The Resurgence of MSU Football has a Great Relationship With Detroit Renaissance and Three More Prospects on the Horizon for 2010 Football Recruiting!

As a native of Detroit I know how easy it is to criticize the city for any of its major problems, whether it be our ex-mayor, the Big 3, and of course the

As a native of Detroit I know how easy it is to criticize the city for any of its major problems, whether it be our ex-mayor, the Big 3, and of course the Lions.

However, one thing that Detroit has always been criticized for is its public school system. Often ridiculed as one of the worst systems in the nation it seems that Detroit Public Schools (DPS) is always on the news for trying to get things done but has only done a good job at producing nothing. I have been to school board meetings and I can easily say that the meetings are more drama filled than that of your favorite soap opera. Just over the past few years DPS has had to either shutdown schools or merge them with other schools because attendance and funding have both been so low.

However, there are some bright spots in the school system one of those being Renaissance High School. Nationally recognized as a Blue Ribbon School of Academic Excellence, Renaissance stands as a symbol of hope for kids and parents, you don’t have to send your kids to private or suburbs schools to get a high-quality education.

What does this have to do with MSU you ask? Well along with being a great academic school Renaissance also has always had an outstanding athletics department, especially in football. Renaissance has produced a decent amount of talented football players who go on to earn scholarships at quality schools such as Notre Dame, U of M, etc…, and as of recent the Spartan Nation has gotten in on the action.

By now you already know about the two incoming freshmen from Renaissance in LB Chris Norman and DB Dana Dixon but, there are more Phoenix players from the 2010 class that Spartan Nation would be interested in.

RB/CB Mylan Hicks, Athlete Ishmael Thomas, and QB/LB Jared Hunter, three quality kids that MSU would love to have on the team in a couple years. Kids who, just like Dixon and Norman, have good grades to match their athleticism. Although none of them has been offered anything from MSU officially, if their senior season goes well that could instantly change. All three of these guys could come in and make instant impacts. Hunter is a “tough as nails” kid who can deliver a nice hit and in Thomas’ case he is an all purpose athlete who can play on both sides of the ball as either a slot receiver/running back or on defense as a corner back/strong safety. Hicks has good vision and is very athletic.

Both schools want to continue to forge this pipeline of players coming to MSU and unlike some other places this pipeline isn’t just based on being a star talent. Coach Dantonio isn’t looking for thugs to add to the roster and Coach Antonio Watts isn’t wasting his time trying to coach thugs. These men are in the business of not only making guys into better athletes but, also molding boys into men and making sure that their success doesn’t stay on the field but follows them into the classrooms.

Coach Watts is a mirror image of Dantonio in both the way he coaches, and the way they handle themselves. One member of the MSU football staff said it best,  “A kid from a Coach Watts program already has a mind set of what we want. Coach Watts is an outstanding coach and runs a quality program.”

Coach Watts told us that, "I really respect Coach Dantonio and his staff. I can trust them when I send one of my kids to East Lansing. Not just to be better football players, I can trust them to make them into men and to care about all parts of their lives."

Coach Watts assured me that he wants to continue to work with MSU and sending quality students to the program up here because he knows that the staff here will pickup where he left off and take his kids to the next level mentally and physically.

And as a Renaissance alum and a proud member of the Spartan Nation I can’t wait to see what these guys can bring to the field every Saturday.

SpartanNation.com recentl spent time at Detroit Renaissance and Coach Watts talked with us about all three prospects the Spartans are looking at. We will have the video of that interview up on the website early next week.