News Story - Idaho State Journal

POCATELLO -- One month, he was an unknown offensive lineman at Highland. The next, he was a Division I football recruit.

Such has been the whirlwind 2008 high school football season for Jared Goody.

From a junior year plagued with injuries and illness to a senior year blessed with health and notoriety, Goody has established himself as the best offensive lineman on a Highland team that will play Eagle for the 5A state championship at 6 p.m. Friday at Holt Arena.

And because of his efforts, college football coaches took notice. After previously receiving no recruiting interest, Goody received four scholarship offers eight games into the season and verbally committed to play for Weber State.

Looking back, Goody can hardly believe everything that has happened.

"It really is crazy," he said. "Within four weeks of trying, I had scholarships offered to me, and the right one came along. I took it."

Goody attributes his rise to the unfortunate situation he was in at this time last year.

Back then, Goody was not suiting up with the Rams. Just two games into the season, he suffered an injury and was diagnosed with West Nile Virus. There was no way he could play. So for all intents and purposes, he missed an entire year of football.

"I played in parts of two games, but it all went downhill from there," Goody said. "I had four doctors notes saying that I was out until January. It was tough. But just having the whole ordeal gave me a ton of motivation for this year."

That much was obvious from the get go. Highland played fierce out-of-state competition with enormous defensive linemen early in the year, but the Rams were able to hold their own against them.

Highland's offense moved the ball well regardless of the opponent, and Goody's stellar play at the left tackle position was a big reason why. At 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds, he towered above the competition and opened up running lanes and offered tremendous pass protection.

"He's anchored the offensive line all year," Highland coach Gino Mariani said.

The Rams' offensive line as a whole has experienced a tremendous season. Behind it, Highland has run the ball better than ever, and senior quarterback Taysom Hill eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season in the Rams' first playoff game.

Mariani said he wasn't so sure Highland could put up those kinds of numbers running the ball during preseason practices. Especially because he didn't yet know he had a star player in Goody.

"He was injured or sick for almost all of last year, and there were a lot of question marks," Mariani said. "We didn't know where he was going to be at, but he's shown us. He's done a good job. His consistency from game to game is just great."

Goody hasn't yet decided whether he will try to carry that consistency over into college football next year. He plans on serving a LDS mission at some point. He can either do that right away, then attend Weber State or play one season for the Wildcats and then serve the mission.

"It all depends on where I'm at and what they (WSU coaches) want," he said. "We'll wait and see."

He's quick to change the subject from the future, though. He had enough time to think about that last season when he was injured.

Aside from the postgame celebration he has planned if Highland is fortunate enough to win Friday's state title game -- spoken like a true lineman, he said he wants to buy a banana cream pie from Butter Burrs, throw it in the air and try to catch it in his mouth -- Goody only wants to focus on the present.

It's what he's spent the past year working toward.

This document was originally published online on Thursday, November 20, 2008

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