Photo by George Smith. DeMatha’s Lorenzo Waters (#28) going for the opening tackle on Adrian Coxson (#5) at last month’s Crab Bowl, Maryland’s only statewide high school football all-star game. The game featured the best senior all stars from public and private schools in the state .

Published on: Wednesday, January 20, 2010

DeMatha senior Lorenzo Waters last week became the latest football player from the Hyattsville private school to make a college decision when he verbally committed to play at Rutgers.

Waters, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound safety, chose the Scarlet Knights over Wake Forest and California among others.

“He had some great choices,” said DeMatha Head Coach Bill McGregor. “He really liked the coaching staff.”

According to McGregor, Waters was courted by a number of ACC, Big East and Big Ten programs including Michigan and Iowa but Rutgers offered “the opportunity for a great education” and was “close to home.”

“They’re getting an outstanding football player,” said McGregor, who noted that Waters earned the team’s Most Valuable Player award as a defensive standout.

A first team all-conference selection, Waters is rated as a three-star recruit by both rivals.com and scout.com and becomes the seventh DeMatha senior to verbally commit to college.

Marcus Coker (Iowa), Michael Coley (California), Jake Geiser (Delaware), Shane Johnson (Pittsburgh), Jeff Knox (Pittsburgh) and Kyrrel Latimer (Virginia) have also made verbal commitments that will become official on the Feb. 3 National Signing Day.

Meanwhile, highly touted DeMatha offensive lineman Arie Kouandjio is still undecided but has been weighing offers from a number of major college programs.

The high school All-American has narrowed his list down to New Mexico, Alabama, California and Maryland.

Whatever school Kouandjio decides to attend, he knows he will be prepared to tackle the rigors of life at the college level.

“Football and education was a big deal at DeMatha,” said Kouandjio, a first team all-conference selection, “so I feel I’m going to be a step ahead of everybody else and I can’t wait to see what I can do.”

The county boasts at least a dozen other seniors who have already made verbal commitments to college including players from Riverdale Baptist, Wise, Friendly and Suitland.

Riverdale Baptist seniors Brian Burns (Temple) and William Ray Robinson (Buffalo) have both made verbal commitments to college, along with Wise’s Trevon Butler (Old Dominion), Anthony McDaniel (Richmond), Rahsaan Moore (Maryland) and Titus Till (Maryland).

Among the other county products who have verbally committed to college are Friendly’s Jordan Haden (Florida), Suitland’s Jeremiah Johnson (Maryland), Gwynn Park’s Khalek Shepherd (Virginia) and Everett Weldon (Towson) along with Bishop McNamara standout Crishon Rose (East Carolina) and Potomac senior Devonta Tabannah (New Mexico).