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Brandon Real knows he's late to the party. He's doing his best to make up for lost time.
Not only has Real rushed for more than 100 yards in every game this season, his lowest total of 116 yards came during the second week of the season.
Real's productivity has only improved as the season has worn on, rushing for at least 200 yards in four of the last five games. Last week the West York senior broke his own school record for single-game rushing yards with 406 against Conrad Weiser and increased his season total to 2,333 yards for an average of 10.78 per carry.
The running back also scored six touchdowns in that 56-30 victory, which advanced the third-seeded Bulldogs (11-1) into today's 7 p.m.
District 3 Class AAA semifinal contest against visiting Garden Spot.
Real has 49 TDs for the season (39 rushing and 10 on special teams) and would be only four scores away from tying a state single-season record if Schuykill Haven's Zach Barket hadn't already passed Austin Scott's 2002 mark of 53 with his 55th score in a District 11 Class A championship victory last week.
It would all seem to suggest that Real has a bright future of college football ahead of him. Instead, the senior's status for next year is in limbo right now as he waits for some sort of scholarship offer - any scholarship offer.
Not even a Division II program has promised a spot to Real yet.
"I just started the process late," Real said. "If I had started it earlier, I would
It still may not be too late.
West York is one of 16 Class AAA teams across the state that is still playing football, and the Bulldogs are two wins away from becoming the first YAIAA team to win a district title in one of the top two classifications.
As more teams end their season with postseason losses, the spotlight will shine brighter on Real and West York as the speedster looks to make his case for playing at the Division I-A level.
"Sooner or later, people are going to remember that I did this for 15 years at the college level," said West York coach Ron Miller, who was the offensive coordinator at Susquehanna University before taking over the Bulldogs in 2006 and is Real's biggest advocate. "Sometime it'll click that I kind of know what I'm talking about."
At 5-foot-8 and 170 pounds, Real doesn't exactly turn heads as a physical specimen. He has improved his strength training, but still doesn't really look like a football player when he's in street clothes.
He's fast, but he doesn't have the kind of speed to set himself apart from other small and quick running backs around the state.
What sets Real apart and has allowed him to pick up so many yards and score more than four dozen touchdowns is his remarkable field vision and body control. Those skills enable him to make quick cuts and outmaneuver potential tacklers.
"I'm convinced he has 53 sets of eyeballs," Miller said. "I've never seen vision like that in my life. I don't know how he knows it's coming."
Miller remembers a play from a September game against Red Lion when Real was slowed down by a defender and "a kid was about to rip his head off."
Real just ducked instinctively.
"I don't even know how to explain it," Real said. "When I get into the open field, I'm constantly looking around and not looking straight down and I see where everyone is coming. I know the exact angles they're coming at, so I know the right cut to make to get by them."
Most of the time, Real will wait to make eye contact with a defender to try to get a better read on him.
"I'll pause for a second and stare directly in his eyes while he's coming right at me, and I'll make a cut, and he just goes flying the other way," Real said.
If an opponent does get close to Real, he's learned how to fight through the contact.
"He's got the best use of hands of any back I've ever coached, and I've had some good ones in college," Miller said. "His ability when guys are coming to tackle him, he's got super hands.
"Nobody can get a clean shot on him because he is able to swat them away. If you watch some of his stiff arms this year, that's because he found the room just outside the gym called the weight room."
Real admits that he was less than enthusiastic about offseason training and lifting until after his junior season.
"This year, I actually worked hard," Real said. "Before I would run hard, but not as hard as I could. Last year, I knew I still had a year left. This year - once you're a senior you finally realize that after this you may not have anything else left."
Real isn't completely off the
Division I-A football radar. He made unofficial visits to Maryland and Connecticut in recent weeks. The only scholarship offer he has received is a partial academic scholarship at Division I-AA College of Charleston.
A big problem for Real is the majority of these top schools already have most of their incoming class in place from verbal commitments that come in as early as before a player's junior season in high school.
Since Real believes he does have the talent, skill and potential to be a force in Division I-A, he could always try to walk on at a place like Maryland or Connecticut and work his way up the depth chart, but the senior said he would rather take a scholarship from a Division II school.
"I'm just planning on going to a good school," said Real, who was wearing a Bloomsburg hoodie during a recent interview and named the PSAC school as his favorite among potential Division II destinations. "As long as I get some type of scholarship and they have a good football program, I'll go there. I don't want to have to pay the full amount."
A scholarship at the Division II level seems inevitable at some point. The big question is whether impressive performances in the coming weeks - should the Bulldogs keep winning - will be enough to catapult Real into the highest echelon of college football prospects.
"Teams know about him," Miller said. "I called a friend of mine at West Virginia. People know about him. It's late, and a lot of slots have been taken, but there will be some slots.
"With him performing at this level now - 406 yards in a district playoff game against a pretty good football team - he did a lot for himself. I don't think it is too late. In about two weeks or three weeks when we're done, these schools will start rolling in, and the money and the offers will start rolling in, too."
smclernon@ydr.com; 771-2045
BEST SEASON EVER FOR RB?
A sample of recent postings by prep writer Sean McLernon on TheLineupCard.com:
Best season for a YAIAA running back ever? The stat the sticks out the most is touchdowns. Real has run for 39 on the ground and scored another 10 on special teams with punt and kick returns to give him 49 total.
After Real, the most prolific scorers among YAIAA football players that I could find in our records are Central York's Brad Senft (33 TDs in 1975), Susquehannock's Adam Cook (33 TDs in 2001) and Delone Catholic's Mark Lookenbill (32 TDs in 1988).
His yardage numbers aren't as insane, but they do seem to put Real at the top of the YAIAA heap from what I can tell.
Through 12 games, Real has run for 2,333 yards, putting him ahead of previous area leader Jason Jarvis, who rushed for 2,200 yards at New Oxford in 1996.
Math predicts West York victory: You've already seen a couple screwballs (on Gridiron TV) explain why they think West York (11-1) will win its District 3 Class AAA semifinal at home against Garden Spot (8-4). If you don't believe them, maybe you'll trust the mathematical formula that calls West York a 12.6-point favorite.
It's called the Born Power Index and it calls itself "an ever changing mathematical evaluation of a team's relative strength against similar competition i.e. a team indexed at 60.0 has been consistently 10 points per game stronger than a team indexed at 50.0 leaning more heavily toward most recent encounters."
TONIGHT'S GAME
What: District 3 Class AAA semifinalsWho: No. 10 Garden Spot (8-4) at No. 3 West York (11-1)
When: 7 p.m.
Winner faces: The winner of No. 1 Mechanicsburg (12-0) vs. No. 5 Manheim Central (10-2)
Radio: WOYK-AM 1350
