If anyone is listening, I’m just sayin’.
It’s hard not to notice J.B. Nelson on a football field. Players who are 6 feet 5, 300 pounds tend to catch one’s attention.
But big J.B. is flying under the radar. A senior at Mt. Lebanon, Nelson is one of the best offensive linemen in Western Pennsylvania, even if many people or college recruiters don’t know about him.
Nelson has been impressive this season and dominant at times. Although he’s not being recruited by colleges and you won’t see him at a big-time program next year, his coach sees him possibly playing at a Power 5 conference school in a few years.
“He could play at Penn State, Wisconsin, places like that. I’m telling you he could be that good,” said Mt. Lebanon coach Bob Palko.
Palko hasn’t lost it, but Nelson will probably go the junior-college route after he graduates from Mt. Lebanon because of some academic issues. Still, he has the size, strength and ability to match some linemen who are being recruited by FBS schools. All of those traits just haven’t come out until this season.
“He’s just learning how to play,” Palko said. “He’s got a huge ceiling because his body is starting to change. He was way out of shape before. Now he’s eating better, he’s working out more and he’s playing both ways. If the right college gets hooked up with him and sticks with him when he’s at a junior college, I’m telling you that he could be really good. He’s the best lineman I’ve seen this year.”
If I’m a major-college coach and willing to wait a few years for a good lineman, I’m establishing a connection with Nelson right now.
• Another lineman/linebacker flying under the radar this season is North Allegheny’s Sam Sheridan. At 6-2, 220 he might not be a Power 5 conference recruit, but he makes plays everywhere at the highest level of WPIAL football.
• Can we get this straight: It is every student’s right to attend a public school wherever they reside. It is mandated that a school educates a student. But it is not a “right” to play a sport. It is a privilege. And if you don’t fit the rules that are in place, you might not get that privilege.
I say this because the PIAA’s new rule of postseason ineligibility for a student-athlete transfer is causing some critics to claim the WPIAL or PIAA has no right to stop a student from participating in a sport. Oh, yes they do.
Under the new PIAA rule, a student-athlete who transfers any time after playing a sport as a sophomore automatically is ineligible for the postseason for one year at the new school. But a waiver for postseason eligibility can be granted under certain circumstances and some transfers have been granted postseason eligibility.
You might not like or agree with the rule, but stop with the “right” to play. This is now a rule and students and their families know it before they transfer. Many organizations, even outside of sports, have rules for participation. In NCAA Division I college athletics, transfers must sit a year unless they are granted a waiver for certain circumstances. Again, a student most certainly has the right to attend any college they want, but must meet certain rules to play a sport. How is that different than the PIAA having a rule?
People complained loud and long about transfers affecting high school athletics way too much in Pennsylvania. Something needed to be done. So, the PIAA establishes a rule to maybe curb transfers and the complaints are still plenty. The rule doesn’t stop anyone from playing. It goes only to the postseason. And if athletics played absolutely no reason in the transfer, then why would the athlete care if they can’t participate in the postseason?
• Finding five teams worthy of putting in the WPIAL Class 4A top five every week is rough. Class 4A is undoubtedly the weakest in the WPIAL, as far as depth of quality teams. But that’s a little understandable, considering the classification has only two conferences.
• Class 5A is undoubtedly the best conference as far as depth of quality teams.
• Butler football continues to be one of the most baffling stories in WPIAL football. Why does the third-largest school in the WPIAL struggle so mightily year after year when it is competitive in many other sports?
Butler has been in the WPIAL football playoffs once since the start of 1999 and has won three games or less 15 times since then. Now this: Butler is 0-7 this season, is being outscored by an average of 51-12 and has lost 17 consecutive games. I don’t know what the reasons are for Butler’s woes. Obviously, Butler hasn’t found the answers, either.
• Penn State and Beaver Stadium will play host to the Cumberland Valley vs. State College high school game on Oct. 26. Some have asked if the PIAA might consider one day staging the state championships at Beaver Stadium. Geez, I hope not. If you think Heinz Field looks empty for WPIAL championships, imagine what Beaver Stadium (capacity of more than 100,000) would look like for the PIAA championships when a big crowd is 4,000?
• Go back just 35 years and it was normal to have more than 20 WPIAL games played on a Saturday. Now, Saturdays have three or four games regularly. That’s good. I don’t miss Saturday games. High schools are meant for Friday nights — and colleges should stay away from Fridays, too.
• Things are pretty good for the Getsy brothers these days — in the NFL and the WPIAL. Luke Getsy is in his first season as the Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach. All he gets to do is work with Aaron Rodgers. Lance Getsy is in his second season as Charleroi’s coach and has the Cougars sitting at 5-1. This comes after his first season when Charleroi finished 10-2 and won a conference title for the first time in 14 years.
Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh
First Published: October 9, 2019, 6:15 p.m.