Nice article on Hammond's Stone Pinckney . . . pretty sure he'll get that Div. I offer from Duke or Vanderbilt. Ivy League could be a better route to better things for him(even possibly playing on Sundays). What other SCISA 12th graders have a shot at a Div. I offer? I know Pinewood's Ryan Steed has or will have a host of I-AA offers including Ivy League but may play only Div. I basketball instead. Hilton Head Prep's Michael Herman should have some Div. I offers . . . who else?

Hammond LB is as tough as Stone
Pinckney has established himself as the best linebacker in SCISA
By CHRIS DEARING - Special to The State

Hammond linebacker Stone Pinckney hopes to attract an offer from a Division I team this season.There are great football nicknames like Dick “Night Train” Lane, Kordell “Slash” Stewart, Ed “Too Tall” Jones and “Mean” Joe Greene.

“Stone” would be another one. But if that’s your given birth name, then you have a lot to measure up to.

Hammond senior Stone Pinckney was given the name after his aunt offered a few suggestions to his parents. His father thought it would fit, since there was no question his son would go on and star as a linebacker at some point in his life for the defending state champions.

Pinckney never really gave much thought to the name until he was asked how it all came about.

“My dad always told me that when he named me, he pictured me being a linebacker,” Pinckney said. “So I guess you could say it fits.”

If Pinckney continues the pace he’s set this season, his name will soon be on the list of Division I college recruiting lists. The inside linebacker has 36 tackles on the season, including 21 in a 31-7 victory against Laurence Manning this past Friday — including four tackles for loss, two sacks and a forced fumble.

So far his list of offers is a short one — Charleston Southern, Liberty and a host of Ivy League Schools — but he is making tapes to send out to Division I schools in the southeast. He camped at Duke, Vanderbilt, Harvard and North Carolina over the summer.

“UNC has always been my favorite school,” Pinckney said. “My dad liked them when I was little so I started pulling for them too. That would be a dream to play there but I have to keep working and improving to get a shot for that.”

According to Hammond coach Erik Kimrey, Pinckney has all the tools to be a contributor at the major college level. Pinckney runs a sub-4.6 40-yard dash, bench presses 370 pounds and moves sideline-to-sideline as well as anyone.

Kimrey said Pinckney might be overlooked because he plays in SCISA, but there is not another high school linebacker in the state that he would take over the 5-foot-11, 210-pounder.

“We’re playing him on the inside for us right now but his more natural position is on the outside,” Kimrey said. “I think at a larger school, he would excel playing outside linebacker.”

Kimrey nearly was not Pinckney’s high school coach. Pinckney was slated to attend Keenan after completing middle school but in his own words, “wasn’t doing good stuff and probably needed a change.”

So he decided on Hammond and if first impressions were anything, Kimrey never thought he would be around as a senior.

“When he first came here, he was rough around the edges for Hammond standards,” Kimrey said. “We could tell he was a great athlete but we also knew we had a lot of work to do with him.”

Pinckney has a 3.7 GPA and has scored over 1200 on the SAT. And like in football, he still wants to improve on those numbers.

“There is always room to improve,” Pinckney said. “I know there a things I can do on the field that will help me get better and there are still some things I can do in the classroom to improve as well.”

Don't you just love it when a poster's first post on this board is to trash someone.

As sure as night follows day, agood report on a SCISA player will be followed by one tearing him down.

At any moment now, there should be a post ripping his school.

looks like a pretty weak attempt by a Skyhawk to get Stone to play with a little more intensity this week.

And poof! The post of an alleged Heathwood player blasting Mr. Pinckney and his Hammond Skyhawks has been wisely deleted. Wonder if anyone with Hammond had time to print it off for the locker room?

Senior wideout Terrell Brown from Charleston Collegiate has already been offered a scholarship from CSU, and I expect him to recieve more offers as the year progresses

I will find it difficult for SP to find his way to a D1 school. Maybe 1-AA but that would be it. Too small. I don't, at this juncture, even consider him an elite player in our league. I think he is the beneficiary of an overzealous stat man and a coach that loves to talk in the papers of HIS d1 PROSPECTS. What a great way to get lower tier kids from public schools to give you a look. If his scores are legit maybe some Ivy or Patriot league. CU or USC no way. Good football player though.

Nimrod I tend to agree with you on the Stone Pickney and playing Line backer at d1 level. But there are not many in this league tht are truly better or more gifted this year. Maybe there were in past years but this year he is one of the best out there. Do you have some reason to say his tst scores may notbe legit. Personally I belive he will be better suited to play safety at the next level.

The post deleted from this thread was made by someone impersonating a student and not by the student themselves. Obviously, such behavior is not allowed on these boards.

We have the IP address and email address of the person who made the post.

No particular reason other than anyone can say I made this or I made that on this test. If he makes these great and I am not disputing them. If he has these scores he may get picked up by a upper level school because he is a good athlete and will make the team GPA look good. Upper level D3 would jump all over him also. But ACC or SEC or even Big East or MAC I don't see it at this point but you never know. I still think alot of this is hype by the coach for other reasons but if it works which it appears to be more power to him. I do think SP is a good player and I wish him luck in his college career.

Have to agree with Nimrod on the overzealous statman. If you look at the films, the numbers do not add up. Not to take anything away from SP because he is a great athlete and hope it gets him to the next level.

Thanks for clarifying your points nimrod. Again i tend to agree with you about his ability to play next level but he is a good palyer. The statman does seem somewhat overzelous. After talking to some people at lma in which SP was credited with 21 tackles they questioned that number based on the fact that they had only about 35-40 offensive plays which included several incomplete passes and about 4 turnovers and 1 touchdown so he would have had to make about 2/3's of his teams tackles

56 tackles in the State paper today. That would mean he had 20 against OP. That's a lot of stops. Sounds like if he gets off the pile he is credited with the tackle.

I watched Stone play once this year against LMA. He seemed to be all over the place. He is also on the kickoff and punt teams. I remember commenting to my friend that he was the first one down and seem to make ever tackle on the kick off team.
I heard he was timed around 4.6 or better and benches 350+. He looks like a college athlete to me.
I also think the paper adds assists and solo tackles into one tackle category. that could explain his high numbers. He did seemed to be in about every play.