West Virginia RB Jason Gwaltney (official thread)

[bobcat84]

Bill Greene? Who is he? Has he had any accurate predictions? Not to question him but I'll wait for Stripes to chime in as far as JG is concerned...this is the first I have heard anyone quote Greene...

[osugrad21]

Originally Posted by bobcat84

Bill Greene? Who is he? Has he had any accurate predictions? Not to question him but I'll wait for Stripes to chime in as far as JG is concerned...this is the first I have heard anyone quote Greene...

Bill Greene is not on the BN staff but contributes regularly...he is very reliable.

First youve heard? Apparently you have a short memory:

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</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <!-- / user info --> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="alt1"> <!-- message, attachments, sig --> <!-- message --> ok, I am confused..the "Bill Greene post", which is it from Hartline, OSU or UT?
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[ysubuck]

Has sneaky pete had his in home with Gwaltney yet?

IIRC, he was there a couple of weeks ago, but I am often wrong.

[slickman]

Don't know if this was posted before but I did notice JG sitting next to Jamario toward the end of the game and I thought this "might" be some signal. At least we know that Mr. O'neal was doing a little Buckeye recruiting.

[osugrad21]

Hijacking complete.

Please don't post anymore on JG and BSB here.

I'll give it its own thread in Open Discussion


EDIT: I was wrong earlier, Bill Greene is on the BN staff. He wil post an article on Mario Mannigham tomorrow...no he did not de-commit.

[Hubbard]

Gwaltney, 77 fellow senior stars discover tougher competition and adulation as they converge in Texas - NY Newsday

Gwaltney, 77 fellow senior stars discover tougher competition and adulation as they converge in Texas
BY CHUCK CULPEPPER
STAFF CORRESPONDENT

January 16, 2005
SAN ANTONIO - Deep in the intestines of Texas, all the bygone week, a 17-year-old Long Island sensation waded into a new world.

An eccentric world, a dreamy world, an impatient world, a real world. Or, as Jason Gwaltney's uncle, Alvin Toney, put it, "It's the world of the unexpected."

It's the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, a one-week taste of a coming long voyage for a North Babylon High senior who stampeded the large children of Long Island for 7,800 rushing yards and 135 touchdowns and also played linebacker, punter and placekick holder.

It reeled in Gwaltney and 77 other seniors of similar American town-pleasing dominance from Opa-Locka (Fla.) to Eureka (Calif.).

It teemed in a downtown Sheraton that by the weekend teemed with Nebraska fans hoping to meet and greet the players they'll eventually revere - and, in some cases, cuss - on Saturdays.

A bit eccentric, yes.

It had a four-hour "media day" during which an emcee paid homage to a Wednesday "Cheer Bowl" and noted its "special guest appearance" by the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.

It had the mayor of San Antonio addressing 17- and 18-year-old players while some, well, slept - on the palm of a hand or, in Gwaltney's case, a head cocked to the right.

"By the time I get to my room at 10:30 at night," said linebacker Ricardo McCoy of Washington, D.C., "I'm just ready to make one phone call and go to sleep."

Sponsors proliferated, and one held a drumstick-eating contest among the players. (Chicken drumsticks.) Six-man coaching staffs from teams East and West turned up at daily news briefings and said things like, "I think sometimes we're just here for the ride."

Rival scouting Internet sites jealously guarded interview access. Some parents - not including Gwaltney's 36-year-old father, Richard Berry - hovered near coaches just after practice, ready to swoop in and influence. People assessed and assessed: Who shone in practice?

"The great players have that edge about them," Chicago-based talent analyst Tom Lemming said of Gwaltney, whom he met once before. "It's an ego where they have to be the best. He's got that. I can tell the difference in his body type since only last year. He did a real good job building himself up."

At least eight player awards, named for Walter Payton and Pete Dawkins, among others, went out, including team of the year (Southlake Carroll, Texas), two-way player of the year (Brian Cushing, Park Ridge, N.J.), and a frankfurter company's player of the year (Ryan Perrilloux, Reserve, La.).

By kickoff at noon yesterday, four Army soldiers hanging on ropes lowered themselves to the field before kickoff. A NASCAR car and an Army truck reposed behind one end zone. At halftime, Darryl Worley sang his country song that asks if people have "forgotten" 9/11. A crowd of 30,305 showed up. Previously undecided players announced their college decisions on NBC, pulling insignia caps out of boxes and donning them in a newfound TV ritual.

Made-for-TV moments
NBC promos in the corner of the screen trumpeted which players would announce in upcoming moments. One player prefaced his announcement by telling a sideline reporter it would shock the country. Nyan Boateng of Brooklyn, who had missed all of his senior season with a broken ankle, announced. (Florida.) Gwaltney will wait to announce, with Feb. 2 the national signing day, a virtual holiday for many fans.

In a setting implausible a generation ago, he stood at practice alongside standouts such as - at one point - a Tennessee-bound quarterback from Waynesville, N.C., an Ohio State-bound offensive lineman from suburban Cleveland, a Virginia Tech-bound running back from Hampton, Va., an Illinois-bound running back from Skokie, Ill., an Oklahoma-bound receiver from Conway, S.C., an undecided offensive lineman from Riverdale, Ga., and a quarterback from upstate New York who chose to play basketball at Duke out of fondness for coach Mike Krzyzewski.

"I made a friend out of Jason this week," said that quarterback, Greg Paulus. "He's funny."

"He's a cool kid, first of all," McCoy said.

"That's my boy," said receiver Patrick Turner of Nashville, Tenn.

"There's about 950,000 football players in America," Gwaltney said."To be one of 78 ..." It's dreamy.

After all, not many parents raise children on Long Island, then wind up flying until their knees hurt (the father's) to spend a week watching them practice for five hours a day in a large Texas high school stadium ... on a scrubby four-lane boulevard south of San Antonio . . . beyond dilapidated motels . . . and outdoor vendors selling whatnot . . . and an Omega Church across the boulevard from a ramshackle strip club marked BYOB ... and Wal-Mart ... and a sign marked "McAllen 234."
The real, real Texas.

"When I sit up there, I'm just amazed that it's all happening, that it's all taking place," Berry said. "You see him out there now with all the best talent across the country and you're just amazed."

Pause.

"It's thrilling."

"We don't take it for granted," Toney said. "We're still in awe."

So for hours, they'd sit in the empty stands, three men from Long Island, Berry and two uncles, the aforementioned Toney plus Matt Angevine. All three Long Island-raised men took vacation from jobs - Berry from New York, Toney from Georgia, Angevine from Pennsylvania. They sat in empty stands, one of four apparent families that spent the whole week here, scattered distantly about.

Avowed football people, the Long Island trio would analyze blocks, runs, schemes. "Nice block, Jason!" Angevine might holler. "Like that block, Jason!" Five hours and, "It's too short," Toney said. Feels "like an hour."

As practice ended, Toney, surely one of the world's most hilarious people, did a play-by-play of that bane of American sports, two players' fathers homing in on the field toward two coaches to lend advice.

"Here they come . . . 10 yards away . . . 5 yards away . . ."

They also reminisced.

"It's funny," Berry said. "I've been thinking about this lately. I remember I would see the kids playing football out on the street, and back when Jason was out there playing football, you could just see how he would move among the kids, that his ability was more than the other kids that were around him."

"But he came a long way," Toney said. "The kid came a long way. He respects people now. When he was growing up, he was not knowing the way life was going. And he respects every man now. Now you don't have to tell Jason twice to do something."

And it's impatient, the new world.

In only five years of existence, the All-American Bowl has become a centralized hornet's nest for the spread-out annual national apoplexy over which hotshot will attend which university.

Recruiting by peers
Players not only announce here, they lobby each other. Parents of players lobby parents of other players. It's legend that University of Florida quarterback Chris Leak swayed a gaggle of other prospects to join him at Gainesville during the 2003 week, and it's written that Southern California recruits Jeff Byers and Keith Rivers lobbied fellow high school seniors heavily in 2004.

Come 2005, on Monday of the week, Gwaltney turned up with a USC button upon his U.S. Army No. 14 jersey. On Tuesday, he wore a cardinal-and-gold "Fight On" bracelet. He said to read nothing into it and identified the culprit as Mark Sanchez, a Mission Viejo, Calif., quarterback headed to USC, hoping to extend that near-dynasty.

"It's all a big joke," Sanchez said. "You can hit 'em up in the elevator, jumping around. It's just such a great time to be together. I'm giving him the hard sell, talking about great things. There's no accusations going on at SC, so it's the perfect place to be."

There's a chance Sanchez's words might've connoted the accusations in fact going on at Ohio State, which joins West Virginia among Gwaltney's final options.
"We've talked on the phone like you can't imagine," the Californian said. "I call him all the time."

The phone.

"They call the house," Berry said. "They call the phone. But that's not the stressful part of it. Just the buildup and the wait for signing day, I guess. At times, seeing in Jason's face, seeing that he's getting stressed out by what was going on."

As Gwaltney tries to decide, he visualizes. The other day, he said, he pictured former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett scoring the winning touchdown in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl against Miami.

"I pictured how I would look wearing the jersey," Gwaltney said of his premeditated daydream. So he pictured Clarett, "but it was me. I got up. The crowd went wild."
Read nothing into that, either, he said.

In this eerie new world, he's in that phase spent fielding the college question at least 10 times per day. "McDonald's and Applebee's" are among places strangers have approached, he said.

"And I was in Georgia," Toney said, "and I saw a guy in the airport. I didn't even know who he was. I thought, What's he doing? I'm like, I'm in the state of Georgia! I didn't know he knew me," and he asked where Jason would go to college. I thought he was following me," Toney continued. "I kept my eyes on him."
It's real, this new world, extremely so.

So Gwaltney brought a durable curiosity with him to San Antonio, one that outlasted even 135 touchdowns and 1,000 high school hosannas. How would he feel among by far the best competition he - or any other All-American, for that matter - had encountered?

"How quick is the game?" he said. "How good do you have to get? You expect so much" of the new level "that it kind of benefits you. You escalate. You want to go over and above that marker."

For four months and change, he has labored at Dolphin Gym in Amityville with 31-year-old trainer Dennis Grice Jr. Dial up Grice, and he'll tell you about the hill training and the daunting Swiss ball, not to mention the white fast-twitch muscles, the transverse abdominals and the external obliques - in summary, the quest to improve Jason's "core" to yield "that explosion."

On a 1-10 scale of eagerness to perform life's harrowing task of improving the body, "He's a 50," Grice said.

"I'm watching him," Grice said, "and looking at him, and I'm thinking there's not too many who are going to be better and he was still, like, I need to get better, I need to get better. He was just really humble."

"It's not having everything," Gwaltney said. "I didn't come from the best background."

"If you say blue," Toney said, "he'll prove to you that it's black. I used to tell him Barry Baker" - another North Babylon sensation - "was a better football player than you. Call me when you get 77 touchdowns."

As Toney said that, Gwaltney walked by and said, "I called you a couple of times, eh?"

So he marshaled that approach toward San Antonio. He dialed up Kenny Lucas of Washington, D.C., the East coach, who said: "He just wanted to make sure that I knew he was a running back. Because I think in some listings, he was listed as a linebacker."

Before arrival, he had to finish the absent week's homework: two psychology tests, some essays, some economics. The psychology: "On sleep-walking," he said. The English: "'Lord of the Flies.'"

Then he flew to Texas on Sunday. His host - each player has one - met him at the airport. Gwaltney said, "Sometimes you can't believe you're here." He entered the city and went to practice Monday.

Curiosity quelled. "The game was definitely a lot faster," he said. "But it wasn't too quick. I had worked so much harder. Then I got here and I'd worked hard and ..."
About 20 minutes into drills alongside the All-Americans, he thought . . . "Dag, I can do this."

No big plans for March 9 just yet, he said. On that day, he'll turn 18.

See more photos of Jason Gwaltney in yesterday's high school football All-American Bowl at the Alamodome at www.newsday.com/sports.
BY CHUCK CULPEPPER
STAFF CORRESPONDENT

SAN ANTONIO - Playing in five of the East's 13 futile offensive series yesterday, North Babylon High running back Jason Gwaltney gained 35 yards on eight carries in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl before a closing 17-yard loss-andfumble left him at nine for 18.
By East team standards, he flourished.

The East offense barely budged against the fast West defense - 10 first downs, 14 net rushing yards, 93 total yards - in the fifth annual game inviting 78 national all-stars. The West won, 35-3, at the Alamodome.

"If it was up to us, we'd have run straight at 'em and played it like a real football game," Gwaltney said. "But it's not like we're playing for a championship. We're just out there to have fun."

Run-wise, he referred specifically to a third-quarter sequence in which Gwaltney, operating next to upstate New York quarterback Greg Paulus in the East's one-back, shotgun formation, quickly reeled off gains of 10 and 4 yards and almost dragged two tacklers to a first down on fourth-and-1.

Among the East's three main running backs, he had the two longest runs from scrimmage (10 and 8 yards). He hoped his stock rose, given his quickness plus other talents demonstrated during spirited special-teams chores.

"I didn't get the touches I'll get in college," he said, "but I felt I proved something. I can run, tackle, block. I ran a couple of big kids over, showed I could pass-block."
He had a 6-yard reception, and on kickoff-return defense, he made a tackle plus a flattening of a West player that made the crowd take notice.

Having felt comfortable amid game speed ratcheted upward from high school pace, he called his week away from home "definitely" a success and said his next big day will come Wednesday.

That's when he'll announce his college destination - West Virginia, Southern California or Ohio State.

"On ESPN," he said.

In a memorable sidelight, the game's eventual Most Valuable Player, receiver DeSean Jackson of Long Beach, Calif., lent the 30,305 spectators a conversation piece - with a gaffe.

After catching a first-quarter pass from Jim Barnes and streaking down the left sideline to make it a 52-yarder, Jackson, unthreatened, attempted to somersault into the end zone and left the football inadvertently downed at the 1-yard line. He got a 15-yard unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty, but the West scored on the next play. Jackson caught seven passes for 141 yards and threw a 45-yard touchdown pass to quarterback Ryan Perrilloux of Reserve, La.



Jason's (Gwaltney) yards aren't gimmes - NY Newsday

Jason's yards aren't gimmes
By Chuck Culpepper
STAFF CORRESPONDENT

January 16, 2005
SAN ANTONIO - Playing in five of the East's 13 futile offensive series yesterday, North Babylon High running back Jason Gwaltney gained 35 yards on eight carries in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl before a closing 17-yard loss-andfumble left him at nine for 18.
By East team standards, he flourished.

The East offense barely budged against the fast West defense - 10 first downs, 14 net rushing yards, 93 total yards - in the fifth annual game inviting 78 national allstars. The West won, 35-3, at the Alamodome.

"If it was up to us, we'd have run straight at 'em and played it like a real football game," Gwaltney said. "But it's not like we're playing for a championship. We're just out there to have fun."

Run-wise, he referred specifically to a third-quarter sequence in which Gwaltney, operating next to upstate New York quarterback Greg Paulus in the East's one-back, shotgun formation, quickly reeled off gains of 10 and 4 yards and almost dragged two tacklers to a first down on fourth-and-1.

Among the East's three main running backs, he had the two longest runs from scrimmage (10 and 8 yards). He hoped his stock rose, given his quickness plus other talents demonstrated during spirited specialteams chores.

"I didn't get the touches I'll get in college," he said, "but I felt I proved something. I can run, tackle, block. I ran a couple of big kids over, showed I could pass-block.

" He had a 6-yard reception, and on kickoff-return defense, he made a tackle plus a flattening of a West player that made the crowd take notice.

Having felt comfortable amid game speed ratcheted upward from high school pace, he called his week away from home "definitely" a success and said his next big day will come Wednesday.

That's when he'll announce his college destination - West Virginia, Southern California or Ohio State.

"On ESPN," he said. In a memorable sidelight, the game's eventual Most Valuable Player, receiver DeSean Jackson of Long Beach, Calif., lent the 30,305 spectators a conversation piece - with a gaffe.

After catching a first-quarter pass from Jim Barnes and streaking down the left sideline to make it a 52-yarder, Jackson, unthreatened, attempted to somersault into the end zone and left the football inadvertently downed at the 1-yard line. He got a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, but the West scored on the next play. Jackson caught seven passes for 141 yards and threw a 45-yard touchdown pass to quarterback Ryan Perrilloux of Reserve, La.

[jimotis4heisman]

As Gwaltney tries to decide, he visualizes. The other day, he said, he pictured former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett scoring the winning touchdown in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl against Miami.

"I pictured how I would look wearing the jersey," Gwaltney said of his premeditated daydream. So he pictured Clarett, "but it was me. I got up. The crowd went wild."
Read nothing into that, either, he said.

me too

I'm giving him the hard sell, talking about great things. There's no accusations going on at SC, so it's the perfect place to be."

There's a chance Sanchez's words might've connoted the accusations in fact going on at Ohio State,

sanchez showed a ton of class and seemed to be a great teammate during the game...seems shades of moeller here. one thing that kills me is negative recruiting, if your program is so great tell them, dont use negativity

[jwinslow]

“I’m making that announcement on Wednesday,” said Gwaltney after the game on Saturday. “There was no reason that I didn’t, I know where I’m going to school.”

I really like this quote. If indeed Gwaltney did tell HH the truth, this bodes well. But as everyone else has said, this is is a wild card that can change his mind as often as the gooners change from top team to overrated.

“I go on Bucknuts.com and I see the fans posting their little messages, so I hope that today I proved some of the fans wrong on what they said about me,” Gwaltney said. “But I still don’t have a bad vibe with Ohio State and I really like Ohio State a lot and I want to do big things wherever I go.”

Could I hate $nutz more? no. I like the biggest pansy in NFL history Moss more than that place.

[Lazlo]

the qoute from the article that got me mentioned him saying he was doin a little recruiting down there and when asked how that went said that he got in couple of players ears and got them to go to the school he will announce for. So there are people who know what he's going to say on ESPN. I sure wish i was one of them, Wednesday is too far away. I know there are a lot of people who are going to say i won't believe it until the NLOI is signed, but i think he'll stick with this commitment.

[Buck You]

Other than it being on ESPN, I am now looking forward to Wednesday, for better or worse.

[Oh8ch]

the qoute from the article that got me mentioned him saying he was doin a little recruiting down there and when asked how that went said that he got in couple of players ears and got them to go to the school he will announce for.

If Gwaltney said that I can't read it anyway but negative. What player who hadn't decided prior to the AA game is now heading to OSU? I can't think of a single candidate who fits that category.

[ysubuck]

He certainly isn't going to be the featured player or back on USC's team anytime soon.

USC is the easy choice, though.

Besides, does anyone really think that ESPN would allow a blue chip running back to announce for Ohio State? My God, they might actually say something good about the university.

[BuckeyeNation27]

When's the last time a big time recruit held a press conference on ESPN and they announced for Ohio State? Just doesn't seem to happen for the Buckeyes.

we dont go after the recruits that do that. players who high step from the 20....or that try to do a flip into the endzone and fall short .....are the ones that go to USC, miami, fsu.....

im with oh8ch on this one tho. if that did come out of his mouth then i cant see it as a positive. best of luck to him wherever he goes.

[GoofyBuckeye]

If I had to bet a few chickens I'd say Gwaltney is gonna go to USC. It just all seems to point in that direction.

I'm not keeping my hopes up on this guy.

[CleveBucks]

It sure does sound like Jason is headed to SC. The comment about getting a couple guys to commit to his school does not sound encouraging at all.

Then again, it is odd that he would make an appearance on the BSB premium message board last night. Why bother if you already know you're going to pick SC?

Bucknuts is a cancer to OSU recruiting. Any recruit that stops by that place would probably be turned off. It's too bad Jason hasn't made it over here.