Despite being the No. 33 player in the NorCalPreps 2011 boys basketball ranking, Miles Gordon plans to have a breakout senior season in his other sport, football. A relative newcomer to the gridiron, Gordon started playing football during his freshman year for the Oakland High Wildcats of the Oakland Athletic League.
During his junior year, Gordon played both linebacker and tight end in helping the Wildcats to a 4-5-1 record. For his senior season, this Wildcat Co-Captain wants to continue getting better while his team goal is to not become complacent although they are young.
Gordon has been a starter since his junior year for the Wildcats. At 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds, Gordon can run 4.85 seconds in the 40-yard dash and has a vertical of 34 inches. When asked whose game he models his after, Gordon compares himself to San Diego Charger Antonio Gates who also was a two sport star who eventually became a standout tight end.
Like his high school mascot, this Wildcat considers his best football move to be putting his shoulder down and going right through somebody. But Gordon believes also that he can be finesse on the gridiron when he needs to be. When asked how his basketball play helps him in his football play, Gordon says, "Basketball has made me more agile, improved my footwork, improved my vertical jump, my hands are softer, and I am fearless in receiving passes in traffic since I played with a lot of contact in the post positions. In addition, I am a very aggressive basketball player which transferred naturally on the football field."
During this summer, Gordon has been working primarily on his pass catching skills as he would like to be a tight end or wide receiver in college. When asked why he wants to focus on football, Gordon says, "Basketball was my first sport and I have hade success, but it does not compare to the success that I have on the football field. I always played real strong like a four or five, but am undersized for the position. However, my size is just perfect for football and the things that I have learned from basketball have transferred over to my football and made me a better player."
Despite his late start in football, colleges are gaining interest in this budding gridiron star. Cal Poly SLO and Washington State have contacted him. Gordon expects to have a breakout senior season to garner even more collegiate attention. He would like to attend a college that has good coaches, a good program, and good players. He does not want to be too close to home nor too far away from it.
His college focus is football, but Gordon does have solid, versatile basketball skills. His Oakland High team has been undersized, which has resulted in Gordon playing the post positions often. As a result, he can basically play any position as he has good ball handling skills but also the strength to play in the post. He compares his basketball game to former St. John's and Rucker Park star, Ron Artest, because Gordon has similar physical strength, ball handling, and scoring skills.
During this past summer, Gordon played for his summer team, ACA of San Francisco that is coached by Carl Jacobs. He had a personal high of 29 points in the Swoosh Ultimate Select event in Las Vegas. Gordon will play on his Oakland High basketball team for his senior season as he wants to make a final run with his hard floor teammates and also does not want to rule out the possibility of playing basketball at the next level. But realistically, Gordon believes that his physical attributes and skills would be better served on the gridiron.
Despite playing two sports, Gordon sports a solid 3.10 GPA and has a 1350 SAT score to make him NCAA eligible. He would like to major in Business Administration as his favorite subject is English. His academic and leadership qualities will be critical to the Wildcats' senior season success.
Gordon, who is inspired by his late grandmother, says, "I will have to be the leader of my football team since there are only two seniors that have been in the program for the entire three years. I have a relatively young team that gets easily distracted and I have to be on top of them."
In addition, the Wildcats will be welcoming a new football coach and Gordon says about the transition, "At first it was a little hard, because Coach Nelson Gifford was a little different than my previous coaches. But the adjustment was not very hard as his plans were the same as mine - to win."
Gordon comes across as being analytical in his own assessment of his dual sport situation. Regardless of which sport he ends up playing at the next level, he has the makings of a solid team captain.
No comments:
Post a Comment