FCIAC Football Blog » Khairi Fortt

Cerone Happy for Both Jones and Hocter

timparry — Sat, 08 May 2010 19:30:59 +0000

Westhill head football coach Dick Cerone has worked with both Kevin Jones and Bryan Hocter and said Saturday during halftime of the Stamford-Norwalk boys lacrosse game that he wishes both coaches success as they take their next football steps.

Jones has stepped down as Stamford’s head coach and has taken a job as a scout for a player agent. Hocter, a long-time Stamford assistant and most-recently the defensive coordinator, will be named Jones’s replacement Monday.

“I’m sorry to see Kevin go. He’s a good football coach, and I enjoyed working with him and having the opportunity to compete against him over at Westhill,” said Cerone, who officiated the Stamford-Norwalk lacrosse game. “The upside is I think Bryan Hocter is a real good football coach and should do well over here. I’m looking forward to remaining friends with him but also competing on a head-coach to head-coach level.”

Hocter was the school’s defensive line coach when Cerone was Stamford’s defensive coordinator.

“Of anybody in the whole world, I’m glad it was Bryan who got the job,” Cerone said.

Jones leaves the program just weeks after former Black Knight lineman Vladimir Ducasse was taken in the second round of the NFL Draft by the New York Jets and Alex Joseph, another former Stamford player, signed a free agent contract with the Green Bay Packers. At the same time, Khairi Fortt, who graduated early from Stamford, was playing as a freshman in Penn State’s spring game.

“It speaks well of Kevin and the job he does and it also speaks well of the caliber of football around here,” Cerone said. “We’ve got a run of pretty good football players going on down here. When you throw in the kids from King and the kids who are getting some looks as juniors from the area, I think it speaks well for the caliber of football from this area.”

TV Alert: NFL Draft Day Three and Penn State Spring Game

timparry — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 12:21:55 +0000

Wake up! Day 3 of the 2010 NFL Draft starts at 10 a.m. on NFL Network. Stamford’s Vladimir Ducasse went to the New York Jets last night, and today should be big for Nate Collins of King, Marcus Easley of Bunnell, and possibly Alex Joseph of Stamford.

Then at 2 p.m. on ESPN2, the Penn State Blue-White game. That’s where you can get your first glimpse of King’s Silas Redd and Stamford’s Khairi Fortt as Nittany Lions.

Football University Bringing Camp to Stamford

timparry — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 11:07:52 +0000

Football University is bringing its camp back to Connecticut for a second-straight year. The invite-only camp will be held June 18-21 at Westhill High School. This is the camp that helped both Stamford linebacker Khairi Fortt and King running back Silas Redd into the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

Players wishing to attend the camp need to register here with the registration code C2GF1. Players can be nominated to participate by a coach or a family member, but space is limited.

Fortt, Redd and BlueStreak Trainers in All-American Bowl

timparry — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:03:14 +0000

Today is Fairfield County high school football’s day in the national spotlight: Khairi Fortt and Silas Redd will play for the East team in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. The game will be broadcast live on NBC from the Alamodome in San Antonio starting at 1 p.m.

Fortt and Redd have a few faniliar faces on the sidelines with them: BlueStreak Sports Training’s Jay Clement and Bill Hayden are both performance training coaches for the East team.

Redd, by the way, was one of seven finalists for the U.S. Army Player of the Year Award, which went to Dillon Baxter of San Diego Mission Bay (he had 75 touchdowns this season… yes, season!).

Kevin Macari Takes Player of the Week Honors

timparry — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:16:09 +0000

New Canaan receiver Kevin Macari has been named Fairfield County Player of the Week for the eighth week of the high school football season.

Against Greenwich, Macari had seven catches for 166 yards and touchdowns of 16 and 46 yards. He also caught the game-winning two-point conversion in New Canaan’s 35-34 come-from-behind victory.

Other candidates for the Fairfield County Player of the Week award were:

Chris White, DT, New Canaan (12 tackles, 4 for a loss and two sacks)
Mike Lefflbine, QB, Greenwich (10-18-0-151 passing, one passing touchdown, 33 rushing yards, one rushing touchdown)
Bo McCarty, LB-TE, Ridgefield (11 tackles and a 9-yard reception on a key third down)
Turner Baty, QB, New Canaan (23-35-1-329 passing, three touchdown passes and a 2-point conversion pass)
Khairi Fortt, LB, Stamford (11 tackles, two sacks, 48-yard interception return for a touchdown)
Silas Redd, RB-LB, King (31 carries for 332 rushing yards, five touchdowns, five tackles and an interception)
Axel Lee, S, Central (10 solo tackles, 3 special teams tackles and a sack)

Candidates for the Fairfield County Player of the Week award are nominated either direct from their coaches, by media recommendations or by fans of the FCIAC Football Blog on Facebook.

The Fairfield County Player of the Week Award is sponsored by BlueStreak Sports Training and supported by the FCIAC Football Blog.

Khairi Fortt Headed to Penn State, Will Be Teammates With Silas Redd

timparry — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:36:15 +0000

Stamford linebacker Khairi Fortt will make it official in about three hours: He is heading to Penn State. There, he will join his friend Silas Redd, who announced he will play running back for the Nittany Lions a few months back.

Why Penn State? Dave Ruden explains in this post. Consider it a lesson in bad recruiting: The Georgia players who were assigned to showing him around campus when he made a visit last month ditched him. Heck, if the players didn’t want Fortt around, why should he commit to being their teammate?

I’m hoping to take my lunch break at Stamford High later today, when Fortt makes the official announcement.

Khairi Fortt Sits in Stamford’s Loss to McMahon

timparry — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 02:44:01 +0000

Stamford played a second-straight game without Blue Chip linebacker Khairi Fortt, who has a sprain ACL.

Fortt suited up tonight for Stamford in its 22-7 loss to McMahon, but was a game-time scratch. Fortt, who will announce his college choice and receive his jersey to play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl on Monday, was visibly hindered by the injury during the Black Knight’s warm-ups.

Here’s the post-game quote about Fortt from Stamford head coach Kevin Jones:

“We were going to let him play if he felt he was ready to go. He felt 100% better the last couple of days but we wanted to be cautious with it. It’s one of those injuries that can keep flaring up. We gave him a little warm up and decided it was better to not have him play. He should be 100% ready to go next week.”

Ruden: Khairi Fortt Decision Coming Monday

timparry — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:40:04 +0000

Dave Ruden reports today on his blog that Stamford linebacker Khairi Fortt will announce his college choice Monday at a school assembly. But the 1:15 ceremony isn’t just for that announcement: Fortt will also receive his jersey from the U.S. Army, as he has been selected to play in the All-American Bowl on Jan. 9. (No word yet if the tour is also stopping at King School to deliver a jersey to Silas Redd).

Meanwhile, Fortt has been cleared to play Friday against McMahon (and unless the Hearst Connecticut group changes its plans again, I will be there to cover that game for The Advocate).

Here, take our poll:

Questions Still Remain After One Week of Play

timparry — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:07:59 +0000

So do we have an FCIAC Champion yet? A New England Prep School champ? No, but we do still have a lot of questions that need answering after one week of the regular season.

What’s Khairi Fortt’s status? We’re going to have to wait and see. Even if Fortt can play a week after suffering an undetermined knee injury, his presence at linebacker isn’t going to help Stamford’s offense, which gained just 8 yards against a stubborn Alex Howard-led Ridgefield defense before the JV players entered the game, when they play Greenwich this week.

Changing of the SWC Guard? New Milford defeated Brookfield on opening night. Newtown had no problem with Bunnell… and Newtown is a very young bunch. Masuk and Pomperaug are looking like the teams to beat. Seems like old times, if you consider earlier this decade to be old times.

Willie Ouelette or Turner Baty? I heard a lot of good things about Baty from people that attended the game. He just needs to get to know his receivers a little better, and to take some zip off the short passes. But for now Ouelette is the starter in New Canaan.

Who’s booming those kicks? Staples senior Santiago Cuartas and Ridgefield senior Sean Cobelli both banged 40+ yard field goals in their teams’ wins. New Canaan junior Brianna Valente booted an extra point for the Rams, and may be the first girl to have scored in an FCIAC game.

Bassick bad again? I don’t think so. Some New Canaan coaches were praising the Lions, adding that the team just needs a little more cohesiveness on the lines. Looking at Bassick’s schedule, which doesn’t get easy this week with a game at Central, I think they have a very good chance (on paper) of finishing at least .500 this year.

Will anyone slow down King? Silas Redd put up some gaudy first-week numbers. 262 yards rushing on 10 carries. I get to see them this week against Hamden Hall. I’m sure it’s going to be another huge game.

Warde for real? Already asked that one here. Let’s see. The Mustangs play Wilcox Tech in Week 2 (not exactly world-beaters). Week 3 is Bassick. What was once a game people laughed at me for annually attending could be one of the best games this season.

Which Norwalk team will experience more growing pains? I’d have to say McMahon. Damien Vega is a sophomore staring at center, and he showed he could be a good QB in this league. But Norwalk has senior leadership in Andrew Krasnavage. Though Krasnavage has handed the ball off most of his two seasons as a starter, he’ll be a calming presence in the huddle.

Just how good is Ridgefield? Let’s see. Junior lineman Thomas Jordan has offers from Florida and Boston College, and he just started his junior year. The defense gave up 8 yards to Stamford. Highly touted quarterback-cornerback transfer DeVaghn Millington will only play defense. Drew Arcoleo is one of the fastest backs we’ve seen in a while. I think this could be Ridgefield’s year.

Want Khairi Fortt Updates? Check Overtime

timparry — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 13:35:55 +0000

What a roller coaster for Stamford blue chip linebacker Khairi Fortt… and the Stamford Black Knights football program, and up to 30 Division-I coaches. Khairi Fortt left the Ridgefield game on Thursday with a knee injury. Of course there was the word it could be his ACL, and the optimism that it was no big deal and something that could keep him out for a week.

Dave Ruden of The Advocate is all over the story, and keeping the football world updated on his blog. I’ll send the page views his way. Right now it looks like Fortt may be able to play this week against Greenwich, so maybe everyone held their collective breath for nothing.

Meanwhile, Fortt’s pants were an issue. I saw this happen while I was at Boyle Stadium for the first quarter: Fortt was told his pants were too short and that he had to change them. He was allowed to continue playing until a new pair of pants arrived though, so it was more a warning than a get-off-the-field situation.

Stamford head coach Kevin Jones tells it like it is, and here’s what he told Joe Ryan after the game.

Which school do you think Stamford linebacker Khairi Fortt will choose?
	Penn State
	Georgia
	North Carolina

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