It’s A Ty Game Top Colleges In Nation Looking At Hard-Hitting West Valley Linebacker/Quarterback Ty Gregorak

Watching film of West Valley High School football player Ty Gregorak, a coach at small Division III school University of Pennsylvania, decided he didn’t meet their needs.

If he was accepted academically, he was told, he could come out for the junior varsity team.

“The linebacker coach said he liked what he saw, but didn’t think I fit them,” said Gregorak.

The irony is not lost on the strapping 6-foot-3, 245-pounder. Nearly two dozen major Division I programs have indicated they think he can be a fit for them.

Already, Stanford, Colorado and Washington State University have offered scholarships. Some 20 schools, including all but one from the Pac-10, national champion Nebraska, Northwestern, Notre Dame and Ohio State have requested tape of his games and come calling.

The most difficult task facing Gregorak is to decide which five schools to visit and ultimately which one to pick.

“I’m not leaning any way and not dreading it,” said Gregorak. “It’s a tough decision but they’re all good schools. I’ll have a great time wherever I go.”

In an era when the term scholar-athlete has given way to marketable commodity, Gregorak is a hot ticket.

The interest in him is unlike anything Eagle coach Steve Kent has previously witnessed.

“I’ve had three Division I collegians and one (Tim Hanshaw) is in the NFL, who was not recruited heavily,” said Kent.

By contrast, college coaches, prohibited from direct contact with the WV athlete, visited Kent in his school’s weight room all last spring. Kent made sure that Gregorak was on display.

Stanford head coach Tyrone Willingham told Kent that Gregorak and Post Falls product Austin Lee were among his top 20 prospects, prompting a personal trip.

For Gregorak, the attention he has received has been the realization of a boyhood dream.

“It’s surprising, to be honest,” he said. “I always wanted it to happen, but didn’t know it would be like this.”

The hoopla surrounding Gregorak came out of his desire to improve as a linebacker.

The summer after his sophomore year Gregorak attended football camps at Stanford - his father, Bill, works for Hewlett-Packard in the Palo Alto area - and the University of Washington, from which his mother, Sue, matriculated.

“I was a die-hard Husky,” he says. “Two things happened. (The camps) really helped me as a player and opened up their eyes.”

This past summer, Gregorak attended camps at Nebraska and Colorado to further his visibility.

Football has been a part of Gregorak’s life for as long as he can remember.

He attended a UW-Michigan Rose Bowl game as an infant. As a kid, he dreamed of being a quarterback, although Oakland Raider defensive end Howie Long was his idol.

Today his hero is Brett Favre of Green Bay, “a quarterback who plays like a linebacker.”

That description fits Gregorak, as well. He has started at linebacker ever since he was a 170-pound freshman. A voracious hitter, he has led the Eagles in tackles each of three varsity seasons.

On offense, Gregorak’s size and athleticism - he made WV’s varsity basketball team as a sophomore - lent itself to tight end, where last year he was named second-team all-state.

But he also was a part-time quarterback and this year will line up behind center to direct the Eagle wishbone offense.

This is all part of the development of Ty Gregorak as a player and person.

Raised, he said, to be a gentleman, he is articulate, outgoing and unfailingly polite - to the extent that he helps up his opponents after each tackle.

He began lifting weights in the fifth grade, originally to prepare himself to play at Gonzaga Prep, all with an eye on a college football career.

Kent sold him on West Valley where he was an instant hit. Over the intervening years Gregorak has grown three inches and gained 75 pounds, an imposing presence with chiseled good looks.

Last year he tore a medial collateral knee ligament in the season’s next-to-last football game. Since then, he has taken karate lessons in order to improve his flexibility and speed.

“It’s been an interesting evolution,” said Kent. “I hoped we could find a place for him to play, whether NAIA classification or what. Because of his work ethic, desire and goals set, this guy has put himself in a situation to make it happen.”

Now, coaches from big schools all over the country are clamoring to get him to play for them. Some want him as a linebacker, which he prefers. Others see him as a defensive back or tight end.

Gregorak is enjoying the moment.

“It’s fun, that’s all I can say,” he said. “It’s a fun time in my life.”

More football previews, 4, 5

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: A KICKOFF GUIDE TO VALLEY’S PREP FOOTBALL SEASON The high school football season gets under way this week and Valley teams will be in the thick of the action. Defending GSL champion Central Valley opens tonight against Rogers at Albi Stadium. University, which narrowly missed the playoffs last season, travels to Yakima to face Eisenhower on Friday. East Valley, which is aiming for a Frontier League title, opens Friday in Coeur d’Alene. West Valley, led by blue-chip college prospect Ty Gregorak, starts its season Friday in Lewiston. Find profiles of the Valley’s top players and a look at prospects for CV, U-Hi, EV, WV, Gonzaga Prep and Freeman, plus team schedules, inside today’s Voice.