Noel Devine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Noel Devine | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| College | West Virginia University |
| Conference | Big East |
| Sport | Football |
| Position | TB |
| Class | Freshman |
| Career | 2007 – present |
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) |
| Weight | 180 lb (82 kg) |
| Nationality |  United States |
| Born | February 16, 1988 (age 19) Fort Myers, Florida |
| High School | North Fort Myers High School |
Noel Devine (born February 16[citation needed] 1988) is an American high school football running back and a blue chip prospect in the 2007 NCAA recruiting season. He is 5 ft. 8 in. (1.73 m.) tall and weighs 180 lbs.
Devine is as of 2007 enrolled as a senior at North Fort Myers High School, the same school that former NFL cornerback Deion Sanders played for in 1985. Both of Devine's parents are deceased: his father passing away in 1988 when he was one year old, and his mother before he was twelve. Devine himself is the father of two children. [1]
On March 30, 2007, he signed a letter of intent with West Virginia University, after waiting nearly two months since he first committed and withdrew his letter.[2].
Contents |
[edit] High school years
Born and raised in Fort Myers, Florida, Devine is as of 2007 a senior at North Fort Myers High School in North Fort Myers. As a freshman, Devine rushed for 1,092 yards and averaged 9 yards per carry. In his sophomore season in high school, he had 1,667 yards and 23 touchdowns on 143 carries for an average of 11.7 per carry. As a junior, Devine rushed for 1,933 yards and 24 touchdowns on 173 carries. As a junior, Devine never got over 20 carries in a game, including his 398 performance against Bishop Verot. In his senior year, Devine totaled near 2,000 yards and 31 touchdowns. In the U.S. Army All-American game, he took a kickoff back 88 yards before catching his foot on the turf and falling short of the end zone. Devine also holds the Lee County all-time rushing record with a career total of 7,002 yards, and finished his high school career with 87 touchdowns, another county record.[3]
On October 20, 2006, he became the all-time leader in rushing yards for Lee County, surpassing former Mariner High School student and Tampa Bay running back Earnest Graham. Ironically, it was Graham's alma mater that North was playing against when Noel surpassed him, with a 65 yard touchdown run late in the 3rd quarter.
Since video clips of Devine began to surface at the beginning of his sophomore year, he has become something of an internet phenomenon. When video clips began to surface on the Internet in Devine's junior season in 2005, he gained instant notoriety.[4] Noel has been called enigmatic, mysterious, even legendary[5], since clips of his on-field accomplishments began appearing on various web sites such as Sunshine Preps.net.
Devine is still awaiting final class grades to determine his core GPA. He has said recently that he scored 1580 on his SAT and 13 on the ACT.[6]
[edit] College prospect status
Devine was the #3 ranked running back (and #5 prospect overall) in the nation by ESPN's 2007 Recruit Tracker. Before signing with West Virginia, he was heavily recruited by coaches from some of the nation's top collegiate programs such as the University of Alabama, Florida State University, and of course West Virginia University.
Although Devine is still considered somewhat undersized for a prototypical NFL running back, he has an impressive skillset compared to other college prospects around the country. According to ESPN's Scouts Inc, he is "a human blur who possesses rare explosiveness, vision and stop/start ability. His ability to accelerate is elite, and when he gets to the second level, he is a threat to take it the distance each time he touches the ball."[7]
ESPN analyst Michael Irvin said of Devine in 2006: "Noel is a rare talent. He reminds me of a young Barry Sanders."[8]
As college signing time approached, Devine's top three prospective schools were the universities of Florida State, Alabama and West Virginia. On February 7, 2007 it was announced that Devine had reached a verbal commitment with West Virginia to play football on a scholarship, which was confirmed on a letter of intent signed on March 30, 2007.[2][9]
[edit] Relationship with Deion Sanders
Noel has a special relationship with Deion Sanders, who himself is a former graduate of North Fort Myers High School. At one point, Sanders planned to become Noel's legal guardian.[1] The latter moved to Prosper, Texas, where he lived with Sanders, but after a few weeks, he returned to North Fort Myers, where he still currently resides. Devine and Sanders are still in contact with each other, perhaps more so as the 2007 signing day approached, when Sanders assisted Noel in preparing to sign a letter of intent and play football in the college ranks. Deion Sanders revealed his mentor role in Devine's decision in his column for The News-Press, a Fort Myers news outlet.[10] He recommended to Devine that a prep school would help better prepare him for college.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Farrell, Mike. "Peek into inner circle shows Noel Devine's no deviant". The Sporting News. Retrieved on February 8, 2007.
- ^ a b ESPN. "Highly touted running back joins Mountaineers class". ESPN. Retrieved on March 30, 2007.
- ^ ESPN. "Noel Devine Archive". ESPN . Retrieved on February 10, 2007.
- ^ Kennedy, Scott. "Is Noel Devine the Nation's Top Junior?". Scout.com. Retrieved on February 8, 2007.
- ^ Kennedy, Scott. "One on One with Noel Devine". Scout.com. Retrieved on February 9, 2007.
- ^ Scout.com. "Noel Devine". Scout.com. Retrieved on February 8, 2007.
- ^ Scouts Inc. "Noel Devine". ESPN. Retrieved on February 10, 2007.
- ^ CCallanan. "Historic Day in WVU Football?". The Sporting News. Retrieved on February 11, 2007.
- ^ Long, Chris / nbc-2.com. Noel Devine signs letter of intent with West Virginia. NBC2 News. Retrieved on March 30, 2007.
- ^ Sanders, Deion. "Decision like this takes time". The News-Press. Retrieved on February 8, 2007.
