Southeastern Pennsylvania Top 10
1. North Penn (13-0. Weeks rated: 14. Last week: 1)
2. La Salle (11-1. Weeks rated: 14. Last week: 2)
3. Pottsgrove (13-0. Weeks rated: 9. Last week: 3)
4. Ridley (12-1. Weeks rated: 3. Last week: 5)
5. Avon Grove (12-1. Season over.)
6. George Washington (8-3. Season over.)
7. Interboro (12-1. Season over.)
8. St. Joseph’s Prep (9-3. Season over.)
9. Downingtown East (10-3. Season over.)
10. Neshaminy (9-3. Season over.)
Poteat carrying on tailback legacy at McDevitt
Jameel Poteat, Bishop McDevitt
Photo courtesy of Bishop McDevitt football
Jameel Poteat gets more than his share of reminders. They are there behind glass cases by the Bishop McDevitt High School gym, pictures of tailbacks the country knows by now. They’re also there hanging poignantly from the walls, large posters that tell him he can make it. They fill McDevitt athletic director Tommy Mealy’s office. They come to him on the streets of Harrisburg, the whispers and open remarks, that Poteat is “The Next Great One.”
Poteat absorbs it all, smiles and locks the reminders away, there for safe keeping on what he has to do, and how he has to progress if he’s going to be like them—Super Bowl champion Ricky Watters and Philadelphia Eagles’ second-round draft pick LeSean “Shady” McCoy.
Watters and McCoy preceded Poteat as star tailbacks at McDevitt, which is evolving into a tailback factory.
All the 6-foot, 200-pound junior tailback has done these last two seasons is rush for 2,812 yards and 42 touchdowns for the 12-0 Crusaders, ranked No. 1 in Pennsylvania.
Add to the fact that Poteat can either blow by you or can power through you are his rich bloodlines. His cousin, Hank Poteat, played for Harrisburg High School in the early-1990s and went on to become a two-time all-Big East defensive back at Pittsburgh. A third-round draft choice of the Pittsburgh Steelers as a cornerback in 2000, cousin Hank has also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New England Patriots and New York Jets. He earned a Super Bowl ring with the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX. He currently plays for the Cleveland Browns.
What has helped Jameel further his talent is his good sense of history. He knows intimately who came before he did, talking with Watters and on a regular basis with McCoy, who has been both a mentor and big brother to him.
Some players cringe at comparisons. Poteat embraces them.
“I wouldn’t call it pressure, the position that I’m in, and knowing who came before I did,” said Poteat, who’s rushed for 1,504 yards and 25 TDs this season. “I look forward to each week being compared to those guys. It’s my motivation. It gives me a lot to work for; it makes you believe that dreams do come true, being so close to those guys. It makes you run that extra lap and put that extra work in. It makes you want to get to that higher level like they have.”
McCoy goes way back with Poteat, coming to see him play one time in a Pony League game. McCoy was still at McDevitt back then, but the meeting had a lasting impression on Poteat.
“I speak to Shady every day,” Poteat said. “I saw him one time signing autographs here and I told him it was crazy. He told me if I keep doing what I’ve been doing, stay focused, and keep working hard, the same thing could happen to me. We started talking about recruiting. He’s helped me running the ball, telling me I have to realize that every carry is not a touchdown. He tells me to get what you can get and be patient.”
Watters one time stopped by a Crusaders practice and filled the young tailback with knowledge—and an added boost.
“Ricky talked to me about his experiences at Notre Dame and the NFL and that I have the potential to get there, if I just keeping working hard,” Poteat said. “To have guys like Shady and Ricky Watters talk you like that, it gets you going, because they’ve both been through it.”
Though opposing teams have stacked the box this season, no one has been able to curtail Poteat. But, as Poteat notes, “It’s a team, it’s not just one guy carrying the load. We have a great passing attack. They really make what I do easy.”
Wide receiver Salath Williams has caught 18 touchdowns and is headed to Pittsburgh, while receiver Jeremy Cornelius has caught four touchdowns and will be going to Purdue. They’ve made it difficult for any team to focus on just one weapon.
“It’s what’s made this a successful year, because we have multiple people we can go to,” Poteat said.
Right now, the attention and the letters are starting to arrive in bushels. Poteat has already received offers from Pitt, Iowa, Rutgers, Illinois, Tennessee, Michigan State, Virginia, Boston College, UConn, Purdue, and Syracuse. He’s also high on the list of Notre Dame and Penn State.
But what’s consuming him is actually to do something that neither Watters or McCoy accomplished at McDevitt—and that’s win a PIAA Class AAAA (large school) state championship. The Crusaders won the Class AA state title in 1995.
That road continues this Saturday at 6 p.m. against 11-2 Cumberland Valley in the PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinals at HersheyPark Stadium.
“That’s the goal,” Poteat said, “getting the Class AAAA state title. The stats and the numbers are great, but it won’t mean anything if we don’t win the state title. That’s the biggest goal. We have an awesome line, a great quarterback, a great fullback, we have the team to do it.”
And the tailback—and new “One” from Tailback High.
Joseph Santoliquito covers high schools for the Philadelphia Daily News and is a contributor to MaxPreps.com. He can be contacted at JSantoliquito@yahoo.com.
