Shawn Corker began to turn heads two years ago -- before his sophomore season at Cardinal Gibbons. As a two-way (receiver/defensive back) player, the young athlete was out to learn and improve on his potential. As spring practice gets started across the state, this gifted 6-1, 185-pounder is no longer a secret.

Coming off an impressive junior season, Corker, who was rated as the No. 7 Broward prospect by The Miami Herald before the start of spring, has been elevated to a position that many around him felt he would reach from the first day he stepped onto the football field.

From a player nobody had heard much about a year ago, when he had 33 catches and also played solid defense, Corker is now at the center of recruiting discussions. From Wake Forest to Duke, Miami, Mississippi, Oregon and West Virginia, this is a player who has watched his stock rise as quickly as anyone in the region.

Last Saturday, Corker joined some 325 other prospects at the Elite Scouting Services event at Cardinal Gibbons High. While there were a number of marquee players on hand, those in attendance wanted to see Corker for themselves.

''This has been great,'' Corker said. ``Everyone likes to be recognized for the hard work they put in, but this has really been impressive.''

For a player that was hardly a blip on the screen at the end of the 2008 season, Corker has been on radio shows, has been invited to showcase events and fielded offers from dozens of schools before spring practice began.

This is a talented athlete who combines good speed, tremendous athletic ability and a knack for making big plays -- on both sides of the ball. While Corker was a huge surprise to many a few months ago, Cardinal Gibbons offensive coordinator Matt DuBuc has known about Corker's talent all along.

DuBuc, a former Cardinal Gibbons standout who went to Texas Tech before a career in the Canadian Football League, was one of the first to recognize Corker's potential.

''Shawn is still a work in progress,'' DuBuc said with a smile. ``But when he puts it all together, he will be something very, very special. He is a smart kid who picks things up very quickly, and that's been one of the reasons why he has elevated his play the way he has.''

Corker had the opportunity to show his skills April 25 at the ESS event, which attracted players from Orlando, Jacksonville and Homestead.

With the NFL Draft serving as the perfect backdrop of where many of these young football players wanted to be some day, the first ever Elite Scouting Services Combine came to Fort Lauderdale with a unique approach of getting players exposure, parents involved and promoting the event and the players via 790 The Ticket, which held a two-hour broadcast with Bruce Warner and former Miami Hurricane Gerard Daphnis and included several of the events' players and coaches.

With cameras rolling, pens writing and eyes on every prospect in attendance, parents had the unique opportunity to be involved in every step of the combine, which began with a morning registration and culminated with football drills in the afternoon. In between, the athletes were tested and timed, and the parents were impressed.

''I have taken my two sons to Nike Camps and other events the past few years and I have never, ever felt as comfortable about anything as I was with this event,'' said single parent Sara Morley of Cooper City. ``We had the chance to walk around to every part of the field and see for ourselves what our kids were doing. If this is the combine of the future, count me in every year.''

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