OK Brooks Dad, good insight on the prep scene, especially the good stuff on Jordan Johnson.
Be sure to to pick up Wednesday’s Eagle-Tribune for a David willis piece on JJ.
OK, so Brooks dad asked about skill players coming out of the region. I did a little homework. I’m not going back into the 50s when guys like Haverhill’s Don White played quarterback at Notre Dame and Punchard High’s (Andover) Century Sid Watson played for the Steelers.
And I can’t go into guys that phillips has had like Tony Pittman, a corner at Penn State, that doesn’t come from the area.
PA has had more than a few talented kids come in from around the country, but just home grown skill kids here, here we go.
Andover’s Jerry Stabile starred at Andover High in the pre-Flutie days. They weren’t a top 25 team, but he did seal a giant upset of Stanford by picking off a John Elway pass.
Dan Welsh of Andover was a class of 1978 AHS quarterback who went on to play at Duke.
At BC, during the post-Flutie days, Methuen’s Jeff Baker started in the defensive backfield.
Of course, Pinkerton had Ryan Mihalko, the most physical high school running back I have ever seen from this area, went on to play fullback of Notre Dame and actually had a couple of big blocked punts in special teams.
Tivo Concepcion went to BC and played four years there, mostly on the practice squad.
St. John’s Prep’s Rob Konrad of North Andover was the most impressive athletic specimen I’ve ever seen in athletics around here. He started four years at Syracuse when they were a top 10-20 program with Donovan McNabb and went on to a solid career with the Miami Dolphins. Rob also happens to be one of the best guys you’ll ever meet.
More recently, Warren Wilson of Lawrence and New Hampton Prep, accepted a scholarship to BC and now is a reserve at UMass.
And of course Brendan Smith of Andover and New Hampton Prep is a second-year captain as a safety at Northwestern right now, with NFL aspirations.
Note: I have left off a bunch of the linemen, remember we’ve had Londonderry’s Jason Ball, Salem’s Wayne Lucier (SJP), North Andover’s Zak DeOssie (PA) and plenty of other great ones.
So yeah, it’s a tad thin.
Considering a town like Humble, Texas, David Givens’ hometown of about 15,000, has had six different NFL players alone since the 1980s, we don’t really cover ourselves in greatness.
That doesn’t mean the games aren’t incredible drama around here. They are, and they keep me going. Hope this helps.
