Saturday, December 10, 2011

Garry likes Bowling Green, Challingsworth hearing from BCS programs

Tanner Garry's quest to play Division I college football may become reality.

Garry, who put together a record-setting senior season and a varsity career as a Rangers quarterback, heard from a variety of colleges, from Division I to II, and as recently as a couple weeks ago thought he'd get an invitation to walk on at Pitt.

The Panthers struggles at the quarterback position are well-documented.

"I was hearing from Pitt every week for a while," Garry said, "but they haven't talked to me in a couple weeks so, I guess I'm somewhat on the outs with them."

Garry spoke with Bowling Green offensive coordinator Warren Ruggiero Thursday night via telephone and believes his chances of joining the Falcons for the 2012-13 school year are much improved.

"Right now, I'd say it's about 90 percent. I had my first real conversation with (Ruggiero) and I came away feeling pretty good," Garry said.

Garry will visit Bowling Green Jan. 20 and, if things go well, he plans on walking on the football team.

Originally, Garry hoped to land a late scholarship offer from Bowling Green after one recently opened up, but Ruggiero told Garry the Falcons planned on giving that scholarship to their punter.

"What they're telling me is if I go there next year and prove I'm a capable player that they'll give me a scholarship for my sophomore year," Garry said.

Garry passed for 2,171 yards and 23 touchdowns in 11 games for Fort Cherry. He also rushed for 702 with 12 touchdowns.

* If recent activity is any indication, South Fayette junior Zach Challingsworth will be one of the more sought-after football players in the WPIAL next year.

Challingsworth has no official offers but is hearing from several Division I programs, and Division I-AA Villanova.

Maryland coach Greg Gattuso – a former Pitt assistant – recently visited South Fayette to talk to Lions head coach Joe Rossi about Challingsworth, a talented 6-2 receiver. Toledo and Villanova are close to offering.

Challingsworth has also heard from Pitt and Ohio State recently, and he's intrigued at the possibility of being recruited by new Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer.

"It is exciting to know they're interested, and it would be pretty neat playing for a coach like that and seeing what he did at Florida," Challingsworth said. "There's a lot of schools interested. We'll see what happens. Things won't really pick up until March."

Challingsworth, a starter on the basketball team, had more than 700 yards receiving on 48 catches, 250 yards rushing and scored 10 touchdowns. He also intercepted five passes for South Fayette.

Garry and Challingsworth were both selected to the Observer-Reporter Elite 11.

3 comments:

burg. blue devil said...

It would be great to see a list of where local players are playing in college. I know that the O-R has produced this list in the past, but I can't recall how long it's been since I last saw this list. My best guess is that it has been a few years since the list was produced.

Mike, do you know when this list was last produced?

mike_kovak said...

Probably back when we had a staff twice the size of the one in place now.

mike_kovak said...

We run a periodic College Notebook that keeps tabs on local athletes playing sports outside the area.