Question for MRA parents and alums...

[Requiem For A Dawg]

Who is this freak athlete y’all have up there? Stone Blanton is committed to us in baseball and I just saw he got an offer from Tennessee in football. I never heard of him until he got an offer from us in baseball. Is he good enough to play both sports at the next level?

 

[TBone.sixpack]

Don’t know anything about MRA, but that’s a sweet name.

I guess Blaze isn’t coming but can you dig Rowdy, Blaze and Stone?

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Don't know anything either except that it's fitting that a guy named Stone plays linebacker.

Link: Here.

 

[blackjackdog3]

Do all of the larger MAIS schools recruit kids to play on the high school level? Not saying this kid was but I’ve been told it’s common practice now.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Do all of the larger MAIS schools recruit kids to play on the high school level? Not saying this kid was but I’ve been told it’s common practice now.

I corrected your question for you.

Seriously though, there are quite a few public school coaches who have been historically reluctant to play private schools no matter the size not only because of recruitment but also because the private schools don't operate under the same mileage restrictions as MHSAA schools (e.g., students within a MHSAA school's district but living more than 25 miles from the school can attend another district-- I don't know if it's still valid).

 

[Cary Hudson's little bro]

Stone Blanton's dad is the Ex Dir of MAIS. He's a good dude.

 

[johnson86-1]

Do all of the larger MAIS schools recruit kids to play on the high school level? Not saying this kid was but I’ve been told it’s common practice now.

I'd be interested to know this too. Back in the day it was pretty much just MRA. Outside of JA and Prep, pretty much all the MAIS schools were mostly filled with kids where paying tuition ranged from a moderate to huge sacrifice, and there wasn't much appetite for recruiting players. If the school had a booster willing to pay, there was always a bigger need for the school than paying tuition for an athlete. You'd occasionally have a guy that was a good athlete with some sort of connection to somebody willing to pony up, but those were few and far between.

 

[Dash Riprock.sixpack]

I've had boys that were athletes graduate from both MRA and Madison Central and both schools recuite athletes, as do all schools that have something to offer. Bobby Hall was very good at it, as is Richard Deweese, but Richard is so successful he doesnt have to do much of that. They come to him. When I had a son on the team at MRA we played Memphis Univ School a few times and they always had a couple of inner city kids on the team. Everybody does it.

 

[philduckworth]

Easier to recruit at Private schools, yes? Kids can transfer and be immediately eligible. Take a look at the Magnolia Heights baseball team. It's pretty ridiculous. 6A Lewisburg won't play them b/c they took a kid from them.

 

[Dash Riprock.sixpack]

MAIS has rules in place that if you transfer MAIS schools you must move closer to that school, but you can go back and forth between public and private easily. At lease that's the way it was 4-5 years ago when Ihad kids playing sports.

 

[stateu1]

Easier to recruit at Private schools, yes? Kids can transfer and be immediately eligible. Take a look at the Magnolia Heights baseball team. It's pretty ridiculous. 6A Lewisburg won't play them b/c they took a kid from them.

A kid? Several kids more like it. And MHS always has an "athlete" at running back and point guard that transfers from somewhere in Memphis.

 

[Confucius Say]

Public schools are recruiting like crazy too

 

[philduckworth]

How does that work and how do they become immediately eligible?

 

[paindonthurt_]

Yes you can go to whatever private school you want and that’s how it should be. Especially when you pay to attend.

 

[KentuckyDawg13]

Happens here in other sports too, see Trinity High School's David Johnson now playing guard @ UofL (basketball).

 

[garddog]

Kids have been recruited since the 70's. I was recruited in the 80's. I did not go, but 3 other guys did and won state. Doesn't take but 3 or 4 at the small schools to really make them competitive.

 

[Philly Dawg]

I’ve been told that a lot of the good players who don’t make the Madison Central baseball team due to numbers end up at MRA.

 

[G-Dawg]

Stone Blanton's dad is the Ex Dir of MAIS. He's a good dude.

And an MSU grad.