Previewing K-State Football JUCO Linebacker Recruit Target Richard Dorvilus
By Dave Thoman
With my Google News Alert set to inform of any news updates with “Kansas State Recruit” as the subject, I get more false positives than news that’s actually interesting. The system shows a snippet preview of why the article was selected, and it typically takes a two second perusal to discover an article is flagged because a player from the state of Kansas is being recruited by USC or because a player has committed to play somewhere after considering Kansas, among other schools. So I assumed the same was the case when an article about Rutgers offering JUCO linebacker Richard Dorvilus a scholarship last week.
I gave the article a quick glance anyway, and at the end of the article from New Jersey News is a quote from Dorvilus about the recruiting process, stating, “Well, Indiana has a great coaching staff and the facilities are on point. Western Kentucky is on the up-rise and also has a great coaching staff. Akron is a place everyone is sleeping on, but I love their potential. And K-State, I really like them because they develop and play their JUCO players they sign.” Yep, this deserves an article.
Dorvilus is a unique story, and that makes him an prospect worth talking about. Originally from Weston, FL, where he played football at Cypress Bay High School, Dorvilus graduated in 2011. He had an offer to play for Eastern Michigan but in the process of waiting for other offers he watched EMU’s class fill up, leaving him without a spot on a DI roster. He pursued the prep school route, attending New Mexico Prep Sports Academy to refine his skills and try his luck the next year. However, he left New Mexico Prep after just four months.
Dorvilus seems to be getting a negative wrap for unfair reasons, viewed as washing out of prep school. These institutions are often used by kids that don’t qualify academically to show off their skills against other players that didn’t qualify academically, and the business can be shady as the players go in expecting to receive high marks and academic eligibility in exchange for their tuition (other players do enter to grayshirt and simply earn another opportunity at a scholarship, like Dorvilus did). As such, it’s not hard to believe Dorvilus when he states that the program wasn’t “on the up and up.”
Dorvilus eventually found himself at Independence Community College, right in K-State’s back yard. He just finished up his first season, and looked impressive in 2012. After initially receiving a redshirt, he played the final five games of the year and recorded 30 tackles, five tackles for loss, three sacks, and an interception. Extrapolating that over a 12 game season, and he has 72 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, seven sacks, and at least two interceptions.
So that’s been the journey of Richard Dorvilus. He will return to Independence for one more season, and plans on enrolling in a four-year institution in January 2014 to get an early jump on adjusting to the next level. With a 3.1 GPA, qualification will not be a concern. 247 Sports ranks him the #88 overall JUCO player and the #6 outside linebacker coming out of JUCO. However, the recruiting services are bearish about ranking kids without a large body of work, and Dorvilus doesn’t have a lot to show since leaving high school. He will be starting an entire season this year, which should continue upping his value.
Dorvilus has offers from Akron, Indiana, Rutgers, and Western Kentucky. He’s reportedly been in discussions with Wisconsin as well and is high on the Badgers. However, K-State has several factors working in its favor to keep him in Kansas. This is a kid that’s been bounced all over the country the past two years, and Manhattan would offer a sense of stability given its relative proximity to Independence. Dorvilus is also highly concerned with the development abilities of the next school he attends, stating, “the main thing I’m looking at is how they develop their players and the education I can get at the school.” That could portend good things when the kid singles out K-State for its track record in developing JUCO players and playing them. Additionally, the linebacking unit is set to lose some good talent next spring and he should have the opportunity to compete immediately for playing time.
There’s some video out there on Dorvilus, and he looks good in the limited action he saw. Hopefully this is another kid that came to Kansas for the JUCO experience that K-State can mine and squeeze a solid year or two out of.