The highly anticipated decision of Dee Hart is in: MICHIGAN! Demetrius Hart out of Orlando Dr. Phillips High School chose the Wolverines over offers from Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Florida State and Miami among others. Michigan fans learned of Demetriu
s Hart as a tiny scat-back who racked up 1,927 all purpose yards and 17 touchdowns as a sophomore at Dr. Phillips. Current Wolverine Ricardo Miller, former teammates with Hart at Dr. Phillips, pointed out the youngster to the Wolverine staff. The staff responded with a verbal offer and 3 years of intense recruiting. That recruiting paid off as Michigan has landed the play maker in the backfield this dynamic offense is missing. Hart is currently ranked the #9 overall running back (#64 overall) by scout.com and the #8 overall running back (#37 overall) by rivals.com. His talent as a running back is unquestioned however what makes Hart such a valuable player is his overall game. Through 34 games at Dr. Phillips Hart has hauled in 68 receptions for 941 yards and 8 touchdowns. He also is a special teams phenom racking up 1,399 returns yards and 7 touchdowns. Add those numbers to his 2,496 rushing yards and 36 touchdowns one can tell that Hart is a special talent.
The career of Demetrius Hart started with a bang as a freshmen. Hart was called up from the JV squad to participate in the varsity game against Cypress Creek. He responded with a 5 carry, 115 yard rushing performance and added a 47 yard kickoff return. His effort led Dr. Phillips to a 42-7 win and also earned Hart a spot on the varsity squad for the rest of the season. Five weeks later Hart scored his first touchdown on a kick return against West Orange. Du ring this game he also went over 100 all purpose yards for 
the second time in his young career. He finished his freshmen season with 230 rush yards on 22 attempts (10.5/attempt), 2 receptions for 26 yards (13/reception) and 9 kick returns for 247 yards (27.4/return) and a touchdown. Overall Hart produced 503 total yards and a touchdown as a 5’8" 155 pound freshmen, creating buzz for his sophomore season.
As a sophomore, Hart racked up 100-plus all purpose yards in 10 of his 12 games. He also added four game in which he broke 200 all purpose yards. In the third week of the season Hart had 4 catches for 107 yards and touchdown against to-be state champions Seminole High School. This performance gave Hart his first ever 100 yard receiving game but most importantly his efforts led to a 34-22 upset. A few weeks later against rival Olympia Hart had a then-career high 197 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns. His 262 total yards and 2 touchdowns led Dr. Phillips to another big win. At this point, Dee Hart was getting recognized by FBS schools such as Michigan, Duke and Colorado State. He also started to get his name in the Dr. Phillips record books as he broke the record for most receiving yards in a game against Boone. On only three catches, Hart put up 150 receiving yards and two touchdowns. His 870 rushing yards on 130 attempts (6.7/attempt), 36 catches for 547 yards (15.2/reception) and 4 touchdowns, 8 kick returns for 190 yards (24/return) and 13 punt returns for 320 yards (24.6/return) and a touchdown put him in the Dr. Phillips record books again. Hart totaled up 1,927 all purpose yards and 17 touchdowns making his season the best ever by a Dr. Phillip Panther.
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With teams focusing on Hart his junior season started off slow. In a week five showdown at Orlando Boone his junior season finally got rolling. He broke a Dr. Phillips single game record with 248 rushing yards (career high) and four touchdowns while adding 20 receiving yards, 42 kick return yards and a punt return for a 64 yard touchdown. By the end of th
e game, Hart racked up 374 total yards and 5 touchdowns, both Dr. Phillips records. With an overload of talent on this Dr. Phillips squad, the ball was spread around to their play makers. Hart only saw 137 total touches in the ten games he played in but still managed to put up 1,591 total yards and 20 touchdowns.
During the summer before his senior year, Hart and his Dr. Phillips teammates played in many 7 on 7 events. At this time Hart started to show the recruiting experts and other coaches his ability to catch the ball out of the back field, run routes and also saw his ability to take over a game whether it was from the backfield or lined up in the slot. Florida, Florida State, Auburn, Alabama and many more starting sending offers to Dee Hart. By the end of the summer, Hart had a top three of Alabama, Michigan and Auburn. Those three would be the biggest players in his recruitment heading into his senior year. His senior year started off slow in terms of rushing yards but he did add 5 touchdowns in his first two games. In a big rivalry game against Olympia Dee finally broke loose. He averaged 13.2 yards per rush in another career day as he added 224 rush yards, 68 receiving yards and 20 yards in returns. His 312 total yards was Harts second best game of his career. Dr. Phillips beat their rivals 49-0 off of 4 Dee Hart touchdowns. He backed up that game with a 168 yard rushing and 4 touchdown performance in a 52-0 win over Cypress Creek. Four games into his senior season Hart is one pace for his best season yet. He has 569 rushing yards on 70 rushes (8.1/carry) and 12 touchdowns. He also has added 10 receptions for 130 yards and a touchdown. He has 8 punt returns for 93 yards and added a 21 yard kick return.
In his career, Dee Hart has 8 100 yard rushing games (one shy of tying the Dr. Phillips career record). Two of those games he went over 200 yards. He also has 2 games in which he surpassed 100 yards receiving. Even more impressive, Hart has compiled 8 games where he totaled over 200 all purpose yards. Out those 8 games he has racked up 300-plus all purpose yards twice. Hart holds Dr. Phillips career records in rushing yards (2,496), rushing touchdowns (36), all purpose yards (4,834) and total touchdowns (51). These numbers will continue to grow as Dr. Phillips looks to make a run at a state championship.
| Top 5 All Purpose Yardage Games: | Top 5 Rushing Games: |
| 1. ‘09 Boone – 374 | 1. ‘09 Boone – 248 |
| 2. ‘10 Olympia – 312 | 2. ‘10 Olympia – 224 |
| 3. ‘08 Olympia – 262 | 3. ‘08 Olympia – 197 |
| 4. ‘09 Gateway – 216 | 4. ‘10 Cypress Creek – 168 |
| 5. ‘09 West Orange – 214 | 5. ‘08 Freedom – 142 |
| Top 5 Receiving Games: | Top 5 Touchdown Games (total): |
| 1. ‘08 Boone – 150 | 1. ‘09 Boone – 5 |
| 2. ‘08 Seminole – 107 | 2. ‘09 Cypress Creek – 4 |
| 3. ‘08 Niceville – 91 | 3. ‘09 Gateway – 4 |
| 4. ‘10 Olympia – 68 | 4. ‘10 Olympia – 4 |
| 5. ‘09 Cypress Creek – 51 |
5. ‘10 Cypress Creek – 4 |
