Middie ATH E.J. Junior Commits to the Cincinnati Bearcats

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E.J. Junior
Position	RB/LB
Height - Weight	6'1" 210 lbs
Hometown	Middletown, OH
High School	Middletown
247 Sports	-
Rivals	*** - 5.5
ESPN	-
Scout	-

Who knew that the Troy Everhart connection would pay off? The Middletown head football coach had previously worked at Winton Woods HS but took a few months in the past offseason to work with Coach Jones as a recruiting coordinator. Likely bored with the desk job, he went back to coaching and took over the Middies program for the 2011 season. It’s always nice to have connections around Cincinnati with the loads of talent in the area. Last night that networking paid off as E.J. Junior sent his verbal commitment to Coach Jones after visiting Cincinnati during the weekend of December 10th. Junior only shows an offer from Cincinnati and is sort of surprising considering the numbers he put up this year: 138 rush for 755 yards and 9 TDs. This verbal by Junior gives the Bearcats 30 commitments for the 2012 class and is really at risk of oversigning. If Junior does end up at Cincinnati, it will be curious to see if he takes a scholarship or grayshirts.

12.16.11 EDIT: According to Bearcat Lair, Junior is expected to grayshirt.

Overview

 

Middletown’s offense revolves around their star quarterback and future 5* prospect Jalin Marshall. He’s a threat to throw it as much as he is to run it, and Everhart uses that to his advantage when he calls plays. In that respect, E.J. Junior isn’t the focal point of the offense and while he got a good chunk of the rushes this year, he would have gotten much much more in a more traditional offense with a drop-back quarterback. He put up great numbers in his roll as a bruising, downhill runner to compliment Marshall. His 210 lbs frame is tough for defenders to bring down as he’s thrived in his expanded roll at runningback. But Junior is actually a converted linebacker and on defense plays the run very. Playing both ways definitely has helped his development as he understands as a linebacker what to look for when tracking down runningbacks and visa versa. Overall he’s a very solid two-way player that makes an impact for the Middies whenever he is on the field.

Outlook

This is a tough one. I really like the Junior’s size and the prospect of him being a short-yardage back for Cincinnati. The spread offense gets bogged down near the goalline and the Bearcats typically opt for QB sneaks to get in the endzone. Adding Junior will make defenses really think about who to cover. But Junior also seems to be solid at linebacker as well and would make for a good Mike LB at UC. Honestly, I have no idea what Coach Jones wants to do with him but I think he redshirts if he becomes a linebacker. As a short-yardage back, I think he could start almost immediately and compete for George Winn’s backup.

Tagged as: Bearcats, Cincinnati, Coach Butch Jones, Coach Jones, UC Athletics, UC Football, UC recruiting