Lions star drawing Ivy League interest

King's intrasquad scrimmage early Friday afternoon drew not only most of the student body, but at least one Ivy League recruiter homing in on senior International Baccalaureate student Donovan Celerin.

A tailback with a 5.4 weighted GPA, Celerin scored the scrimmage's first touchdown of the day on a short run, lined up on the return teams and served as kick holder. New coach Al Davis, trying to resurrect a moribund program on its third coach in as many seasons, said Columbia also has visited.

"He's probably one of the best athletes I think that King High has had in the past or the future," Davis said. "He's just a super student-athlete."

Look for Celerin to spearhead a Lions offensive backfield that will include diminutive sophomore quarterback Reese Sturgis. Davis appears to be employing a spread-style attack that will utilize the running abilities of Celerin and Sturgis.

"I'm still the type of person that loves the run-and-shoot type of offense," said Davis, a former longtime Gibbs coach who emerged from a brief retirement to take over King's program.

"We're going to throw the ball, but we're not going to do it in the spring because the kids are just learning the system. But in the fall, you're going to see a lot of flying balls and there are going to be long ball games."