The Jesuit Crusaders are one of the top teams in the Pacific Northwest and it starts with the run game. Every year the Crusaders reload, and the run game becomes the focal point. One of the biggest moves of the off season came with the transfer of junior AJ Glass (6-1 195 RB/SS Jr.) of West Linn. The highly touted athlete comes in ranked the #3 Running Back and the #6 DB in the entire state.
Glass is a top 10 kid for the class of 2013′ and he will have a scary line to run behind. It didn’t take long for Jesuit to realize who was going to be the man for the next couple seasons.Glass went for 133 yards on 14 carries in the season opener against Canby and looks to be the feature back from here on out.
Glass is super dangerous by himself, but when you add in the supporting cast it almost gets ridiculous. The Offensive Line (Andrew Kirkland 6-4 285 Jr, Austin Griffin 6-5 320 Sr, Max Rich 6-7 285 Jr, and Dominic Mori 6-1 230 Sr) can move people at will, “They are just very athletic and big, i’m very privileged to have them”, Glass says. Also add in Tight End/Wide Receiver Mike Ralston (6-6 240 Jr), and Potential All American Fullback/Linebacker Doug Brenner( 6-3 250 Jr), and you have one of the biggest interior cast of athletes in the entire country.
The size up front will allow Glass to be even more stealth when picking his running lanes. His primary strengths focus on his ability to cut with power. He has good speed, but its the combination of speed and power that make him so difficult to tackle. Glass will hit you and then bounce and be able to maintain balance. It is a trait that he learned as one of the state’s top skiiers while at West Linn.
Its a unique combination of sports, and it has benefited his football career immensely. He is no longer going to Ski during the season as he will be training all year for long for football. Glass projects at the Division 1 level as a safety and will also play a vital role on the defense.
Nick “Rocky” Rothstein (5-11 200 QB/FS Sr) looks like the real deal running the ball from his quarterback position. He is a player of the year candidate on both sides of the ball. It’s impossible to focus on just one Crusader so Glass has a big advantage one on one with most opponents. We should see his carries increase as the year progresses. There have been some great Jesuit teams over the last couple decades and this one has the potential of being mentioned right along side them.
Friday Nights game between #1 Sheldon and #2 Jesuit will be one of the biggest regular season non league affairs in the last five years. Both teams are potential Top 50 schools on a national level. Oregon rarely has two teams in the top 50, but this could definitely be the year especially if Aloha plays like they can.
Glass is a kid that we will hear a lot about over the next couple years. It will be a battle of epic proportions on Friday Night and the one matchup everyone wants to see is Sheldon’s junior superstar Connor Strahm (6-1 210 SB/SS Jr.) against Glass in one on one coverage. Strahm comes in ranked the #7 Player overall While Glass sits at #10 for 2013′. Both project at the D1. level
AJ is a class act on and off the field and is looked at as one of the top players in the Pacific Northwest. We look forward to following his progress over the next few years and beyond.
