UM offers scholarships to underclassmen

University of Miami assistant coach Ephraim Banda has been busy in Central Florida again. Banda offered Lake Brantley senior athlete Damarius Good last week and then this week started on underclassmen, offering Oviedo Master’s Academy freshman running back Terrance Gibbs and Mount Dora Christian sophomore linebacker/safety KJ Ellis. Both offers came on Thursday.

Good, a do-it-all type of athlete with burner speed, will run the Brantley triple-option as the quarterback at times, but take the brunt of the load at fullback. For Miami, however, he was offered on the defensive side of the ball as a cornerback.

The offer to Gibbs, currently an eighth-grader at Masters, comes on the heels of the Eagles 33-14 victory over Windermere Prep, during which Gibbs ran for 130 yards and a touchdown.

Last season, Gibbs ran for 1,081 yards and 12 touchdowns on 130 carries, an impressive average of 8.3 yards per carry. Masters’ Academy football coach Jermel Jones confirmed the offer to Gibbs, who several coaches have referred to as a freak at 6-foot, 190 pounds.

Ellis (6-foot-3, 190 pounds), who is a teammate of another Banda discovery and Miami commit, Jesiah Pierre at Mount Dora Christian, was offered as a safety.

“He’s a great kid … kind of a mini-Jesiah, which is really fun to coach,” Mount Dora Christian coach Kolby Tackett said Friday. “He’s just a joy to be around … super selfless. He loves sports and he’s a multisport ahlete — track, basketball, football, weightlifting. He does it all, just wants to be active.

“He has a ton of untapped potential.”

Banda and UM defensive coordinator Manny Diaz have been evaluating Ellis and Tackett said he was not suprised by the offer.

“They kind of have it all figured out when it comes to offering people early,” Tackett said. “They offered ’Siah early and everybody was like, ‘Really?’ and now the kid’s got like 30 offers. They’re good at evaluating talent.”

Pierre was offered by Miami when he was entering his sophomore year.

FILE PHOTO Master’s Academy running back Terrance Gibbs ran for 1,081 yards and 12 touchdowns on 130 carries, an average of 8.3 yards per carry.