06-18-2004, 03:57 PM
|
 |
Head Coach
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 10,815
Points: 499,678.65
Bank: 0.00
Total Points: 499,678.65
|
|
http://www.1460thefan.com/tf.php?sto...618-D1-03.html
Quote:
Kicker a quick study in career opportunities
Friday, June 18, 2004
Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
DORAL CHENOWETH III | DISPATCH
Johnathan Skeete will handle the kicking and punting for the South in the Grange Insurance Ohio All-Star Classic.
When Johnathan Skeete finished at Gahanna High School a couple of weeks ago, he wasn’t the typical graduate headed for college. He had options.
His 3.7 grade-point average and stellar scores on the standard pre-enrollment tests — a 30 on the ACT, a 1320 on the SAT — put him in line for numerous academic scholarships. Meanwhile, his right kicking leg, tempered by playing soccer since age 4, had proven to be a capable football weapon in his first full season of the sport his senior year.
His parents, Norma and Jerome Richards, were pleased that their son had put himself in the situation of being able to pick and choose his future.
"He was prepared for an academic full ride, which he received and decided not to take from Ohio State," Norma Richards said. "And he was good enough to receive a full athletic scholarship from Ohio State, which he has accepted.
"He really could have played football anywhere, eventually. It’s just that he was a late bloomer."
That’s why he was a late addition to the OSU incoming class of 2004. So late that OSU coach Jim Tressel said yesterday he still was not allowed to talk about Skeete, who just this week signed pre-enrollment papers.
Skeete was going to pursue his football career at Northwestern, where he had earned $29,000 in academic scholarships for the coming year. But persistent nagging by Gahanna resident and youth football coach Vince Marrow — Maurice Clarett’s cousin — got Ohio State to take another look at Skeete.
"This kid is a diamond in the rough," Marrow said. "He’s got an extremely strong leg. Plus he’s a wrestler, so you know he’s tough. I predict he will be the heir apparent to Mike Nugent, who will be gone after this season."
Or as Skeete said, "Mr. Marrow watched me kick, and he thought I should be one of their top recruits. It just took them a while to agree with him."
Fans will get the chance to make their own assessment Saturday night in Crew Stadium, when Skeete handles the kicking and punting duties for the South in the Grange Insurance Ohio All-Star Classic.
Skeete sees himself as a kicker more than a punter at this point, but he said he will keep an open mind headed into preseason camp in August. Josh Huston is the No. 1 punter on the OSU depth chart, but his listed backup A.J. Trapasso, a freshman, probably is facing at least a two-game suspension because of his two arrests for underage drinking.
"I know I will start out doing both in camp, and by the time the season starts I expect to have decided which one I’m going to do the rest of this year," Skeete said.
There’s no doubt about his leg strength. Last year he nailed three kickoffs through the uprights — that’s 70 yards on the fly, not counting the drop zone beyond.
Even having to kick from 5 yards farther back in college, that puts him well into range of the end zone.
"The majority of my kickoffs went out of the end zone last year, and I’m trying to bring that to college," Skeete said.
That was going to be Northwestern.
"But I’ve been interested in Ohio State for a long time, and back in January they told me to walk on," Skeete said. "But I thought it would be a better deal for me to walk on at Northwestern, because if I walked on at Ohio State, I wouldn’t have been able to go to camp.
"Then Ohio State called me two weeks ago and they told me they were interested in bringing me to camp and that they wanted to give me a scholarship. I couldn’t be happier."
|
Last edited by Buckskin86; 06-18-2004 at 05:06 PM.
Reason: used the wrong link-changed to the free link
|
Linear Mode
