On April 30^th and May 7^th, the three Central Bucks high schools held their Third Annual Central Bucks College Showcase. The showcase was held at historic War Memorial Field’s Coach Pettine Sports Complex.  Thirty-six prospects from the three schools displayed their different skill sets and ran through individual position drills in front of over 30 collegiate coaches from 16 colleges and universities.  While the event is in its third year of existence, it remains small and intimate.  Ten sessions broken down into 10-minute segments, where the college coaches move from drill to drill and get a close-up look at each prospect.  

     Head coach John Donnelly of East welcomed all the college coaches and navigated the prospects through each segment, flanked by coaches on staff from each school, respectively.    The afternoon began with the specialists and ended with wide receivers running multiple routes for the quarterbacks. During the recruiting cycle, coaching staffs travel a lot and must hit multiple schools and prospects in their recruiting areas, which makes for a heck of a schedule.  The three head coaches, Rob Rowan of West, Donnelly of East, and Tom Hetrick of South, combine with their assistants to form this idea, which helps everyone involved in the recruiting process, especially those aforementioned coaches.  

I’ve been lucky enough to be invited back each year to cover the showcase since its inception, I love the program the guys of Central Bucks have created; even amongst deep-seated neighborhood rivalries, it runs smoothly and is an absolute class act. It helps create a fun, competitive environment that translates into top-quality football in the fall. There is also never a shortage of talent among the three schools.  The adage, iron sharpens iron, holds as the talent being produced at these three schools is quality and constant. O/D Line coach Mike Moosebrugger had this to say about the event and what it does for all those involved, “I’m a huge fan of it always because the focus here is taking the three different schools getting together once a year who wanna beat each other up (there’s that neighborhood rivalry I mentioned earlier) but it’s beautiful because we always make it about the kids.” Coach “Moose” continued, “It’s also an opportunity to get (College) coaches to come in and have one centralized location, but we as coaches get to make it about the kids, and they get a chance to put on a show  so for us that’s invaluable, I honestly wish everyone would do it, for us it’s something we aren’t going to be stopping anytime soon.”

       Would you blame him when you're producing division one prospects consistently? Have you met or heard of Big Mike Carroll? Coach Moose’s most recent specimen, the almost 6’7”, 310 lb. behemoth, is currently enrolled and playing football at the University of Alabama. Big Mike is a product of the CBE/Moose program, where his journey began. He transferred to the national powerhouse IMG Academy in Florida for his senior season after committing to the Crimson Tide. He was ranked as a high four-star and, in most cases, a 5-star recruit/prospect by most national recruiting services. On3 had him 14 nationally and number 1 at his position.  Carroll was the number 1 recruit in the Commonwealth before transferring to Florida.

     Getting back to the current stable of Central Bucks student-athletes, I came away from this group very impressed for the season ahead.    In our first segment, I saw West’s Ryan Clemens incarnate in Swiss-Army knife and all-around athlete (RB/LB/K/P) Joey Craig #20. He’s got an absolute unit for a leg, and you can see his calves and thighs from a mile away. The kid can boot it, then put you on your backside coming out of the linebacker position.  Clemens’ shoes are going to be tough to fill, but with Rob Rowan and his staff at the helm, it won’t surprise me if he goes off this season because I see similar traits from Craig that have the potential to produce Clemens-like numbers.  

The second segment was long snapping (LS) and punting. West’s Jake Stranix has a thick build of 225 lb. on a 6’0” frame. He has great control of his snaps. Punters need not adjust much, if at all, when Jake has the ball in his hands. I now understand why Rubio Long Snapping has him rated a 4.5-star.  He just got back from Vegas Camp, where he finished 7^th overall and made it to the championship round in the snapping competition.

     The third session was all the beef up front. Boy, oh boy, were there some big dogs on display with the offensive line group. All these guys were intense. I love this group. West has a very intriguing prospect in Santiago Bustelo, who is 6’3” and weighs 270 lb. He can move and has the size to compete at the next level. He also has a high motor for a lineman. 2026 prospect and offensive tackle Shea Fullerton, out of South, caught my eye. His massive size can’t be missed. He stands 6’7” and weighs 295 pounds. The fact that he still has another year of growth and development under head coach Tom Hetrick and company has my eyes popping out of my head at the possibilities for this kid. He moves well for his massive size and frame, and over and over again, I watched as he got lower than guys; he stood 3 and in some cases 5 inches taller than.  A college weight program that adds more muscle to his already powerful frame is going to be very happy and lucky to have such a humble giant in their program.

     The fourth session was the beef on the defensive line, and they did not disappoint. While I could name several players like Jeff Cappa out of West, and Mangus Figueroa from East, I’m going to have to say the guy who caught my eye out of that group was East’s Timothy Fuhrmeister, who is another large specimen. The team captain stands 6’4” and tops the scales at 265 lb. He’s smart, a true leader, and has a high motor. During bag work, he was violent and was popping the bags with authority.  During other drills, he was maneuvering well, showing great change of direction and speed.

     Our fifth session was a small group of tight ends, and out of that group, Andrew Williams, a class of 2026 DE/TE, who stands 6’2” and 210 pounds from South, was smooth with his footwork, popped his blocks with command, and caught everything thrown his way. He has good route-running abilities as well.