WR Ghilarducci's persistence helps him snare a scholarship

By Vincent Liu, Town Crier Correspondent

hil Ghilarducci had a reputation to live up to entering the 29th annual Santa Clara Valley High School All-Star football game on July 23. He proceeded to live beyond it.

Known as an offensive force that would take two defenders to stop, the wide receiver from Gunn High — playing for the North — turned a variety of defensive schemes by the South into train wrecks. Ten catches, 197 yards and one touchdown later, he laid waste to any notion that he could be stopped by double-teaming.

“We knew he was good; we just didn’t know how good until the game,” said Matt Kiesle of Piedmont Hills High, head coach of the South. “He’s got size, speed and great hands: the full package.”

Greg Barber, Gunn’s first-year offensive coordinator with more than 30 years of high school football coaching experience, called it the most dominant performance by a receiver in the history of the event, also known as the Silicon Valley Youth Classic.

Barber got no disagreement from Shawn Thomas, head football coach of Leigh High who guided the North squad.

“Awesome performance — the single best ever in the all-star game,” he said. “But I wasn’t surprised because he was doing that all week during practice.”

Actually, Ghilarducci had been doing that during the last four years for a high school not known for its football prowess. Despite his reputation as a stud on the field, he was a dud when it came to getting recognized by the college recruiting fraternity.

Not a single scout from a Division I school paid him any attention. Ghilarducci became the best-kept secret of the local high schools graduating football class of 2003.

Undaunted, Ghilarducci put together an 8-minute football highlight video of himself with the help of his best friend Jon Dishotsky, a baseball standout who graduated from Gunn last year. Barber distributed the tape to several western Division I universities the old-fashioned way — cold calling.

Ghilarducci was available for the taking — all one had to do was to look at the video. Tim Lappano did.

Lappano, then offensive coordinator/quarterback coach at Oregon State University, went to Barber’s house on a lark in late January while on a recruiting trip in the Bay Area. Three minutes into the video, he said: “I’ve seen enough. I want this kid.”

The next day, Ghilarducci was flown to OSU to visit the campus. A week later, Lappano took his boss Dennis Erickson, then head coach of OSU, to present a scholarship offer to the Ghilarducci household in Palo Alto.

It was accepted on the spot.

Just like that, the Ghilarducci sweepstakes was over — thanks to the persistence of one high school assistant coach and the open-mindedness of his college counterpart.

“I didn’t know Barber when he called me, but I trusted him because he sounded like someone who knows what he’s talking about,” Lappano recalled. “I figured I had nothing to lose.”

Actually, he did: a dinner.

To get Lappano’s attention, Barber offered a little wager on the phone: “If you like him, you buy me dinner; if you don’t, I buy you dinner.”

“Well, he was dumb enough to answer my call, and I intend to collect on that dinner,” said Barber tossing a light-hearted barb toward a colleague he came to respect.

Lappano, who has since followed Erickson to the San Francisco 49ers coaching staff, chuckled when told of Barber’s comment. He called it the craziest thing he’d ever done, but he trusted his instincts and a hunch when he took a little detour to Barber’s house. What he saw on the video almost floored him.

“Phil is a big and physical football player with great hands and leaping ability, and he can hit,” said Lappano. “He fits the mold that Dennis (Erickson) covets, receivers who can block and get yardage after making a catch. I couldn’t believe the kid fell through the cracks.”

Neither could Barber, who was struggling to tone down his disappointment toward the college scouts.

“I know recruiting is a very inexact science and Gunn is no football powerhouse,” he said. “That’s why I had to go out and sell Phil. And I had an advantage over these recruiters. I coached Phil for a year and I saw the tape and they hadn’t. But all they had to do was to look at the video.”

Fortunately for OSU, none of the local head coaches did until it was too late. One assistant coach at San Jose State University saw the tape and immediately commented: “This kid will be playing on Sundays (in the NFL).”

His recommendation to see the video was apparently not taken by SJSU head coach Fitz Hill.

When Barber delivered the tape to the football department at Cal, he got a cool reception. When Cal head coach Jeff Tedford finally saw the video, he immediately called Barber to inquire about Ghilarducci’s availability. When told it was too late, he reportedly muttered “I blew it.” How ironic — Cal was Ghilarducci’s first choice.

One assistant coach at nearby Stanford University was aware of Ghilarducci’s skill set but wasn’t sure of his academic qualifications. Stanford’s interest in him arrived on the eve of Ghilarducci’s acceptance to attend OSU.

“That’s too bad because playing with Trent Edwards would’ve been perfect,” said Ghilarducci, referring to the highly touted quarterback from Los Gatos High, with whom he practiced. Edwards red-shirted at Stanford last year and may take over the quarterbacking duties this year.

According to Ghilarducci, receivers at Stanford are having difficulty catching Edwards’ bullet throws. “Trent throws hard and that suits me just fine,” he said.

Ghilarducci can make that statement out of reality instead of cockiness. He has what Barber described as incredibly strong hands and fantastic hand-eye coordination. As part of his training regimen, Ghilarducci pounds a speed bag as boxers do to sharpen his hand-eye coordination. According to Barber, it’s a drill used by Oakland Raiders’ receiving great Fred Biletnikoff, who possessed one of the best pairs of hands in NFL history.

Another one of Ghilarducci’s unorthodox hobbies that contributes to his pass-catching skills is juggling footballs.

“He’s the only person I’ve known, football or otherwise, who can juggle four footballs at a time,” Barber said. “I sometimes think he is not human.”

Barber, who used to coach against Lynn Swan of Serra High, compares Ghilarducci favorably to the NFL hall-of-fame receiver. According to Barber, Swan had better speed, they have comparable hands and leaping ability; but Ghilarducci is bigger and hits harder.

“Phil is far ahead of Lynn at the high school stage,” Barber opined.

Lappano wouldn’t go as far.

“Phil has a great upside, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him play in the NFL someday. He has the work ethics to back up his physical talents,” he said. “What he needs is more speed and to grow some.”

Lappano’s advice wasn’t lost on Ghilarducci, who embarked on an eating binge that would delight a sumo wrestler.

“I’d look for food with as many calories as possible; good food, bad food; it doesn’t matter. If it’s got calories I’d eat it,” he said.

The key to his body-bulking program is a daily series of rigorous weight lifting and exercises to burn off fats and strengthen muscles. Within four months he gained 15 pounds to tip the scale at 202 on a 6-foot-4 frame; yet he was also able to reduce his body fat to a lean and mean 5 percent. At the same time, he was practicing plyometrics, a grueling leg exercising routine involving no weights, to build up leg muscles, increase vertical leaps and add stamina.

When Ghilarducci took the field for the all-star game, he resembled a bigger, stronger and more explosive offensive machine who ripped through the defensive backfield like a tornado touching down. After the dust had cleared, he had out-gained the entire South squad by some nine yards.

“He was like a man among boys,” Barber observed.

With a football program completely overhauled and rejuvenated by new head coach Sam Pitcher, Gunn experienced a renaissance this past season, improving from a dismal 2-8 record the previous year to 8-4. With Ghilarducci catching everything thrown near him, Barber instilled a simple offensive mind-set to his quarterback: “Single coverage, throw to Phil; double coverage, throw to Phil; triple coverage, maybe not.”

Gunn flourished under the new coaching regime and made it to the second round of the Central Coast Section playoff for the first time in school history. Ghilarducci was a one-man wrecking crew during the stretch drive.

In the crucial season finale against rival Palo Alto High to determine a CCS berth, Ghilarducci produced a career all-around performance with 15 solo tackles as a safety, two interceptions, four catches for 93 yards and two touchdowns, including one off a blocked punt he returned into the end zone. Gunn won convincingly 40-19 in a game in which Ghilarducci said he “left everything on the field.”

A week later in Gunn’s 28-21 playoff win over Aragon, Ghilarducci caught four more passes for three touchdowns and 130 yards. He made the game-winning 18-yard TD catch with 24 seconds left in the game.

For his senior year, Ghilarducci established a school record with 16 interceptions, second-best in the state. His 16 touchdowns and 84 tackles as a safety speak volumes about his all-around brilliance.

What impresses Barber even more is the character of his star player.

“Phil is very humble, respectful and team-oriented. He has so much talent, and yet he’s not arrogant,” Barber said. “You can’t help but like him, and that’s why I went out of my way to promote him.”

To Janet Ghilarducci, her son is the most self-driven, self-confident and self-motivated person she has ever seen.

“Nothing would faze him. He’d find solutions to meet his challenges, on and off the field,” she said. “He also potty-trained himself at the age of 2.”

When he was 9, Ghilarducci was fascinated by a juggling act on television. He promptly announced to his family that he had a new hobby to pursue. It wasn’t long before he added juggling footballs to his bag of training tricks.

Ghilarducci’s athletic talent was evident at a young age. As a 5 year old, he was seen diving off a table and catching a football in midair.

“I knew there and then he was special,” said his father Nick, an all-league linebacker at Gunn in 1972. When Ghilarducci became a freshman, Nick was sure his son would be headed toward professional football one day.

As father and son walked off the field after the all-star game, Ghilarducci received a complimentary send-off from this reporter: “See you in the NFL in five years.” Before he could respond, his father interjected: “No, he’ll be there in three.”

It appears confidence runs in the Ghilarducci family.