Leviticus Payne

Leviticus Payne
PositionCB
Height - Weight5'9", 175 lbs
HometownSouthfield, MI
High SchoolSouthfield
247 Sports*** - 81
Rivals*** - 5.6
ESPN** - 74
Scout***
Payne’s commitment to the Bearcats helped capped off a day when three Michigan prospects verballed to Cincinnati – Dennis Norfleet and Lester Liston Jr. being the other two. Also his pledge is great for two reasons; 1.) he is a great cornerback prospect (more on that in a bit) and 2.) I absolutely LOVE his name. He joins Bennie Coney, Silverberry Mouhon, Munchie Legaux, John Law, and Jameel Poteat as UC’s All-Name team continues to get stacked with talent. Payne also drew scholarship offers from Iowa and some MAC schools so this just added to my joy when he verballed to the Bearcats.

Overview


Payne plays both sides of the ball in high school. Understandably both of those positions are WR and DB. He doesn’t miss a beat when he switches either. At wide receiver Payne is about the same height as the DB across from him but plays the ball very well. He’s also fast enough to flat out burn the coverage if necessary and finds open areas in the zone well. He also has great size to help shield the ball when attempting to make the catch. On defense he uses that speed and size to stick to wide receivers’ like glue. Oh, and did I mention he also returns kickoffs quite well? Yea he’s a good football player.

Outlook

He’s a cornerback in high school and will play the same position in college. I like his skills as a returner and will get his hands on the ball there but there will be just such a huge logjam at wide receiver in 2012. He would be an ideal slot guy but Shaq Washington, Anthony McClung, Danny Milligan, Nate Cole, Chris Moore, Jeremy Graves, and Vince Miller will all be competing for that spot. Payne plays a pretty mean cornerback and Cincinnati’s secondary could use all the help back there that they can get. By the way, how sweet would it be to hear “Leviticus ‘Laying Down the’ Payne on [insert victim here]” from Dan Hoard on the radio.