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It's fun being Dakota Royer, but it's not always easy.
Dakota is the hottest college recruit in Manheim Central football history, and that covers some ground.
He was first-team all-state at defensive end last season, as a junior. Most of the recruiting services consider him comfortably within the top 100 college prospects in the high school class of 2010.
He's 6-3, 215 pounds of muscle, runs a 4.640 and has a 37-inch vertical leap, or a four-foot vertical leap straight out of a swimming pool (more on that later).
He's a two-way end in high school, and probably increased his value as a recruit last season by emerging as a major threat on offense.
He had 55 receptions last season for more than 1,000 yards.
"He became a complete player," Central coach Mike Williams said. "He put some numbers up there for college coaches to notice."
But defense is his thing.
"I'm meant to be on the defensive side," Royer said.
He could be a linebacker or an end in college, or a combination of both, a hybrid who does some linebacker things and some pass-rushing end things. Think Penn State's Aaron Maybin.
"It's his speed on defense, the way he rushes the passer off the edge," Williams said.
"He's a competitor; he wants to be the best, and he's got that motor going all the time."
Royer has well over 20 Division I-A college offers, thanks to a process he largely initiated himself, by making his own highlight DVDs and going off to combines (and winning position-group MVP awards at the combines) as early as his freshman year.
"I still remember sitting at home, waiting for that first letter [from a college]," Royer said Wednesday.
"Now I get 20 letters a day."
He's created a monster.
"You'd think it would be awesome getting recruited," he said. "I thought it would be, even though guys told me you get tired of it.
"You do get tired of it. It's so stressful."
Which is why Royer has already narrowed his college choices to one of five schools (Penn State, Pitt, Notre Dame, Michigan State and Oregon), and says he'll announce the winner next month.
If you think he's overstating the process wearing him down, consider that by committing that early, he's voluntarily forgoing official visits, since they can't be taken until Sept. 1.
Why those five? Royer's take on each illustrates how nebulous the process can be.
Penn State — "I've been there a bunch of times. It's close to home. It's familiar."
Pitt — "It's pretty cool that the Steelers are right there. Their weight room is right across the hallway from [Pitt's]."
Notre Dame — "It's the best, nicest campus I've ever seen."
Michigan State — "It's almost like its own city. Everybody's got their motor scooters or bikes. It's really a nice place."
Oregon — "When you watch them play, it looks like it would be awesome to play there. Every player has a plasma-screen TV in his locker."
Royer likes that Oregon amounts to a product-testing facility for Nike.
"The spikes they wore last year for their bowl game aren't coming out for another year," he said.
As for the Ducks' assortment of strange uniforms courtesy of The Swoosh, "I think they're pretty cool. A lot of high school kids wish they could wear stuff like that."
You never know what's going to impress a kid.
Royer lives just south of Lancaster city, in the School District of Lancaster. He attended McCaskey through his freshman year, and then transferred to Central to enroll in its agricultural program.
Central is one of 10 Lancaster County high schools that offer such a program. Central's offers courses in environmental stewardship, welding, gas/diesel engines, etc., in addition to more traditional, plant-and-animal agriculture.
"It's not like I'm going out to the farm to be with the cows and pigs," Royer said.
"It's just a lot of things I'm interested in, and it's related to something I'll probably major in in college."
Royer said his school day is the same as that of other students except that, "When they're taking an elective like music, I'm taking an ag class."
Nothing against McCaskey, Royer said.
"It was great there," he said. "There was not a problem. It's not like I had to get out of there. I just wanted to do the best thing for my future."
Williams said Royer is the first transfer football player he's gotten from the ag program.
"I wish we could use it as a recruiting tool," said Williams.
"We'd try to get 20 or 30 kids that way."
He was kidding.
But seriously, "It was his choice [to attend Central], up to him and his parents, and I think he's gotten a good educational experience out of it," Williams said.
Now, the swimming-pool thing.
It starts with Jarron Gilbert, a defensive end out of San Jose State chosen by the Chicago Bears in the last NFL Draft.
Gilbert is a freakish athlete, as evidenced on You Tube by
videos of him deadlifting 655 pounds and squatting 635, and also of him
standing in a swimming pool in three feet of water and jumping straight up, out of the pool, and landing with both feet .
The pool video made it on to ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption," with accompanying awe from the shows hosts, Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon.
So Royer did the same thing. From
four feet of water.
It was at a friend's house in Elizabethtown. Took him four tries to nail it cleanly with both feet.
You can see it at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=miLKXp6pbZ0, or just go to You Tube and search for Dakota Royer.
"We were just clowning around," Royer said. "Pretty cool."
Mike Gross is assistant sports editor of the Sunday News. E-mail him at mgross@lnpnews.com.
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