Many of you have probably already read reports of Detroit Cass Tech junior quarterback Jayru Campbell being arrested for slamming a security guard in the school's halls yesterday. The story has taken on a life of its own. That's going to happen when it centers around a top-notch commit to a top-five university such as Michigan State.
Call this piling on if you want. But for the record, we here at MIPrepZone chose not to report anything after Campbell imploded during and after his team's 28-0 loss to Detroit Catholic Central in a Division 1 state semifinal back in November.
We all saw the meltdown that day at Troy Athens High School. I was standing 20 yards away while Campbell and the Shamrocks' Jack Van Acker got into a wrestling match on the field following Van Acker's sack and strip of the ball on Campbell. The two wrestled (not sure if any punches were thrown) until teammates and officials broke it up. Moments later, an angry Campbell walked off the field, reluctantly. He was obviously angry. He glanced over at me. I was videotaping the entire incident (as seen here). He told me to "Get that camera out my face."
I obliged - despite the fact that he was outside of the area designated for the football players. He came at me, in an area where photographers and videographers are supposed to be. After I turned the camera off, he still came at me, shouting out two more times to "Get that #%$*$#* camera out my face."
His frustration was evident throughout the afternoon, as Catholic Central gave him nothing. It was his first big loss in three years. After the game, he allegedly made contact with Van Acker in the handshake line (some reports say he punched Van Acker). What happened after that was caught on tape (as seen here). Our very own Scott Burnstein wrote something about the incident in a notebook for us, as well as in a story for State Champs.
After the game, as I was recording Catholic Central's victory "speech" by their coaches, a Cass Tech coach came over to apologize for Campbell's actions after the game. I still say it was a very classy gesture in regards to some nasty behavior.
Wednesday's incident came as no real surprise to myself. I saw that anger and frustration in Campbell back on that day in November. It's been building since then. It's obvious Michigan State will pull their scholarship offer. They reached out to Burnstein following his meltdown back in November, gathering information on the situation. I'm sure they've been monitoring his behavior. This will do nothing to help his chances of remaining a Spartan.
Hopefully he'll learn from this. But I can honestly say, I'm not betting on it.

No one really likes the BCS. That's been made abundantly clear over the years. The biggest issue is always the Coaches' Poll. People question whether or not most coaches even vote themselves. Because most are entrenched in the details of their own program, they have little or no time to pay attention to the happenings of the college football world. So they have their assistant coaches or their sports information directors handle that duty.
So is it really a coaches' poll, per se?
The same thing could be said for the Associated Press poll. How can any of the selected voters know everything about the top 20-30 teams in the country? Yeah, in this day and age you can catch many, many games on television. But still, it's an imperfect system.
That leads me to my point. The Associated Press also provides us with high school football rankings. And just like its college counterparts, these rankings must be taken with a grain of salt. There are five voters for each of the eight divisions. They're from various parts of the state and - to be honest - have no idea just how good teams from outside their area really are.

Clarkston's Ian Eriksen is among the best players in the
county this year. His Wolves have proven to be among
the best teams in the state, currently ranked No. 1 in the
latest AP Division 1 state rankings.

Take for example, in Division 1, Clarkston and Lake Orion are ranked No. 1 and 2. Sure, that's great for Oakland County. But it remains to be seen if they're truly among the elite (top 3-4 teams) come season's end. Detroit Cass Tech - despite a close loss to St. Mary's last Friday - is still the class of this division. My vote - if I had one - would still go to the defending state champion Technicians.
Heck, even Flint Carmen Ainsworth is ranked ahead of the Technicians. Don't tell me the Cavaliers are better than Cass Tech. Sure, they're 5-0, but they've beaten Grand Blanc, Saginaw Heritage, Inkster, Flint Northern and Flushing (a combined 7-18). But Cass Tech has already played the Eaglets and has beaten Brother Rice.
And at the bottom of the Top-10 you have Catholic Central and Rockford at Nos. 9-10. These two played in the semifinals last year and I'd bet even money they'll be back in the semifinals this year. CC's only losses have come to football powerhouses from Toledo and Cincinnati. And Rockford's two losses were to traditional powers Lowell and Muskegon (Muskegon, in my opinion, has been the best team in the state so far this year).
Further evidence the voters aren't always sure what's going on is in Division 3, where local teams Farmington and Oak Park are ranked No. 7 and No. 9. The Knights just beat the Falcons, 20-15, last Friday. Not quite sure why a couple voters made this decision.
Same thing can be said for Division 7, where Royal Oak Shrine finds itself ranked No. 7, while Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes is honorable mention. It's been that way each of the past two weeks, ever since Lakes beat Shrine, 24-21. Not quite sure where the logic is there.
Anyway you slice it, it doesn't always add up. But that's why any rankings that has human involvement will be questioned. But whether you like it or not, people love them. And until readers stop reading them, they'll be around, to discuss, for better or worse.