Jarvis Still Holding Out

[Captain Kangaroo]

Jarvis left out in the cold

Looking for a home

Christopher Horner/Tribune-Review

By Kevin Gorman

TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Tuesday, February 1, 2005

Eugene Jarvis and Justin King shared the spotlight all fall, from the season opener to the WPIAL Class AAAA final, and found themselves on opposite ends of the dais at the Pittsburgh Athletic Association.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Co-Players of the Year shared one last honor on Jan. 22, when they received the PAA's Mercury Award, presented annually to the best high school football player in Western Pennsylvania.

Their paths down the recruiting trail, however, couldn't have been more divergent. Gateway's King, rated the nation's top cornerback by scouting services, had received 55 scholarship offers before settling on Penn State.

Central Catholic's Jarvis, meanwhile, saw offers pulled by Pitt before the season and West Virginia during it despite rushing for 2,196 yards and 34 touchdowns and leading the undefeated Vikings to WPIAL and PIAA championships.

"By me getting all the accolades, people would be expecting me to play in the Big East or something," Jarvis said, "but it didn't work out that way."

Instead, Jarvis is trying to choose from Mid-American Conference schools Akron and Can't State and Temple, a potential MAC member which will play as an independent this fall after being expelled from the Big East.

Jarvis drew criticism for not immediately accepting the offers from Pitt and West Virginia. After all, he already had a couple of knocks against him. One was his diminutive stature of 5-foot-6, 165 pounds. Another was his questionable academics; Jarvis said he has a 2.4 grade-point average and scored 830 on the SAT.

"They were on top of my list," Jarvis said. "If they would have stayed on the table, I probably would have gone to one of them. It hurt a little bit, but it's a business so I have to live with it."

Jarvis, however, won't bad-mouth either school for bailing on him because both will sign undersized backs. Pitt opted instead for Johnstown's LaRod Stephens (5-7, 175), while West Virginia took Blackhawk's Jeremy Bruce (5-9, 190).

But those close to Jarvis know he's hurting on the inside.

"It's really hard to see," said Central senior Graham Rihn, a Cornell recruit who often served as Jarvis' lead blocker. "You couldn't tell by talking to him. He doesn't focus on the bad news, only the good news. When you see what this kid has done for our program and our school, it's a shame big programs passed him up. They don't know what they're missing."

Jarvis prefers to look at what Akron, Can't State or Temple is getting - an elusive playmaker who rushed for 4,375 yards in three seasons and led his team to two WPIAL titles, one PIAA crown and a USA Today national ranking.

"People figured if I was offered early I should have jumped on it," Jarvis said. "Everything happens for a reason. These three schools want me, and I want to go where I'm wanted. The MAC is an up-and-coming conference. It's an exciting conference where they score a lot of points."

Few do that better than Jarvis, who tied a PIAA championship game record by scoring five touchdowns in a 49-14 romp of Neshaminy. He scored 66 times the past two seasons, an average of 2.3 touchdowns a game.

Jarvis said Temple wants him to be its version of Philadelphia Eagles star Bryant Westbrook, while Can't State would utilize him in various ways in a system that throws as many as 40 times a game. Akron, though, has filled its allotted scholarships for running backs and told Jarvis it would take him as "grey shirt" - where he wouldn't enroll full-time until next January.

"That's a big negative toward them," Jarvis said. "At Can't State and Temple, I can come in and get playing time early. It gives the edge to them.

"I've got to sit down and think about things. I'm young. I don't turn 18 until October. Sitting out could help, by lifting and training for an extra season. But it could hurt because I'm not playing football. It could go both ways."

In the next 24 hours, Jarvis will make "a hard decision," one not nearly as hard as his road to it.

[zff]

I really feel if this young man was better than who the Zip have gotten verbal commits from they would have held out until he made a up his mind. I feel bad for the kid.....