I hate when OC prep studs are forced to finish their athletic careers out of state.

Take for example Van Jefferson and Yante Maten.

Jefferson (6-foot-3 1/2, 185 pounds) broke on to the DI college football recruiting radar big-time last fall as a sophomore, earning all-Catholic League honors as a big-play wide receiver and dangerous red zone threat with Orchard Lake St. Mary's, helping lead the Eaglets to a CHSL crown and an appearance in the state finals.

Son of former NFL wide out and Detroit Lions assistant coach Shawn Jefferson, Van is headed to Tennessee alongside his pops – hired by the Tennessee Titans as their receivers coach back in the winter – for the final two years of his high school pigskin. The younger (cue ESPN's Chris Berman) "Mr. Moving on Up" has continued burning his way up recruiting charts this summer, already offered scholarships by BCS schools Penn State and the University of Tennessee.  

Maten, the county's top big fella on the boys basketball floor in 2013 with the two-time defending league and district champion Bloomfield Hills Lahser Knights (now the BH Blackhawks), announced earlier this month that he is leaving the state for his senior year.

Here's a pair of additional recent move-aways that robbed the area of some primetime prep talent:

DeMarquis Johnson – This 6-foot-6 sniper on the hardwood starred as a sophomore at Auburn Hills Avondale, before closing out his prep hoop career in Arizona, where he snatched a DI scholarship from Washington State. Johnson was in the same class (2011) as Ray Tillman (Eastern Michigan for football) and Tony Harris (Lake Superior), two of the most prolific athletes in Yellow Jackets' history. Can you imagine how good the 'Jackets baller crew would have been had Johnson stayed with Tillman and Harris for the remainder of his time in high school?

Cody Campbell – A two-sport thoroughbred at Lake Orion as a freshman and sophomore for the Dragons football and baseball programs in 2010 and 2011, Campbell moved with his family to Chicago to finish high school. Making a seamless transition to into the Greater Chicagoland prep scene, the righty hurler on the diamond helped spark his Naperville Central club into the state quarterfinals as a junior in 2012. On his way to pitch in the Big 10 at Minnesota, Campbell's prep squad went 24-7 this spring, capturing league and district and titles. As a sophomore at Lake Orion, he started on the line for the Dragons state championship football team in 2010. Think of the Dragons pitching staff the last two springs if he would have stayed in the 'D'……..Deeg, Schaenzer, Bays, Campbell? Straight Sicknes!!