Post by cviller on Aug 21, 2007 10:48:54 GMT -5
By Mike Casazza
Daily Mail sportswriter
MORGANTOWN -- This is the space for editorializing, but it isn't much of an opinion.
Josh Jenkins is the best high school football player in the state.
In fact, it's probably not even really close this year.
The Parkersburg High senior verbally committed to West Virginia University for the Class of 2008, where he is considered a top 100 prospect nationally.
Such schools as Ohio State, Florida, Florida State, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech and Alabama expressed their agreement by offering scholarships.
This is not designed to dispute his credentials. They're legitimate and he'll pave the way for the Big Reds possibly to defend the Class AAA title they won last year, a quest that begins Friday at home against Cabell Midland.
Maybe, though, there is another award out there. Not the Hunt Award, given annually to the best lineman. You can etch Jenkins' name on that thing yesterday.
What about the Kennedy Award?
Could an offensive lineman win the prize that goes to ... ahem, the best high school player in the state?
"It's supposed to go to the best player, but that's the toughest position to do it," said WVU wide receiver Nate Sowers, who won it as Martinsburg High's star quarterback in 2005. "But it's not out of the question."
Sowers is correct in both regards. A lineman never has won the Kennedy since it was first presented in 1947. Yet, 60 years later, it's possible.
"You'd have to be a dominant force," Sowers said.
Chad Snodgrass, a freshman lineman for the Mountaineers, was an All-State lineman for Nitro High and twice was a finalist for the Hunt. The Kennedy, though, was never a possibility.
It takes something special, something Snodgrass defined as "extreme perfection," which ought to say just how tough this will be for Jenkins.
"Perfect technique," Snodgrass said. "Never miss a block. Never give up a sack on a pass. Always get downfield. Always hustle. Play both sides of the ball and have an outstanding season on both sides of the ball."
Snodgrass touches on the importance of superlatives. Jenkins will have to be a force on offense and defense, a difference-maker that leaves no doubt about his value.
"You'd have to make the opponent game-plan around you specifically," Snodgrass said.
Because this is a sport obsessed with statistics and because his is a position without many, Jenkins will need his teammates to produce. If nothing else, at least that will show Jenkins is hard at work.
"If guys behind him put up big numbers, then he's one of the reasons for that," Sowers said. "Then, you have to give credit where credit is due."
Mostly, though, it is about Jenkins and just how popular he can be at an anonymous position among the state's voting media.
He has a head start because of his national profile and the fact he has verbally committed to the Mountaineers.
Perhaps, Parkersburg Coach Bernie Buttrey can put a new spin on the tackle-eligible play and find a way to free his guard for a touchdown reception.
Maybe a few William "The Fridge" Perry short touchdown runs would help.
Anything to get him over the top because what he lacks in numbers he must make up for in profile.
"Popularity does go into it," Sowers said. "Popularity goes into anything. You see actors becoming governors, so with anything like that popularity plays a pretty big role."