When you talk football with East St. Louis head coach Darren Sunkett these days, you can tell he has a sour taste left in his mouth after last season’s IHSA Class 6A semi-finals.
On that November blustery day, Oak Lawn Richards knocked the Flyers out of another state championship bid in a 7-6 heartbreaker. All of us in Flyers Nation were disappointed, as football is king here in East St. Louis.
Coach Sunkett and his boys have worked hard during the off-season, and other student -athletes are starting to take notice. Determination and focus by his coaches and players have attracted other talent at the high school to participate.
Several Flyers were highlighted in a recent on-line article on the football website edgytim.rivals.com. Of course leading the way was Terry Beckner Jr. The All-American lineman has offers from Pac-12 powers USC and Oregon; Big Ten powers Ohio State, Nebraska and Michigan; SEC schools Auburn, LSU and Florida; plus Florida State and Syracuse.
University of Missouri verbal commit Natereance Strong, along with lineman Kenny Knight and Trevor Simms, are also getting plenty of attention from major universities.
Sophomore Jeff Thomas is already one of the most skilled players in the history of the Flyers’ program. Thomas is considered the No. 1 wide-out in the class of 2017 by some publications. Thomas may be compared to former Flyers’ greats Homer Bush, Eugene Bryd or Terry Hawthorne before he’s done.
Also drawing a lot of Division 1 interest are talented athletes such as Raekwon Griffin, Markeith McGary and Karon Randolph. All three are multi-talented athletes who are above-average basketball players as well, but have now leaned more toward football.
McGary is slated to lead the secondary, according to the article. Griffin had over 500 yards in receptions last season in only five games, due to injuries. He, along with Thomas and rising star Randolph (6’3”, 180 lbs.) form potentially one of the finest group of receivers in some time.
Randolph started thinking about having more options regarding college, especially after the Flyers’ loss to Belleville East in the Class 4A regional basketball tournament. Being a good student, Randolph’s mom decided to let her son play football again, for Sunkett.
Now, devoting himself to football under Coach Sunkett, Randolph has already caught the eyes of recruiters in the 7-on 7-camps and some other skills camps, to the point where he has been offered scholarships from several schools, including Kansas. Randolph started on the basketball team several games, but decided to give football a try again, which is something he hadn’t done since middle school.
Hip, hip, hurrah!
It’s good to see more kids, and parents like Karon’s mom, take control of their kid’s activities with some coaches and not limit their ability to play other sports.
In our program’s long athletic history, I can’t remember an athletic director, who happens to be the head basketball coach, allow one of the nation’s top freshman prospects to be academically ineligible. And you had him with you all summer.
It wouldn’t happen under Bennie “Boss” Lewis, or the great Bob Shannon! Someone tell me when we started accepting this kind of athletic leadership?
More parents, alumni and coaches want to say what I’m saying, but are scared of retaliation. Parents fear, with only one high school in town, some coaches and administrators might not give their kids a fair shake.Â
