division 3 bracket despite their school’s current enrollment being that of a Division 4 team. Harrison will close its doors for good in 2019. As first reported by The Detroit Free Press Tuesday, the MHSAA has rejected two appeals to its executive committee by Harrison and its venerable sideline general John Herrington (the state’s winningest coach) seeking permission to drop down a division for the 2018 postseason based on the fact that the school’s count number plummeted almost 300 kids since last spring. Per MHSAA rules, the brackets are constructed relying on the spring numbers, not the fall numbers. The executive committee declined to make an exception for Herrington’s final Hawks squad.
In 2017, Herrington, the only coach Harrison has ever had, took his club into the program’s MHSAA-record 18th state finals in Division 3 (losing to Muskegon). Under Herrington’s inspired stewardship, the Harrison program has won an MHSAA-record 13 state championships. The 2018 team is 5-2 and just got a new quarterback when Keel Watson landed on campus last week in the wake of Detroit Delta suddenly closing.
