New Castle's Malik Hooker declined offers from Michigan and Pitt to sign with Ohio State. Tiffany Wolfe
August 30, 2013
High School Football: Before Buckeyes come calling, Hooker looks to boost ’Canes
Joe Sager
New Castle News
NEW CASTLE — Talk about a whirlwind year.
Just 12 months ago, Malik Hooker was an unknown junior suiting up in a New Castle High football uniform for the first time. Today, his unlikely, meteoric rise finds him, not only as one of the state’s premier prospects, but perhaps one of the top in the nation.
Hooker woke up following last football season to find schools like Pitt, Michigan and Penn State and Ohio State beating down his door. He brought the intense recruiting process to an end in July when he gave a verbal commitment to play for the Buckeyes and coach Urban Meyer.
Now, the 6-foot-3, 190-pounder is focused on enjoying his final season with the Red Hurricane. And he wants to help the team make the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs after it fell short of the postseason by one game last year.
“Going into my senior year, I feel very good about myself and my team also. We put a lot of hard work in after what happened last season. That pushed us every day to go harder and harder, so I feel very good,” he said. “Last year, we were all young guys. We know we definitely can do it.”
TRYING OUT
Hooker, a rising basketball star, played football in junior high. Once he got to the high school level, he just decided to focus on hoops. It’s tough to criticize that choice as he helped New Castle go 56-2 and win WPIAL championships the past two seasons. This winter, he will be among the WPIAL’s top players again.
After years of “friendly” urging from his classmates and fellow basketball teammates Drew Allen, Stew Allen, Jake McPhatter and Levar Ware, among others, he finally gave in and decided to play football last season. It turned out to be one of the biggest decisions he’s made in his young life.
“Every day they’d just bug me over and over to play and I thought, ‘Why not?’ I was kind of nervous because I hadn’t been on the field in so long,” Hooker said. “After the first game, I thought, ‘Maybe I can get used to doing this?’ I am always going to love basketball. It has always been my first love. But, football is kind of the thing for me right now. It’s making my future right now.”
New Castle head coach Joe Cowart always tried to convince Hooker to give football a try.
“I am like that with a lot of kids that are walking our hallways,” he said. “I have conversations all the time about trying to get guys to get here and put the work in. It’s easy to say they’ll come do it, but to put in the work and being a taskmaster and getting better at your technique and all those things, Malik has done that. He’s put the work in to correspond to all the ability he has.”
Hooker did not shatter any records with his statistics. He had 13 catches for 333 yards and carried the ball 27 times for 257 yards. However, it was his display of athleticism, agility and breakaway speed that sent recruiters to New Castle in droves.
“Malik Hooker has played nine varsity football games. He’s signed a letter of intent to play at Ohio State, which is one of the best programs in the country. There’s no accident to that. They don’t swing and miss at Ohio State,” Cowart said. “He received so much attention in the spring that there were times where I wondered if maybe some of these coaches were wrong. But his summer and his winter and all the work he has put in have verified all the attention he’s received. He’s proven they were correct. He’s been able to be humble and he continues to get better at his craft.”
Hooker admits he was surprised to realize his potential in football.
“I was just another original kid playing football. I didn’t know too much,” he said. “It’s actually crazy, to be honest. There are not a lot of kids who play football for a year and get a lot of the big-time offers I got. It makes me feel real good going to Ohio State. They went undefeated last year. I am coming from a little city like New Castle and going to a program where they compete for championships year in and year out. It’s just a great thing. I just picked what I thought was best for me and my family.”
cont...
