PSU recruiting spotlight: All eyes on Savon HugginsThe Jersey City tailback is the Lions' only target at the position.
By FRANK BODANI
Daily Record/Sunday News
Updated: 05/03/2010 06:23:41 PM EDT
Savon Huggins
One of the top running backs in the nation puts on a shirt and tie and dress slacks and leaves home each morning before 6.
His mom or dad then drives him across town, where he meets up with his coach. That's when the journey really begins. Coach Rich Hansen drives Savon Huggins nearly two hours to St. Peter's Prep school, a top academic school -- and a football powerhouse in Jersey City.
He has speed.
He has strength.
And he has a wonderful sense of balance as he pinballs through tacklers.
Huggins is considered one of the very best tailbacks in the nation, ranked No. 6 by Scout.com with the potential to rise even higher. He boasts over 40 scholarship offers already, from Penn State to Alabama to Florida to California.
His is the only tailback the Nittany Lions have offered, the only one they plan to -- despite Harrisburg star Jameel Poteat performing nearly in their backyard.
That's how enamored they are with Huggins.
And for good reason.
When it came time for high school, his family settled on St. Peter's, where "the education is really off the charts," said father, Wendell Huggins. At least Coach Hansen lived close enough to give Savon a ride most of the way, making things easier. "I sleep almost the entire time," Savon said with a chuckle. "That's where I get my extra hours in."
And he needs it.
Consider that his prep school work load includes honors biology and algebra/trigonometry (He studied Latin his first two years), with a "boatload of homework" every day. There's the drive to school, six classes, football or track and field practice and another two-hour drive back.
Often, he won't arrive home until 9 p.m. or later. He'll get a shower, grab something to eat, do a few chores and hit his homework hard. That means sleep often doesn't come until midnight.
No matter, the kid has a 3.8 grade-point average and also finds time for community service with a food pantry and tutoring in an elementary school.
"Prep is not for everybody," he said. "It really changes you. "The one thing it teaches is time management. . . . A lot of people say they don't understand how I do this and they'd never be able to do this. Really, it's all worth it in the end. Sometimes you don't realize that until you graduate.
"I ask people who are now in college, and they say college is a breeze compared to what we're doing in high school. Instead of getting tutored, we tutor kids.
"It really changes you into a man."
Savon wants to study kinesiology or sports communications in college.
For now, he's getting ready, one step at a time. He'll be a leader on the football team, his teammates calling him "Pops" because they think he looks considerably older than he is. And he acts it, too. When he is at home with free time he only hangs out with friends who understand his focus and why. "You always see him smiling," said his father, who runs a commercial cleaning business. "He has a very happy attitude. He knows how to conduct himself like a young man."
Which means that he's already prepared, in a way, for a place like Penn State.
http://www.ydr.com/sports/ci_14994644
