Prep football: Sheldon's Connor Strahm excels at multiple positions
Jim Beseda, The Oregonian, December 06, 2012 10 a.m.
An Arizona State assistant coach visited Eugene last week and stopped by Sheldon High School to check in with Irish coach Lane Johnson.
The recruiter was more interested in next year's senior class than he was in any of Sheldon's current seniors.
"I told him,
'Well, if Connor Strahm isn't a scholarship player, then we don't have anybody else that would interest you,'" Johnson said. "I didn't want to waste his time."
Johnson finds it baffling that most Pacific-12 Conference schools have shown mostly lukewarm interest in Strahm, the versatile 6-foot-2, 225-pound senior wide receiver/linebacker.
"None of the big schools have come after him," Johnson said. "
I think that they might. I think they're stupid if they don't.
"But like I told him, he really doesn't have any control over that. All he can do is go out and play and if that's not good enough for the Pac-12 schools, then they don't deserve him."
The college recruiters get one last live look at Strahm in a Sheldon uniform Saturday when the No. 2 Irish (13-0) face the top-ranked and defending-champion Lake Oswego Lakers (13-0) in the 1 p.m. OSAA Class 6A state championship game at Jeld-Wen Field.
Strahm is excited that Sheldon gets another shot at the Lakers, who have clashed with the Irish in the playoffs eight times in the past 10 season, including last season's championship game, which Lake Oswego won 47-14.
"I think about that game probably every day," Strahm said. "Just the disappointment that I had in myself and ... the whole team was disappointed. Nobody played as good as they could have, but I think we learned from it.
"It's nice to make it this far, but we didn't come all this way to lose."
Don't look for Strahm, who wears No. 10, to line up in the same position on too many consecutive plays on either side of the ball, because the Irish move him around.
Offensively,
Strahm typically lines up as a receiver, wide or in the slot and to either side, and he'll occasionally line up in the backfield as either a running back or as the quarterback in Sheldon's version of the 'wildcat' formation.
Defensively, he usually plays free safety, strong safety, inside linebacker or outside linebacker, depending on down, distance and what the situation calls for.
In last week's 35-28 semifinal victory over Jesuit, Strahm had a team-high 43 yards rushing, plus 72 yards receiving and a touchdown. He also had three tackles and a forced fumble.
The only time he came off the field against Jesuit was on kickoffs, kickoff returns, and punts.
"I would rate that as a typical Sheldon performance, just because we found a way to win and pull it out at the end," Strahm said of the semifinal win. "I thought our offense played well against a really good Jesuit team, and our defense came up big when we needed it to."
Strahm is intent on playing college football. He said he has received interest letters from most of the Pac-12 schools, but the only scholarship offers have been from three Big Sky Conference schools -- Montana, North Dakota and Portland State.
"I'll make my choice between those three if those are the only options," said Strahm, adding that there isn't a front-runner among the three schools that have made offers. "I've let all three of them know that I'm not going to make any decisions or anything until after the year, so right now they're all three even."
Strahm said none of the three have indicated whether they plan to play him on offense or defense.
"I think I could help on either side once someone makes a decision," Strahm said. "At this point, I've had to learn multiple positions in high school and I haven't really mastered one. Once a college decides what side they want me on, I can go from there.
"I really don't have a preference. Playing offense is fun, especially in our scheme where you get the ball in open field. But then there's no better feeling than knocking somebody backwards or picking a ball off playing defense."
Signing day is Feb. 6, which means Strahm has a little less than two months to decide on a school, and other schools have almost as much time to jump into conversation, if they so choose.
"Just because Connor is a really good high school player doesn't necessarily mean he projects out to be a great college player," Johnson said. "I just think there are some big schools that are missing the boat on him."
--Jim Beseda: 503-221-8380;
[email protected]
twitter.com/jimbeseda
http://highschoolsports.oregonlive.com/news/article/6182504700182020830/prep-football-sheldons-connor-strahm-excels-at-multiple-positions/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
