Orchard Lake St. Mary’s took on Detroit Cass Tech today in Orchard Lake, and a number of Michigan prospects/commits were in action. I previously took in an OLSM scrimmage, and reported on two of their prospects here. Today, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s prevailed in a fairly lopsided game (the 28-6 score did not tell the whole story) where both teams tried (without much success) to run the ball much of the time. Cass Tech seemed to be the more athletic team, but not as well coached as the Eaglets.
Boubacar Cissoko Cass Tech WR/CB #2 Michigan commit ’08
Cissoko was Cass Tech’s do-it-all man, returning punts and kicks, playing corner on defense, and wide receiver on offense. Oh yeah, and the soccer player also handled kickoffs and punts for the technicians. In my previous experiences with Cissoko, I had been under the impression that his listed height was greater than the 5-7 he is typically reported to be. However, seeing Cissoko in action, it was obvious he was a tiny guy. As just a high school senior, it is possible that he is still growing.
On defense, Cissoko was not afraid to get physical with much
bigger players, and he was frequently matched up against Dion Sims. Despite giving Sims almost a foot in height and close to 100 pounds, Cissoko showed no fear in jamming Sims off the line and downfield. Cissoko did get burned once deep, as he got his head around too late on a long pass, and due to his height, was unable to compensate. He did, however, make the tackle a couple yards shy of the endzone. As a tackler, Cissoko tends to focus on the hit, rather than wrapping up the ballcarrier. However, on the occasion that Cissoko wasn’t able to get a clean shot on the carrier, he wisely used his arms to take out the legs. Cissoko chased down two sweep plays in the backfield, one of them on a shoestring tackle.
Offensively, Cissoko impressed more than I thought he would. He ran crisp routes, and when he was open, he threw his hand in the air to demand the ball. Cass Tech’s QB, Thomas Gordon, only
found him a couple of times as he was under pressure much of the contest. When Cissoko did get his hands on the ball, he was a breaston-like playmaker, using his quickness to get YAC. I actually liked him on offense almost as much as I did on the defensive side of the ball. Cissoko did get by a defender deep once, but Gordon overthrew him in the endzone.
On special teams, Cissoko returned a few punts and kicks, but was unable to make anything truly special happen.
William Campbell Cass Tech DT/OT #73 Michigan commit ’09
William Campbell was a man amongst boys on the lines for Cass Tech. He was a healthy 6-6, 310, and had at least 4-5 inches and 30 pounds over just about everyone else he played with and against.
On Defense, Campbell played both inside and outside. He was not quick off the edge, but could
easily take on blockers to make plays. He helped Cass’s D-Line control the line of scrimmage (as both D-lines did on this day), holding St. Mary’s to negative yardage on most plays, except when they could scrounge out 1-2 yards, though OLSM did manage to break into the secondary on a coupld occasions. Campbell showed a willingness to chase down plays from the backside, though with his speed he was unlikely to catch anyone.
I liked Campbell on offense more than I did on defense. He manned the right tackle position for Cass Tech, and showed decent technique. He finished all of his blocks, and was a whistle-to-whistle player in the trenches. At his size, he projects as a tackle at the next level, with his long(ish) arms. I wouldn’t be surprised if Campbell played offense in college.
Dion Sims OLSM TE/WR/LB #8 Michigan prospect ’09
I still see Sims as a TE on the next level if he stays on offense, and if he goes to defense, he would be a defensive end, as he doesn’t play well with his hands, or make great reads, as a linebacker (view the previous OLSM report).
It was a wet day today, so the ball wasn’t thrown around too much, even though neither team could get consistent production on the ground. I don’t believe Sims was thrown to once all day, and certainly not was he was being defended by the lilliputian Cissoko.
Christian Brandt OLSM OT #77 Michigan prospect ’09
Nothing new on Brandt from the last OLSM report. He looked a little more in shape, thuogh that’s more likely my memory playing tricks on me, since the last time I scouted Saint Mary’s was a little over a week ago. He didn’t play on every down on offense. Neither offensive line had a good day, though OLSM was able to break a couple long runs.
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