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MSU - gets serious about recruiting

Johnny Spartan

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This is a great hire by MSU. This guy has some great connections and is well respected. Welcome to MSU Mr. Blackwell. :suds:

__________________________________________________________________________________-

"EAST LANSING - Michigan State Football officially announced the hiring of Curtis Blackwell, Sound Mind and Sound Body (SMSB) Camp Organizer and Co-Founder on Friday evening. Saturday morning, on the first day of MSU practice, Blackwell stepped on the MSU practice field for the first time in Spartan colors as a member of the MSU football staff.

Today is his second day as the Director of College Advancement and Performance/Camp Director at MSU.
Blackwell will play a key role in the development and implementation of strategic plans in football recruiting. He will have creative input in recruit mailings, all social media outlets, and the CoachDantonio.com website, and will work in conjunction with the recruiting staff to organize all official and unofficial campus visits.

"My job at Michigan State is not to change their recruiting process but to enhance it by maximizing their exposure and letting kids know all the Michigan State has to offer," Blackwell told SpartanMag.com. "I want potential Spartans to experience everything about MSU and that starts with getting kids on campus, talking with the staff, walking through the Duffy (football building), meeting the players and seeing all of the facilities. The addition of the North Endzone Project, with the building of new locker rooms, will definitely help in selling all that Michigan State is."

Blackwell became a major player in the recruiting landscape when he co-founded the SMSB Camp more than nine years ago. He sought to use the camp as a means of assisting high school athletes in their developing skills on and off the field. The young athletes would learn proper football techniques from current and former NFL players and from college and high school coaches. They would learn life skills such as getting tutored in school work and preparing for the ACT/SAT tests. Over the past nine years, Blackwell helped in expanding the camp from 30 kids to thousands attending SMSB camps in Detroit, Columbus and Washington D.C.

Blackwell's work with the SMSB camp, as well as his academic background and proven commitment to the development of young people on and off the field, led Dantonio to speak with the native Detroiter about a new position at Michigan State.

"I was very excited when Coach Dantonio first contacted me in joining the football staff," Blackwell said. "I saw it as an opportunity to take the next step in my career and use all of the things and resources I've learned over the years to enhance Michigan State football."

In running the SMSB camps, Blackwell - a former player at Detroit King and Hampton University - developed relationships with many coaches and players throughout the country. He was also the head coach of Detroit-based Maximum Exposure, a national championship 7 on 7 football team, which is an indication of his ability to evaluate, organize and develop talent.

William Gholston, Taiwan Jones, Lawrence Thomas, DeAnthony Arnett, Tony Lippett, Ed Davis, Mylan Hicks, Jon Reschke, Dennis Finley and future Spartan Deon Drake are just a few of the players that participated in the SMSB program; a program that assisted in many more aspects then just football.

"That's one of the reasons why I took this position," Blackwell said, in reference to off-field player development. "I'm excited when I look out on the field and see DeAnthony Arnett and Tony Lippett and know that I helped in getting them to this stage in their life. Now I can continue the work I started and continue to help young men grow."

But recruiting is the area in which Blackwell is expected to have the biggest impact at Michigan State.

"Now that I'm here, I have to hit the ground running and target kids that will help MSU continue to build a top football program" he added. "Because of the acceleration of the recruiting process, my job will be to constantly find the best high school juniors, sophomores and freshmen out there and cultivate a relationship with them."

Dantonio said the following about Blackwell in a press release announcing the hiring:

"First and foremost, we appreciate the administration's support for establishing this critical position," said Dantonio. "Curtis Blackwell brings a wealth of contacts to this position through his work with the state's high school coaches association, national 7-on-7 camps, youth football programs as well as his work as a camp director.

"In this day and age of accelerated recruiting, those relationships can only benefit Michigan State. He also gained valuable experience interning with the NCAA. Curtis has demonstrated his innovation in creating the `Sound Mind, Sound Body' camps. He pays great attention to detail while possessing outstanding interpersonal and communication skills.

"In his new role, Curtis can make a significant impact, not only on our current players but future Spartans as well. We're truly excited about him joining our Michigan State football staff."
 

Spartan4Life

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Sounds like this guy knows what he is talking about, and it looks like he really cares for the kids he helps develop. I hope he can make an impact in the next few years.
 

Johnny Spartan

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Blackwell has good first week!

from Rivals - good job Mr. Blackwell :clap:
________________________________________________________________________
EAST LANSING - On a day in which Mark Dantonio referred to his latest staff addition as a "game-changer," Michigan State capitalized on a groundbreaking recruiting day with one major commitment and a "90 percent" pledge from another.

With Curtis Blackwell overseeing the first major recruiting visitation event since coming aboard as a key Michigan State's recruiting aide last week, the Spartans gained a commitment from Detroit Cass Tech QB Jayru Campbell and a near-commitment from St. Clair Shores Lakeshore lineman Kyonta Stallworth.

Both players are expected to be ranked among the top six players in Michigan for 2015, and will receive strong consideration for national Top 250 and four-star status.

Stallworth said internet reports of a full commitment to Michigan State are premature.

"No, no, no, no," Stallworth said, when informed that he is being reported as a commitment on Internet web sites. "I told him (another reporter) that I was going to tell him if I did (commit). But I haven't."

Stallworth said he left East Lansing on Wednesday telling Dantonio he was close to committing, but he needed more time.

"I told Coach D that in 2015, this was going to be the place for me," Stallworth said. "I told him I was going to make it official when I came back up for the night game against Western Michigan."

Stallworth visited Michigan State with his father on Tuesday and Wednesday. Along with several other recruits, he stayed the night in East Lansing, attended practice on Wednesday and had lunch at the Brody Complex cafeteria.

"That was a great lunch," Stallworth said.

Stallworth and Campbell were among a cast of more than 45 high school recruits who were on the practice sidelines, Wednesday. They wore Michigan State jerseys (which they had to return before leaving campus) and wide eyes.

"For a lot guys, something like this is their first unofficial visit to a school," Blackwell said. "It's important to start those relationships early and strong, and let them know early on what Michigan State has to offer."

Campbell announced his commitment via Twitter at 4:05 p.m. with the following tweet:
 

H2S

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"That was a great lunch"

:whistle:

at (grody) Brody?
place was a brick trailer park in my day.
remember piles of untouched bungled eggs at the breakfast buffet; unidentifiable gray brownish meat something covered in glowing gravy at dinner; was when I became addicted to TUMS.
 

Spartaniac

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Brody got a big re-do on their monstrous cafeteria. It is now the jewel (such that it can be) of campus cafeterias. Really.
 

H2S

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Brody got a big re-do on their monstrous cafeteria. It is now the jewel (such that it can be) of campus cafeterias. Really.

do they give discounts for surviving former inmates? at least a tour?
 

MSUCTM96

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From what I can see on the recruiting trail in College sports we need to go with Bilas on paying athletes for autographs. Alabama Alumni will be paying a $100k for a signature of a prospective athlete on the back of a Chinese Menu. And Sparty Alumni will shell out a cool $five bucks for an authentic autographed Nike Road Warriors Jersey. This is going to go well. :wtf2:
 
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