For the last few years, it hasn’t been as prevalent.
This year, though, the rumblings of transfers have crept back into high school football in Lorain County. Internet discussion boards have brought the topic up, one of which centers around a few Elyria players heading to Oberlin.
Who is it and why? We should find out when practices officially begin.
Earlier this week, Morgan Jones mentioned he also heard of a few players transferring to Oberlin for football, but the big new face in Oberlin that we know about isn’t from Elyria. He’s Hugh Thornton, who moved to the area from Idaho.
The 6-foot-5 Thornton was a state champion at 285 pounds last year in wrestling at Meridian Mountain View, and Oberlin basketball coach Kurt Russell was working him out last spring after school.
As for the local movers and shakers, this is something we haven’t seen much of since OHSAA rules tightened up and included a rule that forces transfers to sit out a year. Of course, there’s ways around that, such as moving into the district or getting the former school’s permission to play. An example of that last season was Admiral King’s Antwaun Carlton playing at Clearview.
Clearview typically received transfers from schools like Admiral King and Southview because, frankly, Clearview is practically a Lorain school. Oberlin once had an influx of Elyria talent when Elyria West closed in 1996. Since then, the school has lost more players than it has gained, whether it was via open enrollment or to Elyria Catholic.
This could be just a coincidence, but Oberlin coach Dave McFarland was already building momentum with the players in school who were attending weight-lifting sessions.