JuniorRank: Get Noticed, Get Recruited

Old Dominion had a pretty big week. They turned up the heat on their recruiting when they announced a move to Conference USA on Thursday. Earlier in the week, Davon Grayson turned up the heat on his recruitment when he ran a blistering 4.4 forty at the Junior Rank Virginia Beach Camp. Program and prospect collided on Tuesday when Grayson visited the Monarchs. Both are seeing a dramatic increase in interest. Could ODU be a match for the King’s Fork wideout?

Grayson had been battling uphill prior to the weekend. He’s a wide receiver in an option offense. On top of that, Grayson only played three games last year after breaking his hand against Western Branch. He snagged three passes a game in each of the games he played, but the defense was stacked against him. Grayson was the primary receiving threat on a team that rarely threw the ball. Camp and combine season is where he’ll shine. ODU is already aware of that. Davon made an unofficial visit to the campus on Tuesday and he’ll return for camp this summer. He already liked the Monarchs. The C-USA bid is just the icing on the cake.

“I’m working with Coach Zohn (Burden); he’s the receivers coach,” commented Grayson. “He’s pretty high on me. He’s a pretty straight shooter. Everything he says is really genuine. He let me know that he wants me to come. The offensive coordinator wants me to come. The only thing now is that they need to have some game film and their head coach needs to approve it. They just need a little more eye to eye contact.”

The limited playing time last year hurts ODU’s chances at evaluating him on film. If all else fails, Grayson should be able to prove himself at camp.

“Coach Jones was planning on getting me the ball a lot (before the injury),” Davon explained. “This year, he’s talked about getting the ball to me enough to cover my junior year and my senior year. I’ll be lining up at receiver and slot this year, so I’m going to get the ball a lot this year. I’m pretty happy about that. Uriah Adams and I work together a lot, along with Charles Clark. We want this so bad. We’re going to change the tide at King’s Fork. We work so hard. Uriah is our quarterback and we’ll all fall in behind him.”

The visit to ODU went well for Davon. He was thoroughly impressed with the coaches, the campus and the facilities.

“The campus really surprised me. I didn’t know how much they had put into the football program,” said Grayson. “The fields are really nice. The locker room is pretty nice. I got to get a tour of the whole football facility and I really enjoyed it. ODU is a really good school. I wish they would offer me, but I have to be patient. I understand where they’re coming from. Their coaches are going to visit my school next week, so their interest in me is really high. I’m hoping for an offer to come soon.”

The 4.4 time at the Junior Rank camp really did add fuel to the fire in his recruiting. The coaching staff keeps up with Davon’s achievements, including his work with the 757 Elite seven-on-seven team.

“Coach Burden is in tune with me. He asked me how I did at Junior Rank and he liked the 4.4. I felt pretty good about that one,” said the wide out. “Everything went really smoothly (on the visit). My Dad went on the visit with me and we were both suprised at how nice the campus is.”

Grayson received visits from several other schools last week including Delaware and Concord. He has a full camp schedule over the summer, including Cincinnati, Temple, Virginia Tech, UVA, Maryland, Miami, Richmond, JMU, William & Mary, North Carolina, Delaware, Duke and ODU. Davon went to Princeton’s Junior Day recently and his recruiting coach there wants him to come back for camp.

As word gets around, Grayson will only continue to attract more attention. He won a wide receiver MVP at the Best of the 757 this weekend and the buzz is building.

- Andy Hilton