Lakewood Piners 2014 Preview

Temple commit Chapelle Cook moves to quarterback for his senior season and headlines a trio of Division I prospects for head coach LJ Clark

Rich’s Take

I really enjoyed the time I spent watching Lakewood practice. LJ Clark has tremendous passion for not just winning football games, but building a culture in Lakewood. What’s that culture? A program that will compete year in and year out and produce young men that will not only succeed in football, but in the game of life. After watching Temple put a thumping on Vanderbilt in the opener, the future is bright for Owls football and they have a good one in Chapelle Cook. I’ll see all of his highlights this fall, but more important than that he’s a team first guy. The young kids with talent in this area need to learn from all of the Division I early commitments. They are all outstanding on the field, but they also have their academics in order, stay off of trash talk on social media and conduct themselves as leaders all the time. I see that in Chapelle Cook and he’s passing that along to Amir Tyler who just picked up his first D1 offer (Temple). Finally, I’m pulling for Datrell Reed to pile up offers with a big senior season. I had a chance to talk with him at Chris Melvin’s Elite Recruit Camp and he’s got a great motor. Lakewood should be a fun team to watch week in and week out and I hope the community comes out to support the Piners.