Boulder High linebacker committs to Hawkins’ recruits
He’s got the same instincts. He’s got the same playing style, vision, work ethic and leadership.
He’s the spitting image.
Boulder High School linebacker Will Pericak, the latest player to commit to Dan Hawkins’ 2008 recruiting class – could be a dead ringer for CU sophomore Jeff Smart, his coach said.
“They played together for three years,” Boulder coach Spencer Colter said. “I’d bet he learned a lot from him. Jeff Smart is the same type of player as he is.”
Pericak committed the weekend of Sept. 29, when the Buffs upset then No. 3 Oklahoma, 27-24. He chose Colorado over Northwestern, Colorado State, Air Force and San Diego State.
If he signs his letter of intent this spring, the linebacker will re-unite with Smart, his former teammate at Boulder High.
The Will Pericak File
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 245 lbs.
Born: 12/30/1989, Boulder, Colo.
Bench: 275
Squat: 400
40-yard dash: 4.69 seconds
Intangibles: “He’s got instincts,” Boulder coach Spencer Colter said. “He’s been coached well by all of his previous coaches. They’ve all coached at the college level.”
“They’re both quiet kids,” Colter said. “They both shut their mouths, get out there and get it done.”
Smart joined the CU football team as an invited walk-on his freshman year. He started this season a virtual unknown, listed as third in the depth chart.
But Smart worked into heavy rotation in the defense and is third on the team in tackles with 43, behind defensive back Daniel Dykes and linebacker Jordon Dizon.
Pericak is a workhorse of his own.
“It’s not so much vocal and it’s not so much going out here and rallying everybody up. He’s out here quietly leading everybody by example,” Colter said. “In fact, I wanted to name him team captain as a sophomore. His work ethic is second-to-none.”
The senior plays both sides for Boulder High’s “Dirty Thirty,” a varsity team with only 30 players.
As a junior, Pericak won first team All-Region and second team All-State as a tight end. As a linebacker, he was named first team All-Conference and second team All-State, and he finished second in the state in tackles with 126.
Recruiting publication Rivals.com lists him as the No. 29 linebacker in the country and the eighth-best player in the state.
He plays basketball in the spring and also carries a 4.1 cumulative grade point average, bumped up from taking a slew of advanced placement courses.
“I do sleep, if you can believe it,” Pericak said.
The Boulder native said he’s set the goal of earning first team All-State honors and winning an invite to an all-star game this year.
“He has his priorities in order,” Colter said. “He’s a guy who knows what he has to do, and he gets it done. He’s all about business.”
Even though he is going to play college football in the future, Pericak will miss the Friday night lights of high school football.
“It’s kind of sad, almost,” he said. “At a school like Boulder, you never really think it’s going to end.
“I look back, and I think about the atmosphere and what it was like to play here. But I’m not going very far. I love being a kid and being in high school still, but I don’t think it will be hard to leave it behind.”
