Coming into the 2015 season, Central Catholic was ranked as one of the top teams in the entire country.
That wasn’t surprising considering the amount of Division-1 talent on the roster. With players like Damar Hamlin, David Adams, Rashad Wheeler, CJ Thorpe, Bricen Garner, Troy Fisher and Ron George the expectations were high.
Central Catholic (9-1) has lived up to the expectations and will take on North Allegheny (9-1) tomorrow night in the Quad-A quarterfinals. So, was it hard playing with all those expectations?
“No, our expectations are always high, nothing new”, said linebacker George (6-2, 200). . We just go out there and do our job.”
Central’s job now is to make it to Heinz Field and anything less will be a failure for this talented team.
“It’s very important to make it to Heinz Field because at Central Catholic that’s our goal every year. If we don’t make it we aren’t just letting our team down but everyone who put on a Central Catholic jersey before us”, said George.
The fact that this team has been so successful over the last few years isn’t a surprise to George.
“No, because I knew once I met those guys freshman year that we would be something special. It’s actually kind of funny because there’s a lot of guys that no one knows about that should be getting looked at.”
I think that’s a very accurate way to describe George. In my opinion, he’s one of the most underrated players in the WPIAL. With guys on defense like Hamlin, Adams, Wheeler, etc, George goes abit unnoticed and underrated but he doesn’t see it that way.
“I disagree. If you come to one of our practices you would see tons of underrated guys. Guys you don’t know about and won’t ever hear about that could make a difference at big time schools”, said George.
George told me, “I think I’m having a pretty good season but I think it’s just getting started. A lot of room for improvement…..Never be satisfied.”
Aside from winning the Quad A championship, George is also winding down his recruitment. Right now, he holds offers from Temple, Toledo, Western Michigan, Old Dominion, Miami Ohio, Bowling Green and Virginia.
While he wouldn’t list finalists, it’s believed that George is down to Toledo and Temple.
When I asked him when he’d like to make a final decision, he told me “as soon as possible.”
Keep an eye on Ron George, he’s a guy that you’ll be hearing about over the next four seasons.
