Lakers’ Edwards, Hairston to suit up
West Bloomfield’s Donovan Edwards and Maxwell Hairston will be in uniform when the Lakers take the field Saturday in the Division 1 regional football finals against Romeo (5-4).
After that, there’s no guarantee.
dwards, an All-American tailback as electric as any player to ever suit up in the Oakland County prep gridiron ranks, is the No. 1 offensive player in the state and signed to the University of Michigan. Hairston, the top cornerback in the area, is headed to Kentucky.
Both primetime playmakers graduated last month and are enrolling in college early. Their report dates are on Jan. 18. Under the current, seemingly everchanging timetable of playoff resumption following multiple COVID-19 related pauses, the state finals will be the weekend of Jan. 22-23.
When the return of the playoffs was officially announced last month, and it looked as if the finals would be staged in mid-January, Edwards and Hairston committed to finishing the season with the Lakers. With the most recent pushback during Christmas week due to confusion regarding testing procedures, it’s now unclear, if not unlikely, that they’ll be on the roster if West Bloomfield (8-1) advances past the regionals.
“It’s all up in the air, we’ll have to wait and see what happens,” said Lakers head coach Ron Bellamy of the fluid situation. “We obviously want them with us as long as they can be with us, but it depends on how they and their college coaching staffs want to handle it.”
Ten left on the table
Luckily for Lakers Nation, West Bloomfield’s football program benefits from “Donovan Edwards insurance,” specifically junior running back Dillon Tatum.
Tatum, who, like Edwards, is an All-American selection and mega Blue Chip recruit. Tatum (5-11, 180) trimmed his list of college choices to a Top 10 this week. Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Georgia, Nebraska, Georgia, Penn State, Baylor and USC made the cut.