****Noel Devine Appreciation Thread*****

Devine attended North Fort Myers High School the same high school that NFL stars Deion Sanders and Jevon Kearse attended. Devine rushed for 1,092 yards and averaged 9 yards per carry as a freshman and in his sophomore season Noel had 1,667 yards and 23 TDs on 143 carries for an 11.7 average per carry. As a junior, Devine rushed for 1,933 yards and 24 touchdowns on 173 carries 11.5 yards per carry. In his senior year, Devine totaled 2,735 yards and 47 touchdowns. In the U.S. Army All-American game, he took a kickoff back 88 yards before catching his foot on the turf and falling short of the end zone.

On October 20, 2006, Noel became the all-time leader in rushing yards for Lee County, surpassing former Mariner High School student and Tampa Bay running back Earnest Graham. Coincidentally, it was Graham's alma mater that North was playing against when Noel surpassed him, with a 65 yard touchdown run late in the 3rd quarter. Devine also holds the Lee County all-time rushing record with a career total of 7,002 yards. He finished his high school career with 92 touchdowns, another Lee County record.^[1]

Devine was the #3 ranked running back (and #5 prospect overall) in the nation by ESPN's 2007 Recruit Tracker. Before signing with West Virginia, he was heavily recruited by coaches from some of the nation's other top collegiate programs such as the University of Nebraska, University of Alabama and Florida State University.

As college signing time approached, Devine's top three prospective schools were the universities of Florida State, Alabama and West Virginia. On February 7, 2007 it was announced that Devine had reached a verbal commitment with West Virginia to play football on a scholarship, which was confirmed on a letter of intent signed on March 30, 2007.^[2]

Although Devine is still considered somewhat undersized for a prototypical NFL running back, he has an impressive skillset compared to other college prospects around the country. According to ESPN's Scouts Inc, he is "a human blur who possesses rare explosiveness, vision and stop/start ability. His ability to accelerate is elite, and when he gets to the second level, he is a threat to take it the distance each time he touches the ball."^[3]

Since video clips of Devine began to surface at the beginning of his sophomore year, he has become something of an internet phenomenon. When video clips began to surface on the Internet in Devine's junior season in 2005, he gained instant notoriety.

[edit] Personal Life

Both of Devine's parents are deceased: his father passing away in 1988 when he was three months old, and his mother before he was twelve. Both of his parents died of AIDS virus.^[8] Devine himself is the father of four children by four different women, all born while still in high school. ^[9] Noel's grandmother was his legal guardian.

Noel Devine was interviewed by ESPN The Magazine under their NEXT editions, which picks the next big athlete of the year. Devine was a nominee for the 2008 edition, along with Brandon Roy, Joba Chamberlain, Tyson Gay, Patrick Willis, and Novak Ðokovic. In the interview, Devine stated that his idol is Barry Sanders, and that his best game of his career at that point was against Maryland.^[10]

[edit] Relationship with Deion Sanders

Noel has a special relationship with Deion Sanders, who himself is a graduate of North Fort Myers High School. At one point, Sanders planned to become Noel's legal guardian.^[9] Devine moved to Prosper, Texas, where he lived with Sanders, but after a few weeks, he returned to North Fort Myers. Devine and Sanders are still in contact with each other, perhaps more so as the 2007 signing day approached, when Sanders assisted Noel in preparing to sign a letter of intent and play football in the college ranks. Deion Sanders revealed his mentor role in Devine's decision in his column for The News-Press, a Fort Myers news outlet.^[11] He recommended to Devine that a prep school would help better prepare him for college.

FORT MYERS: Noel Devine's long process of choosing a potential college is complete as he signed a National Collegiate Letter of Intent with West Virginia today.

NBC2 confirmed the signing with Devine's high school coach James Iandoli who faxed the completed forms to the university around noon today.

Iandoli said, "I'm excited for Noel and West Virginia. The coaches up there have gone above and beyond. It's a special group up there."

Iandoli was initially the primary person assisting Devine with his college selection, but he has since been replaced by Devine's mentor Deion Sanders. Sanders stated in the past that he thinks Devine would be better served by attending Milford Academy, a post-graduate school that offers programs specifically for student-athletes who might benefit from an additional year of high school before moving on to attend college and participate in athletics.

West Virginia issued a press release shortly afterward with comments from football coach Rich Rodriguez.

"We’re very excited that Noel has made the decision to join the Mountaineer family," Rich Rodriguez says via the press release. "We know he is working hard to meet all his eligibility requirements, and we’re confident he can get that done. Coach James Iandoli and the staff at North Fort Myers High have been a tremendous asset to this young man in preparing for his future."

That statement indicates Devine still has not met the NCAA minimum standards for grades and/or standardized entrance test scores.

High school officials cannot comment specifically on student's grades or test scores. Iandoli did say, "things look very promising" toward Devine attaining grades and scores he needs to enroll at West Virginia in the fall.

Devine was selected for the U.S. Army All-America game, and was listed among the top prep honorees by publications across the nation, rushing for more than 1,100 yards as a freshman, 1,600 as a sophomore, 1,900 as a junior and 2,100 as a senior. Last fall, he led the Red Knights to an 11-2 mark and the third round of the state playoffs. He finished his high school career as Lee County's all-time rushing leader, having broken the career mark of Mariner-grad and current Tampa Bay Buccaneer Earnest Graham.