Life prepares Crespi High School transfer for football, not the other way around

Exclusive interview with quarterback Josh Greaves

 

More times than not football helps prepare young men for the trials and tribulations life has to offer day in and day out. On the football field a player can get beat, knocked on their can, or turn the ball over on any given play teaching one how to deal with failure and how to overcome obstacles translating to life off the field.

For Josh Greaves life off the gridiron has set up the soon to-be Crespi High School incoming transfer for successful play on the field.

Greaves is a star quarterback for Albert Einstein Academy in Santa Clarita, California, a small charter school enrolling 210 students just north of Los Angeles. In 2013 head coach Oscar Deleon entrusted his squad to Greaves with the growing talent responding racking up 100 completions on 208 pass attempts for 1,575 yards with 13 touchdowns against 14 interceptions. Near the goal line Greaves would get the call for a quarterback sneak finishing with five rushing touchdowns.

The statistics may not be overwhelming but there is a bigger story to be told. If ESPN will have you believe stats don’t lie then you must know stats do not tell the whole story.

Albert Einstein Academy’s football team has a roster of exactly 20 players, per the school’s website. To fill a team with only 20 players on the squad ironman football is a must and unlike big high schools the “next man up” mentality when injuries occur leave players playing out of position and with little time to learn the nuances of their role.

Injuries did take a toll on the 2013 AEA team with Greaves reporting eight to nine players missing games at various points throughout the season. Yet through all the adversity the team finished 2-7. Even Greaves missed two games due to a broken collar bone limiting his solid stat line.

With the school switching from 11-man football to 8-man football in the fall the writing was on the wall for Greaves to leave the comfort of AEA for another challenge life has thrown at him, competing for a starting spot at Crespi High School in Encino.

Crespi is a perennial powerhouse program playing in the Serra League of the Pac-5 Division. League games include weekly showdowns against other powerhouse programs like Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks), Bishop Amat, and Alemany.

Transferring to a new school can be unnerving for anyone especially for a young man that was a big fish in a small pond. Greaves could have taken the easy way out opting to stay at AEA for his reaming two years knowing he would be the team’s starting quarterback taking in all the glory and pointing fingers back at how the small school’s football program is set up should the Rockets underperformed year after year.

Life teaches all lessons and Greaves, despite his age, has not been sheltered from tough life lessons. In 2012 Josh had to say goodbye to his father John who lost his fight to Leukemia.

John was a coach’s coach and maybe more importantly the coach of his son’s team during his freshman season in 2012. The 49-year-old life long coach was so devoted to his son and the game of football he would schedule treatments around the team’s schedule at one time making AEA’s game against Viewpoint minutes after being released from the hospital, a time when the father and the coach should be in bed resting.

After four years of battling John Greaves lost his battle to Leukemia. His son reflects back on his passing, “My father passed away last year. His passing always motivates me. Before every game I write his initials in the grass and say a little prayer.”

Josh continues, “I take care of my mom and little brother and had to take care of my father too when he was sick.”

Josh learned how to be a leader from his father. During an interview with the Daily News in October of 2012 John Greaves was quoted saying, “It’s not about the record. If you put in the work, you want something, but it’s about academics and getting these guys to class and having fun. Football is there. Let’s go win some games, but let’s get our education, and if we get a championship, that’d be great.”

The spirit of his father’s words were passed along to his son. When asked about heading to Crespi Josh is looking forward to take on the new opportunity stating, “I’m excited to go to a new school next year. Hoping my new coaches will see my potential. Hope they will see I’m a good scholar athlete.”

“My mindset will be the same as always, compete do your best. If you do your best you’ll win the job. I’ve been a starter since my freshman year. I was a captain and didn’t have to worry about competing for my job. Through this opportunity I will learn how to compete more and keep working hard to keep whatever I have earned.”

No matter how long one plays the game of football learning and developing will always be a part of the game. To improve upon the strong fundamental base Greaves already has in the offseason he’s pushing to learn more.

“I want to improve by better understanding the game. I want to keep learning and learn from the best and play with the best. If I play and compete against the best the other players will help make me better,” Josh adds.

Looking to compete against other top players in the region, Greaves attended the Elite Football Network Exposure Camp in Los Angeles on May 10. When asked about the experience, the young quarterback had a lot to offer. “The camp was good. I really liked how the camp was run. I wanted to do more 7×7 competition but I really liked the coaches. All the filming motivated me to do better. I liked the kids around me at the camp. There were a lot of great coaches.”

Another theme in Josh’s life comes through from the EFN camp. “I liked when the coaches talked about life lessons off the field too. I really liked the camp.”

Greaves plans on attending UCLA’s camp for the third straight year and will head south to San Diego State’s camp this summer. Talking about the EFN camp and camps in general Greaves adds, “These camps help you out with getting better as a player. When I am done I feel better about what I have accomplished.”

Resting on his laurels is not suited for the junior to-be. Determination and dedication are weaved into the fabric of Greaves’ character. The 6’1”, 195 pound, signal caller is hitting it hard in the offseason getting up at 5:30 every morning for workouts. “Since the offseason, after recovering from my collarbone injury, I’ve gained about 25 pounds of muscle. I have also been working with a quarterback’s coach, Coach Seth Oseransky from Alemany High School once or twice a week. I do a lot of footwork drills as well,” notes Greaves.

When asked about his strengths on the field Greaves states, “My football IQ. I understand the game well. Last season coach let me call about 50 percent of the plays. This got me thinking about when to call different plays and why. I work very hard on what I do. My footwork is really good too.”

Footwork for quarterbacks is important and Greaves has picked two pro quarterbacks to learn from, “Andrew Luck and Alex Smith are my two favorite quarterbacks. Luck won a lot of games for Stanford and always did well in the bowl games. He does a 7-step drop one of few that can do it. Alex Smith’s footwork, arm release, and the way he holds the ball is exactly the way I do it. I like watching both of them compete.”

Greaves has NFL experience close by in Kevin Bentley. Bentley graduated from Montclair Prep in Van Nuys, California learning how to play linebacker with the help of then defensive coordinator John Greaves.

Greaves helped the 6’0”, 247 pound, standout earn a scholarship to Northwestern before becoming a fourth round draft pick of the Cleveland Browns in 2002. Bentley had a long NFL career playing for the Seattle Seahawks and Houston Texans before taking off the helmet and shoulder pads after the 2011 season as an Indianapolis Colt.

Greaves talks fondly of the great family friend, “My dad and Bentley were close. He’s like an older brother to me. He’s always helping out.” Greaves continues, “He used to live with my parents. I really admire and look up to him.”

Months away from joining his new teammates at Crespi has not stopped Greaves from setting goals for the 2014 season. “I want to be the starting quarterback and help lead Crespi to a league championship. I want to make my family proud. My mom does everything now, I’d like to give her back something,” states Greaves. He adds, “I’m going to keep trying to be the football player my father would want me to be.”

Greaves will take fond memories of playing at AEA with him to Crespi. Recalling a memorable game from 2012 Greaves tells the story, “The second game of the season against Indian Springs I was 38 of 42 with 323 yards passing with four touchdowns. I had a very high completion percentage. We were down with a 1:20 left. We drove the ball 80 yards and I scored the game winning touchdown. It felt really good and was the first varsity win in school history.”

More thoughts from 2013, “We did the best we could with what we had. I love the family atmosphere. I love my brothers on the team. The season was very difficult with a lot of tough losses. I believe I learned how to be a leader.”

Josh adds, “We had to fund raise for the team ourselves. We did the best we could. We had to practice in a park, we had no home field, and were always the visitors.”

When asked about why he loves football Greaves has a lot to share, “The passion of the game, the brotherhood. For me winning and losing, you want to win, but having your brothers is important. Football can do so much for you. I love the game inside the game. We had a great brotherhood (at AEC). The game can help you in so many ways in life.”

After finishing just his sophomore season one gets the feeling Josh has already played a lifetime of football. Greaves has one more significant story to share about why football will always be important to him.

“My freshman year we were playing Frazier Mountain High School. We finally had fans at the game. I got a bus for our fans and we had about 200-250 people show up, may not seem like a lot but for us it was.”

“We had 95 yards to go with only 40 second left. I got to the 40-yard line with 9 seconds left in the game. On the last play I threw the ball to the end zone and our wide receiver caught it for a touchdown. Our fans ran onto the field. It was great.”

“It was my dad’s birthday. It was the last time he got to celebrate his birthday. Obviously I didn’t know it was going to be the last time. It felt good to give him that win.”

“My father has inspired me, thankful for the life I have and the people that I am surrounded by.”

No matter what the future may hold in terms of wins and losses on the field for Crespi. No matter if Greaves is a starter or not, the powerhouse high school program will be enriched by the winning character the AEA transfer is bringing to his new team.