Road to the NCAA: The Legacy of J. Wilson - jwilphl's Blog

jwilphl's Blog

Road to the NCAA: The Legacy of J. Wilson

Posted on July 13, 2011 at 12:04 AM.

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My 2011 Football Season, and my final season as a High School football player, is now underway. I wanted to blog about my experiences as I took the path towards the NCAA in hopes that maybe I'll inspire and teach those following me, as well as document my entire trip, as I'm sure it will be a memorable one.

A quick intro: I'm a senior at Upper Moreland High School in Willow Grove, PA. It sits about 14 miles North of Philadelphia. We play in the PIAA, District 1, Suburban One League, American Conference. We are also a AAA school, but the majority of our schedule this year will be against AAAA opponents. It is good practice if we can do well enough to make the playoffs.

The schedule rundown is as follows:

09/02: Methacton (AAAA)
09/09: @ Upper Perkiomen (AAA)
09/16: Phoenixville (AAA)
09/23: BYE
09/30: @ Plymouth-Whitemarsh (AAAA)
10/07: @ Norristown (AAAA)
10/14: Wissahickon (AAAA)
10/21: Upper Dublin (AAAA)
10/28: @ Cheltenham (AAAA)
11/04: Upper Merion (AAA)
11/11: @ Garnet Valley (AAAA)
11/24: @ Hatboro-Horsham (AAAA) - Annual Rivalry Game (Thanksgiving)

Methacton is our first opponent. They finished 4-7 last season and struggled defensively through the second half of the season, but this year they look to rebound with a senior-laden squad.

Our team, however, went 8-4 last year with a perfect record away from our home stadium. We look to improve on that record as we return the majority of our starters on offense and defense. The expectations this year are pretty high for our team, perhaps the highest since I can remember (having two older siblings graduate ahead of me when the football teams weren't quite as strong).

A bit more background on myself before I wrap up my first blog entry. I'm 6'3" and 231, playing a bit of a hybrid HB/FB position on offense, as well as MLB on the defensive side of the ball. Sometimes coach will shift me to defensive end, but coach prefers me to lead the defense from the middle.

As for my hopeful collegiate career, thus far it is early, but I have received a few packages and letters from various schools around the NCAA. I'm mostly looking to play Division I, but I am willing to look at other divisions--it never hurts to have a backup plan if things don't go your way.

I decided to narrow my initial choices down to three schools (the parents think I should tailor my focus rather than look too wide-eyed). It was tough to choose just three, but because I've grown up in Pennsylvania, most of my childhood revolved around Joe Paterno, and some childhood dreams of playing for him. As such, Penn State was my first selection of schools.

I have a friend who committed out of state to West Virginia, and I visited there over the summer to check out the campus. I really enjoyed myself, so they were my seemingly obvious second choice (and the commute is only about five hours).

My third choice was the toughest to decide. I thought over my decision based upon two key factors: academics and football "prestige." A quality education never hurts, particularly since my chances at the professional level aren't so good, so I looked at Stanford as a possible choice.

I also wanted to select a team that was in the best football conference of the country, the SEC. Undoubtedly that would offer me the best football experience I could ask for at the collegiate level. At the same time, I wanted a school in that conference that wasn't maybe quite as hardcore as the more well-known programs, such as Alabama and Florida. With that, I settled on South Carolina as my SEC school of choice. I would prefer in many ways to play as the underdog.

So I had to choose between South Carolina and Stanford before the season begins. It was difficult, but I decided to keep South Carolina in my top three, with hopes that Stanford may come knocking down the road.

To sum it up, my top three choices prior to the season are:
1. Penn State (Big Ten)
2. West Virginia (Big East)
3. South Carolina (SEC)

And with that, I look forward to our first game this Friday. I'll let you know how it goes and fill ya'll in on how I've done myself, as well as look forward to the next weekly match-up.

You can follow along at the following thread located under the Dynasty HQ forum: http://www.operationsports.com/forums/football-dynasties/493382-road-ncaa-legacy-j-wilson.html

It is best to live it up now, because as they say, it's never as bright outside of those Friday Night Lights.