Worthington joins hit parade
St. Francis end selected All-American
By KEITH McSHEA
News Sports Reporter
1/19/2005
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James P. McCoy/Buffalo News
Doug Worthington is one of just two Parade All-Americans from New York.
Doug Worthington is Western New York's first Parade Magazine All-American in 12 years. And colleges all over America are still wooing him.
Worthington, a 6-foot-7, 256-pound senior defensive end at St. Francis, is one of 58 All-Americans on the magazine's 42nd annual team, which will be formally announced in Sunday's editions of newspapers across the country, including The Buffalo News.
"Being a Parade All-American is great. I feel blessed," said Worthington. "I give a lot of credit to my coaching staff and my hard work. I never thought in a million years I would get it (All-American). When I was a freshman, I just wanted to make All-Catholic."
Worthington verbally committed to Ohio State in September. Although he still says Ohio State is at the top of his list, he is considering other schools. The signing period for football begins Feb. 2.
"Feb. 2 is the day everybody will know, and that might be the morning I know, you know what I mean?" Worthington said. "I'm not really sure but I'm pretty much Ohio State right now."
Worthington visited the University of Florida last weekend and Alabama the previous weekend. He's already visited Ohio State and Wisconsin - the NCAA allows recruits five "official visits" - and this weekend he said he'll travel to either Notre Dame or Boston College. Representatives from those schools, as well as Penn State, have met with Worthington at St. Francis in the last two weeks.
"I just have a lot of great choices to look back on, and I'm doing it," said Worthington. "Wherever I go, I'm going to get good playing time and it's a good program. I'm blessed with my choices. If something happens, or if I get kind of scared, I will go to another school. But I don't think that's going to happen. It's just a little insurance."
His insurance policy was prompted by the recent bad news coming out of Ohio State. The university is under investigation by the NCAA largely due to accusations by former standout running back Maurice Clarett, who said coach Jim Tressel set him up with cars, boosters provided him with no-show jobs and Ohio State professors gave breaks to football players. In addition, quarterback Troy Smith was suspended for December's Alamo Bowl for accepting benefits from a booster.
"That gave me a lot of jitters and stuff," Worthington said. "But I talk to a couple of the recruits all the time. I don't think the NCAA would do something, but I'm just looking out for myself."
The last Parade All-American from Western New York was lineman Mark Nowicki, a 1994 Grand Island grad.
Past selections for the Parade All-American team have included Joe Montana, John Elway and Emmitt Smith. Adrian Peterson, who starred as a freshman at Oklahoma, was one of the running backs on last year's team.
Players from 26 states are represented. Worthington is one of just two from New York, along with Jason Gwaltney of Long Island power North Babylon.
Worthington is a two-time All-Western New York first-team selection and was a first-team all-state pick as a senior. Worthington transferred to St. Francis from Turner-Carroll when the school closed following his sophomore year. He was part of a Red Raiders team that finished atop The News large school poll the last two seasons. This season he had more tackles (81) than his junior year (63) even though teams tried to run away from him.
"(The All-American honor) is something that solidifies our entire program," said St. Francis coach Jerry Smith. "It's not only an award for him but for our whole team for what they've done to help him get that opportunity. He didn't let us down, and we didn't let him down.
"Doug was just a pleasure to watch. It's going to be fun watching him in the future. It really is."
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