La Salle High QB Loughery goes unsigned on first day

NOWHERE IS THIS written: High school quarterbacks with gaudy statistics, rung up while leading teams to wonderful accomplishments, must be offered Division I scholarships.

Nor should it be.

But if ever a guy appeared to be worthy . . .

As football's National Signing Day came and went, La Salle High's Drew Loughery never picked up a pen. Well, except to jot down notes in class.

No school from Division I-A begged the 6-1, 205-pound Loughery to join the fold while telling him, "Your parents can let out a sigh of relief, buddy. Your college tuition is covered." Ditto for those in I-AA. (Those new terms for the divisions are ridiculous. Who even uses them?)

In the next few days, it's expected that Loughery, who recently steered the Explorers to the Class AAAA state championship and finished his career with 50 touchdown passes and the third-highest yardage total in city leagues history (5,355), will opt to become a preferred walk-on at Temple or accept a partial scholarship from Division II West Chester.

How does this happen? How does a guy go from soaring to sore? (Not as in mad. As in pained. At least a little.)

"I'm not very frustrated or upset. I take it for what it is," Loughery said. "I know I did all I could with the talents God gave me."

"I won't say I'm baffled, but it is surprising," Drew Gordon said. "Hard to comprehend."

Gordon is La Salle's coach, as well as a former Villanova quarterback, and he understands that a transformation is taking place in the college game. Fewer big schools are favoring pro-style offenses and most want quarterbacks whose dimensions are in the 6-3, 220 range.

"And if you're not that," Gordon said, "they want you to run a 4.5 40."

He continued, "I understand those things. But how about the qualities a kid can bring into a program? Drew is a winner. After our run to the state title, I felt for sure that things were going to happen for him. I mean, look what he did. Didn't turn it over. Was great on third-down conversions. Scored on that draw vs. Easton [in a state quarterfinal]. Even made a great block to ice the game."

Funny he used the word ice. Two of La Salle's six postseason games, Easton and the state final vs. State College, were played in snowstorms.

Gordon's son, Brett, his offensive coordinator, was a first-magnitude star at La Salle and Villanova and Loughery originally felt good 'Cat vibrations.

"Despite being a little smaller than most D-1 prospects, or maybe not as athletic, I always felt Villanova, with their connections to my mentors, Brett and Drew, would give me my shot," he said. "From last spring, and then through the summer and fall, I felt things were looking good and that they'd take a chance on me . . . It never really worked out."

Late in the season, coaches from Massachusetts and Richmond trekked to Philly to speak with Loughery and make evaluations. But official visits, let alone scholarships, were not offered.

"When I'd tell people how things were going, they were surprised. Some felt bad for me," Loughery said. "Being a Philadelphia football fan my entire life, I just concentrated on the memories and felt proud about the personal accolades I received while being part of a team that was able to accomplish so much. As for schools drifting away from me, or denying me, that's just the way it is."

Just a few weeks ago, Loughery gave serious thought to casting aside his frustrations and finding a Division III powerhouse to attend.

Then, the sun began to emerge. West Chester became an option. As did Temple.

"I had a nice talk with [Temple coach] Al Golden," Loughery said. "He said he knew, just from watching me, that I was a winner. Most schools told me I needed to work on this, work on that, whereas coach Golden told me he could help me with this, help me with that.

"Lately, West Chester and Temple have been humping up the pace, reaching out to me. They've made me feel better about the whole process."

Once Loughery makes his decision, he'll begin the next phase: picking a major.

Up until now, may we assume his head has been spinning too fast to get into that?

"Seriously," he said. *