By Jordan Honeycutt
sports@salisburypost.com
After the Moir Christmas Classic semifinal game between Salisbury and North Rowan was done, Hornet stars Romar Morris and Darien Rankin commented on how their recruiting is going.
For football.
Both have verbally committed to North Carolina, but with National Signing Day looming in February, they are keeping their options open.
Many players every year are “stolen” away from their verbally committed schools as the stove warms up the closer the calendar gets to National Signing Day.
Morris, a running back prospect and two-time champion in the 100 and 200 meters, was seen on campus at Tennessee recently on an unofficial visit. He is hoping to meet head coach Derek Dooley.
“I loved Tennessee,” Morris said. “The place is really cool and special and I am going to call and talk to Coach Dooley and try and set up a time for me to come for an official visit.”
Official visits are situations where a prospect gets to meet and talk with the coaches as well as tour football facilities.
Unofficial visits, like the one Morris took to Tennessee, are where the kids get to tour the campus and go to a game but not have any interaction with the coaching staff.
In addition to visiting Knoxville, Morris also said that he is taking an official visit to Penn State in the near future, as well as to North Carolina.
Schools not only like Morris as a running back but as a kick returner.
The Zoomin’ Human set a single-season rushing record for Joe Pinyan’s Hornets this year with 1,780 and found the end zone 30 times. He tied the school record with a five-touchdown, 250-yard performance in a playoff win against Forest Hills and was named MVP of the 2AA state championship win over Northeastern.
“Recruiting is going good for me and I enjoy visiting places and seeing what all is out there at different schools,” said Morris.
•
Rankin, who is also a Tar Heel commitment, is going along with Morris to his official visits to Penn State and North Carolina, and adds that he may take visits to Ohio State and LSU.
Rankin is a hard-hitting, playmaking defensive back who will most likely be a safety at the next level. He was a first-team AP All-State player, finishing with 163 tackles and eight pass breakups while playing all over the field for Pinyan. He is a physical run-stopper who has the speed to cover man-to-man.
Both players had plays from that game that they updated their highlight tapes with.
But currently, the two star Hornets are enjoying one of their “other” sports. They helped Salisbury to its fourth straight Moir Christmas Classic title with the dunk-happy Rankin grabbing the MVP award.
“I know that I’ll be going to college for football, but I really love basketball too, and its so much fun to get out here with these guys and play our senior season,” said Morris.
Rankin echoed those sentiments saying “Man, we have been doing this together since the sixth grade and it just means a lot to play this senior year and hopefully have a lot of success come out of it.”
There will be plenty of success to look back on once the two get to college.
The question now is, which one?