http://www.morningjournal.com/gener...drawing-interest-from-top-collegiate-programs
By TIM BIELIK
Posted: 06/28/13, 12:00 AM EDT |
Lorain High junior Rashod Berry may have only played one season of varsity football, but he's quickly catching the eye of several top collegiate programs in the area.
The 6-foot-4, 215 lb. defensive end/wide receiver had 21 tackles for the Titans as a sophomore and brings plenty of raw talent which has several schools, particularly in the Mid-American Conference, interested in him. Berry already has scholarship offers from Akron, Bowling Green, Kent State and Toledo.
However, he is after something a little bit bigger, trying to land a scholarship offer from his dream school, Ohio State. Berry hopes to follow in the footsteps of former Admiral King running back Raymont Harris, who played his college football at OSU before moving on to the NFL.
"It's like a dream come true for me," Berry said. "I always wanted to play at Ohio State."
Berry camped at OSU last week with some of the top junior and senior prospects in the country and was excited to be a part of the camp.
"It was good competition to get us all ready for the season," he said. "I went down there, learned a lot of stuff and came back and was motivated."
Among the coaches Berry worked with was Ohio State defensive line coach Mike Vrabel, who has three Super Bowl rings and has quickly become one of the top recruiters on Urban Meyer's staff.
"It was an honor," Berry said. "Throughout the whole camp, he was coaching me up and I loved it."
New Lorain head coach Tony Shoulders worked with Berry as an assistant last year and saw some of the potential that has college scouts intrigued about him.
"When I first met him, I thought he was going to be a senior," Shoulders said. "Coach (Mark) Solis said he's going to be a junior this year. I was like, 'Wow.' It's going to be a thrill for me to coach him for the next couple of years.
"He's a player. He's going to be a player from what I've heard."
Berry will rejoin his Lorain teammates for fall practice in a few weeks as he prepares for his junior season. But he said one of the things he needs to work on to try and make his Buckeye dream come true will come away from the football field.
"I've got to keep my GPA up," Berry said, "just work harder and just be coachable, listen to my coaches, work on my positions and do whatever I can."
From a coaching standpoint, Shoulders said he would feel honored to coach a player who could move on to Ohio State.
"That would mean the world to me and the coaching staff," Shoulders added. "It would mean the world to the community of Lorain to have a kid go to Ohio State. Raymont Harris went down there and he's done extremely well for himself now.
"So Rashod, if he can make it there, that would be great. It's been a long time since a (Lorain kid) has gone to the Big Ten. It would be a big impact on the city here."