Quentin Urban: A Nose for the Ball and Eyes for the Endzone
Iowa Hawykeyes Take Early look at Urban
New Quentin Urban Junior Year Highlight Video
By Will Cummings
myHitNews.com
Class of 2011 football prospect Quentin Urban is steadily drawing the eyes of D1-A coaches in this region towards him. But according to his father, Tony Urban, it is the University of Iowa that seems to be showing the most interest right now. In fact Quentin recently visited the Hawkeye campus this past weekend.
“They [Iowa] seem to be showing a lot of interest in him but no offers, yet. I know Quentin really enjoyed his visit and really hit it off with their defensive coordinator,” Tony said.
The 5-foot-11, 190lb junior was a key contributor to the success of Millard South’s 13-0 2009 season and Class A State Championship: Counting rushing, receiving, interception and fumble returns, and kick returns, Urban amassed a total of 22 touchdowns in ’09; averaged 11.3 yards per carry; 13.1 yards per catch and led his team in tackles with 94. As a result of his performance, Urban garnered Lincoln Journal Star Super State First Team and Omaha World-Herald All-Nebraska First Team honors at LB.
In addition to being an outstanding football player, Urban is also a very good basketball player—currently averaging 13 points and 3.5 assist for the Patriots–and a very good pitcher and outfielder for Millard South’s baseball team.
Quentin Urban on Film
On film, Urban ranks high on my list of the best all-around Nebraska high school football players I’ve seen 
over the past few years: He demonstrates excellent balance, body control and a very high football IQ—meaning he has a great feel for the game. Urban definitely has an instinctive feel for space, distance, and time and he has the skill-set to instantaneously use all three to his advantage. Urban is a playmaker deluxe who can do it all on both sides of the ball and on special teams.
In my opinion, the one thing that separates Urban from most good Nebraska high school football players I’ve seen is his fluidity–Urban seems to move through space effortlessly.
Quentin Urban Up Close
I have not had the pleasure of meeting Quentin, but I have spoken to someone who has. Redzone Leadership Academy founder Yano Jones began working with Urban this past summer in some one-on-one training sessions and as a member of his Redzone group. Yano says that Quentin still manages to sneak in a training session or two at Redzone despite his hectic school and sports schedules.
“Quentin is a very quick and thickly-built player who has excellent footwork and body control– he is an aggressive competitive athlete. I’m excited about working with him. As good as he is now, he is one of those athletes that you can sense has a lot more room at the top.
I saw him play basketball; he can contort his body in all kind of ways, I know he hit 30 points in one game. I know that when I see a football player who can play basketball like that—I know he can be something special on the field. I just wish I had more time to work with him but he plays basketball and baseball too,” Yano said.
Yano also went on to express his gratitude for Millard South head coach Andy Means who over the years has allowed many of his players to train at Redzone:
“A lot of coaches are real protective of their players and discourage them from doing anything outside their programs, but Coach Means understands what I do and has even thanked me for my work in the community and for what I have done for some of his kids. It’s all about trying to prepare them for the next level [college] and in the process they become even better athletes for their high school teams.”
Urban’s Hurdles
Quentin Urban will have to jump three hurdles that have curtailed the dream of many Nebraska high school football prospects that sought D-1A football scholarships. Even though some schools realize his potential as an offensive player most programs are looking at Urban to play on defense as a safety, With that in mind, here are the hurdles he will have to overcome:
1. He plays high school ball in Nebraska–not a recruiting hotbed.
2. Height–listed 5-11, he is a little shy of ideal 6-1 to 6-3 height range for a D-1A college safety–but the good news is that you can find many 5-10 and 5-11 safeties starting or contributing for D-1A programs.
3. Speed–Listed at 4.59 in the 40, Urban looks at least that fast on film. And at his current listed speed–along with his quickness and high football IQ–he can play the position effectively at the D-1A level. However, the problem with that is he will be competing against prospects from around the country who are faster or who are just as fast but are 6-foot-2.
Urban can’t do anything about the first two hurdles, but he still has plenty of time to shave some tenths off his forty time. He already has a very nice 4.03 short shuttle time and a very strong 35″ vertical, so he possess the explosiveness to run a much faster forty–he just needs to learn how.
If Urban stays healthy, improves upon his speed, and performs well at camps he will have a good shot at a D-1A scholarship. Of course, there is always the possibility that some school could pull the trigger on him before camp time. He shows that much potential–right now.
Below check out Quentin Urban’s new junior season highlight video:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXHnxGurN34
January 23, 2010 @ 9:40 am
First I would like to applaud you on a very insightful analysis of Quentin Urban. I could not agree more Quentin possess the athletic ablitites of competing at the D1-A level espcially at Saftey. If he could get his speed down to 4.50 or lower he’d be a quality recruit hopefully as a Husker an either side of the ball. I’ve expressed to many High school coaches we don’t give our instate kids the opportunities they need to be recruited by Nebraska, the only D1-a college in the state. What I often hear is we lack competition and therefore lack of numbers to produce quality athletes for any D1-A level schools. I routinely return to your site as it’s my opinion you are the ONLY instate site which directly deals in the evaluation of Nebraska instate’s talent pool. Its very easy to find a site reporting on out of state recruits but not our own instate hard working athletes who aspire to attain the same goals and dream of playing for Big Red. Not only do you express opinions which I find honest and without bias, you provide film so the readers can assess that which you are speaking to. You are a credit to ALL fans, parent and student athletes in the state of Nebraska for providing us with such insight. I always look forward to your articles, post and videos. As a NE season ticket holder since the 80’s I have taken my son to almost all games. My son is now in middle school and has played pop warner the past two years. Two years from now he will be attending Millard North and playing the same postion as Urban (his highschool idol). The one thing I took from your assessment was SPEED! I note Redzone is a good resource to teach fundamental. However we lack real issue which is speed to get instate kids to play at the level they desire. Its seems as if ALL the big name colleges look for speed first. We need to emphasis this in our state to either our coaches or implement this outside of high school practice so our kids can get recruited and play ball in the state they grew up in. Sorry for the long drawn out post but again I repect your site the best as it gets to the issues which affects Nebraska Kids. Thank you and keep up the good work.
January 23, 2010 @ 2:34 pm
Good points huskerhighschoolfootballfan. High school fotball players in Nebraska need to work on speed. That seems to be the major deal breaker when it comes to getting d-1a offers in this state. Ya think these players looking to get offered would figure that out by now and get busy finding someone to help them do it.
I think Urban is one heck of a football player and like Will Cummings wrote he is d-1a offerable material right now. i watched the film and he looks faster than 4.59 or he just plays like it. Some players play faster than their listed 40 time and Urban looks like he does for sure. i think for him his height might be more of a factor. but getting his time down wouldn’t hurt. I know O’Hanlon was a walk-on but he is a 5-11 safety. Either way i bet a lot of colleges will take a long hard look at him. He just shows so much on film. If you saw the film did you see how high he jumped in pads to knock down those passes? Geeeeez! Sign him up NU!