Scouting report on Doug Justice, a junior to be defensive lineman from Florida.  This was a letter sent to Coach Yelovich and Coach Mattison, and posted here courtesy of its sender, Miles A. Reynolds.

Dear Coach Yelovich,

I had the pleasure to be in the audience in June when you were the guest speaker at the annual banquet of the Greater Orlando Notre Dame club. I have been a N.D. football fan for over 20 years (an ardent one at that)! I was the short, round guy with glasses that asked you how to give you or any of the football coaches a "heads up" about a high school prospect. You gave me your card and I asked you for your e-mail address. Unfortunately, I missed a few digits in the transposition and I finally found your web site on the nd.edu site. All of this notwithstanding, the following is the information about what I believe to be an outstanding prospect for the Fighting Irish. 

PROSPECT'S NAME: DOUG JUSTICE
SCHOOL NAME: SPRUCE CREEK HIGH, PORT ORANGE, FL.
PROSPECT'S POSITION: PRIMARILY DEFENSIVE END, PLAYS TIGHT END ON OFFENSE.
CLASS: DOUG IS ENTERING HIS JUNIOR YEAR THIS AUGUST.
SUMMARY (SCOUTING REPORT FROM AN AMATEUR'S OBSERVATION)

    Doug Justice is Defensive End entering his junior year at Spruce Creek High, located in Port Orange, Fl., just a few miles south of Daytona Beach. He is white (just a fact, for the record, as his race is irrelevent to his talent as a football player and a student). As of this past football season, his sophomore year, Doug was 6' 3" tall and weighed approx. 215 lbs. He is extremely fast off the snap and exhibits very good foot speed. I don't know his 40 time, but my guess would be that he runs about a 4.7 forty. Spruce Creek plays in the same conference and district that Sanford Seminole plays in. As you know, that is the same school that has produced Jeff Faine. Doug and his team shut out Sanford Seminole and Jeff Faine last season, Jeff's senior season. Jeff may well know, or know of, Doug Justice.

    Doug was the ONLY sophomore to make the 1st team All-Area squad for Volusia/Flagler counties this past season. This team consisted, among others, of Darryl Dixon and Roy Williams who signed with the Florida Gators, Mikal Goodman, a QB that Lou Holtz signed at S.C., and Vincent Glenn, a WR who signed with Louisville. It also had Brandon Sumner from Daytona Beach Mainland who is one of the highly sought after QB recruits in the nation this year. This area is LOADED with football, basketball, and baseball talent.  Keep in mind that Vince Carter, the NBA Rookie of the Year this past season, graduated from Daytona Beach Mainland before he went off to play for Dean Smith at UNC. 

    I anticipate that Doug will hit the weight room and be up to around 230-240 lbs. by the time he is a senior and I fully expect him to be a blue-chip recruit. Better yet, he is in the very difficult International Baccalaureate academic curriculum and, according to my daughter who is a classmate and friend of his, he is consistently in receipt of A's and B's in this weighted G.P.A. program. Given the weighted aspects of the I.B. program, his G.P.A. is probably at least 3.5!! My daughter also says he is a very "down to earth" kid, especially given his athletic prowess. He is very modest about his football success, according to my daughter (who has a 4.31 cumulative G.P.A. herself through her first two years). She's a pretty good judge of character for a 16 year old.

I am a 47 year old mortgage banker with a large national bank. I am a HUGE college football fan and an even bigger Irish football fan. I'd like to think I am a pretty good judge of talent, at least relatively speaking. I have seen Doug play several times this past year and several things stood out about him. One was his quickness and speed off the ball. He was almost always the first D-Lineman in the backfield. More noteably, was his DESIRE and hustle. He went all out on EVERY play on the D-Line and he played tight end when he was not on defense. The kid is in great physical condition and is a heck of an athlete.

Coach, Doug Justice is too talented academically and athletically to go to FSU, Florida, Miami, etc. His brother attends Air Force and, from what I understand, is or was a 3rd teamer on the football team. Doug doesn't know  that I am sending this info. out and I do not know where his college preferences are at this time. I'll leave the recruiting part up to Coach Mattison and Coach Davie. They really should see about getting him into a summer camp next year. He will be a definite blue chipper!!