Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette Steve Paskorz shows his ability to deliver a hit as well as take one in practice.

By Mike White
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Hampton's football team has a motto for its offseason training programs. "We try to get the kids to buy into 'bigger, faster, stronger,' " Hampton coach Greg Mihalik said.

		Players to watch One in a series on top high school football players in the WPIAL and City League.

The bad news for Hampton's opponents is Steve Paskorz bought into all three parts.

Paskorz is coming off a gigantic 2004 season in which he became the first sophomore in 26 years to lead the WPIAL in rushing (WPIAL statistical leaders weren't kept until 1979). He averaged 11.5 yards a carry, was a standout at linebacker and became only the sixth sophomore to make the Post-Gazette Fabulous 22 team.

Now he's back for his junior season -- bigger, faster and stronger. He added 15 pounds since last season and is 6 feet 2, 215 pounds. He got stronger with offseason workouts. He also got faster, running the 40-yard dash in 4.48 seconds at Joe Butler's Metro Index Camp this spring. No wonder Paskorz is considered one of the top juniors in the eastern part of the country.

But is it possible for Paskorz to improve on his sophomore season when he finished with 2,187 yards (1,855 in the regular season) and had five 200-yard games?

"I don't see why he can't," Mihalik said.

During a break from practice earlier this week, Paskorz sat against a wall outside his team's locker room and nonchalantly answered the question of whether he can do better in 2005.

"If I step up my game another notch and everybody on the team does their job, anything is possible," Paskorz said.

Hampton returns seven starters on offense and nine on defense from a team that went 8-3 and lost in the WPIAL Class AAA quarterfinals to West Allegheny, 52-42, in the highest-scoring playoff game in WPIAL history.

"We definitely have to get past the second round of the playoffs this year," Paskorz said. "We want to be known for how good our football program can be -- and how good it actually is."

But Paskorz already is known. He has a scholarship offer from West Virginia, with offers from Pitt, Penn State and Michigan most likely coming soon.

"A lot of schools have said they're going to offer," Paskorz said.

"The college coaches who have come to our school and watched film on him, there hasn't been one who's not interested in him," Mihalik said.

"By the time he's a senior, he's going to have quite a selection of colleges to choose from."

Paskorz already has visited Michigan on his own, but said Pitt and Penn State are two schools at the top of his list.

"I don't really want to go too far from home," he said.

Here's a junior already talking about colleges. That shows how recruiting has changed over the years. Not all that long ago, players didn't talk about colleges until their senior year.

But the recruiting talk also shows Paskorz's talent.

"I've had Division I college coaches come in here and say he could be one of the top players in Western Pennsylvania right now, even as a junior," Mihalik said.

Mihalik, and most college coaches, project Paskorz as a defensive player. He would be on the order of Upper St. Clair's Sean Lee, a running back-linebacker in high school who's a freshman linebacker at Penn State.

"Steve is a kid you could probably put anywhere," Mihalik said. "But if I had to pick a position, he would probably be an outside linebacker-type of kid."

Paskorz is a talented three-sport athlete.

He was a starting outfielder on the varsity baseball team as a freshman and sophomore. He also has been on the varsity basketball team since his freshman year.

But he is considering giving up basketball this season.

"It's questionable right now," he said.