( Perry Groves 6-3 210 LB McNary HS- One of the top LB’s in the State of Oregon for the 2014 class) |
A kid who’s name you will get used to hearing is LB Perry Groves (6-3 210 Jr. LB) out of McNary HS in Salem. Some of you may be familiar with the last name as his older brother JD Groves was an Oregon Player of the Year back in 2000 and ranked as high as the #4 Full back in the country during his senior year. JD went on to play at UCLA and now is a pastor at a local church.
Perry, much like his big brother is a physical specimen and more then anything just looks the part. At 6-3 and still very young he has time to fill out, but his other sports keep him in elite shape. " Watching the Olympics really makes swimming appealing right now, but Im not sure what I would like to do yet, I just like getting out and competing", Groves says.
He is a three sport athlete and one of the best swimmers around, giving him a unique trio of sports (Football, Track, Swimming) for which he is ridiculously talented at. Last football season Groves racked up 81 total tackles (59 solo) and a sack, earning all league honors as a sophomore. He ranked as one of the state’s top sophomores statistically in multiple categories.
Perry is long and super fast and will be a kid that projects at the D1 level if that’s what he decides to pursue. He’ s an extremely polite and humble kid , so his outlook on everything is refreshing. McNary is a team that I am going to have listed as one of the most improved state wide coming off a 3-8 season in 2011. The Central Valley Conference has been down in recent years, and it will be up to kids like Groves to bring some of the flavor back.
The Celtics get a talented new Head Coach in Isaac Parker who has been at South Salem for a number of years. They also return three all league lineman to go along with three very talented skill kids in Garrett Hitner (6-1 180 Jr. S/WR) , Cody Bond (5-9 170 Sr. ATH/DB), and Brett Hildebrand (5-9 175 Sr. RB/DB). Hitner is regarded as one of the top junior DB’s in the state and is a kid that we really like moving forward.
Perry will find time at Tight End and be able to help out the talented lineman in Mason Ross (6-2 245 Sr. OL/DL), Kelly Cowan (6-2 260 Sr. OL/DL), and Bruce Isabel (6-1 260 Jr. OL/DL). Like any good team it starts up front and the Celts have a nice crew returning. You can guarantee they will be much improved, and be fighting with Sprague, West Salem, and South Salem for the top four spots in the Valley.
Groves will be listed as one of the state’s top LB’s when we release our underclassmen rankings shortly, and will be a kid that we look forward to working with at our elite events in the off season. When referencing the season Perry says, " I think we will have a good year and have a lot of talent coming back.. We are all very excited to get the season underway".
We look forward to getting down to Salem and seeing Groves and McNary do battle, Celtic fans should be very excited with all of the talent they have returning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xKlpz6o_Fo Perry Groves Highlights
(Just a short clip with all of the top athletes in the state, back at our initial NEI elite event back in January) 5:39 exact if you want to see his specifically…Shows his speed and length
( Kids a beast and one of the top 3 sport athletes in the region)
( A Unique trio of Sports to say the least and Perry Groves is super talented at all of them)
