SMSB 7vs7 Detroit Showcase Primer

Camp and 7-on-7 season throughout the United States have kicked off, and Sound Mind Sound Body is once again at the forefront.

The second annual SMSB 7vs7 Detroit Showcase kicks off Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, and the sheer number of top teams and players throughout the state of Michigan that will be present separates it from all other football showcases taking place this summer.

State powers Detroit Cass Tech, Detroit King, Belleville, Oak Park, River Rouge, West Bloomfield and Walled Lake Western are among the 14 total schools that will be in attendance.

Meanwhile, those schools will bring with them a multitude of highly-touted recruits.

Scheduled to be in attendance include the following: 2019 recruits Lance Dixon and Tre Mosley from West Bloomfield, 2019 four-star recruits Julian Barnett, committed to Michigan State, and Devontae Dobbs, also committed to MSU, from Belleville, 2020 recruits Rashawn Williams and Peny Boone from King, 2019 three-star recruits Jalen Graham and Jaren Mangham from Cass Tech, Walled Lake Western 2019 three-star recruit Sam Johnson III, committed to Boston College, and 2020 three-star recruit Abdur-Rahmaan Yaseen, 2019 recruits Jordan Anderson and Elija Griffin, committed to Toledo, from Harper Woods, Oak Park 2019 three-star recruit Dwan Mathis, committed to Ohio State, and 2020 four-star recruit Justin Rogers and 2019 three-star recruits Ruke Orhorhoro, committed to Clemson, and Daraun McKinney, committed to Northern Illinois, from River Rouge.

Devontae Dobbs, a highly coveted 2019 recruit, recently committed to Michigan State.

You won’t be able to find all these players assembled at any other camp or 7-on-7 showcase event this summer.

Since 2004, the Sound Mind Sound Body Football Academy has brought together the best-of-the-best youth football talent across the Midwest to compete against one another and to get ready for their respective seasons. No other football academy can say the same.

And by bringing together such great talent to square off with one another on a consistent basis, SMSB has created various intriguing one-on-one matchups over the years. One of the notable matchups in the past was Penn State’s KJ Hamler, a 2017 four-star wide receiver, going head-to-head with Michigan’s Ambry Thomas, a 2017 four-star cornerback, at the 2016 SMSB Detroit camp.

Penn State’s KJ Hamler (on left) going head-to-head with Michigan’s Ambry Thomas (on right).

Many exciting, must-see matchups are in store for Thursday, too.

One of the most interesting matchups set to take place is Dwan Mathis vs. Sam Johnson in the last game of the Detroit Showcase for both Oak Park and Western.

Dwan Mathis (on top) vs. Sam Johnson (on bottom) will be an exciting matchup to watch Thursday.

A lot of bragging rights will be on the line when the two pro-style quarterbacks meet, as they are widely considered the top two QBs in Michigan for the class of 2019.

And in perhaps the most interesting first matchup of the Detroit Showcase, you have King, a Division 2 state semifinalist in 2017, and West Bloomfield, a Div. 1 finalist from a year ago, taking on one another.

To start off, you have two great wideouts going head-to-head in King’s Rashawn Williams, who possesses 28 Div. 1 offers, and West Bloomfield’s Tre Mosley, who has offers from Michigan, Michigan St., Boston College and Minnesota, among others.

Then, there’s the Lakers’ ultra-talented duo of outside linebacker/safety Lance Dixon and four-star 2020 safety Makari Paige, who will have their hands full containing not only Williams but also the Crusaders’ athletic 2019 wideout Darrell Wyatt. Wyatt possesses offers from Central Michigan, Bowling Green, Davenport, Ferris State, Delaware State, Findlay and Youngstown State.

Darrell Wyatt will be one of the most closely watched 2019 prospects at Thursday’s Showcase.

King and West Bloomfield are two of the best teams in the state heading into the 2018 season, as are Belleville, which lost in the Division 1 district championship round last season, and Cass Tech, a Div. 1 state semifinalist from a season ago.

Belleville and Cass Tech will each be represented by two squads at the Showcase: a “Green” and “White” team for the Technicians and a “Black” and “Orange” team for the Tigers.

The schools’ head coaches once coached alongside each other at Cass Tech: Jermain Crowell serving as the defensive backs coach and later the defensive coordinator for longtime Technicians head man Thomas Wilcher.

Now, they will do battle with each other on opposing sidelines for the first time, courtesy of SMSB.

Crowell’s Black squad will face Wilcher’s Green squad in the first game of the day for both squads, while the Tigers’ Orange team will square off with the Technicians’ White team later in the day.

The two games will feature a myriad of exciting one-on-one matchups, such as defensive back Julian Barnett potentially lining up opposite of athletic pass catcher Jalen Graham, who holds offers from Boston College, Ball State and Central Michigan, among others.

Many media members’ eyes will be glued to Julian Barnett (on top) facing off with Jalen Graham (on bottom).

Regardless of which school your fandom lies with, Thursday will be a Michigan prep football lover’s dream.

And you can check out all the action, consisting of 16 teams (accounting for the two Cass Tech and Belleville teams) and 64 different matchups, for a minimal fee of $5.

To find out which teams are squaring off in all 64 matchups, check out the full schedule of games below.

TEAM	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3
West Bloomfield	Detroit King	Belleville Black	Cass Tech Green
Belleville Black	Cass Green	West Bloomfield	King
Detroit King	West Bloomfield	River Rouge	Belleville Black
River Rouge	Waterford Mott	King	Walled Lake Western
Detroit Cass Tech Green	Belleville Black	Oak Park	West Bloomfield
Oak Park	Detroit Cody	Cass Green	Dearborn Fordson
Walled Lake Western	Harper Woods	Dearborn Fordson	River Rouge
Harper Woods	Walled Lake Western	Detroit Delta Prep	Waterford Mott
Waterford Mott	River Rouge	Cody	Harper Woods
Dearborn Fordson	Detroit Mumford	Walled Lake Western	Oak Park
Detroit Cody	Oak Park	Waterford Mott	Delta Prep
Detroit Mumford	Dearborn Fordson	Southeastern	Belleville Orange
Detroit Delta Prep	Cass White	Harper Woods	Cody
Detroit Southeastern	Belleville Orange	Mumford	Cass White
Detroit Cass Tech White	Delta Prep	Belleville Orange	Southeastern
Belleville Orange	Southeastern	Cass White	Mumford

TEAM	GAME 4
West Bloomfield	Harper Woods
Belleville Black	River Rouge
Detroit King	Dearborn Fordson
River Rouge	Belleville Black
Detroit Cass Tech Green	Waterford Mott
Oak Park	Walled Lake Western
Walled Lake Western	Oak Park
Harper Woods	West Bloomfield
Waterford Mott	Cass Green
Dearborn Fordson	King
Detroit Cody	Detroit Southeastern
Detroit Mumford	Detroit Cass Tech White
Detroit Delta Prep	Belleville Orange
Detroit Southeastern	Cody
Detroit Cass Tech White	Mumford
Belleville Orange	Delta Prep

Note: Due to limited seating, it is recommended that all those that plan on attending the Detroit Showcase bring lawn chairs.