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Timid TE Isn't Shying Away From Attention

Tribune photo by CLIFF McBRIDE

Orson Charles accidentally bumped into the Gators' latest national championship football trophy and shattered it.

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By KATHERINE SMITH

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 15, 2008

TAMPA - Orson Charles knows what people think about him.

He's the kid who destroyed the University of Florida's national championship trophy. Right? He's the kid who abandoned the Riverview High football team for the glory of playing at Plant. Right?

Get to know Charles and you'll soon discover there's more to him than broken pieces of crystal and a transfer-student tag.

For starters, Charles is shy. Or so he says.

It's hard to imagine the 6-foot-3, 230-pound tight end who vocally cheers on his teammates during games as shy. But that's football, he says. Social situations are different.

"I was thinking of making my big college announcement during the Army All-American Game on national TV, but I'm kind of shy," Charles said. "If I'm in front of people I don't know, I'm real quiet."

Charles certainly isn't shying away from the collegiate attention he's receiving. Some recruits grow weary of the process. Not Charles. He seems to be thriving in the adulation from some of the country's top programs.

"Orson is the kind of kid that revels in it," Plant coach Robert Weiner said. "Orson loves this. With everything, he's a kid in the candy shop.

"He certainly doesn't look like a kid, but he has the attitude of a kid and approaches it that way, in a good way, with wide open eyes that everything is cool and fun."

From the first phone call he took - from Florida's Urban Meyer - to the endless amounts of mail, Charles soaks in every aspect of being one of the top tight end recruits in the country.

"I like the attention," he said.

He certainly received a lot of it in April, when he accidentally bumped into the Gators' latest national championship football trophy and shattered it.

He also received a lot of attention since arriving at Plant in January, a move that has made a difference not only on the field, but also off it.

"I sit in the front of the class now," Charles said. "If I don't get something, I stay after and ask the teachers about it."

Charles sees the big picture now and seems to be realizing something his mother has instilled in him since birth.

"I've always told him the sky is the limit," Nasline Charles said. "That's something he grew up with and whatever he does, he tries to reach the sky."

As a single mother raising two boys, Nasline figured she had no choice but to be strict. The rules - no TV on weekdays, with the exception of football games, keep the house clean, be in bed by 9 p.m. - will ultimately serve a greater purpose.

"I have high expectations for him," Nasline said. "I don't want him to be just another kid with a ball. I want him to have good morals and good respect. I constantly tell him it's not what you do when people are around, it's what you do when people aren't around. Even if nobody's watching, God is watching."

There were a lot of eyes on Charles when he made the move from Riverview to Plant. In a classic case of perception versus reality, many figured Charles made the move purely to be a part of the Panthers' successful passing game. The reality was Charles wasn't thriving at Riverview.

"It was a sacrifice for us to move," Nasline said. "But I wanted him to be happy."

At Riverview, Charles wasn't happy. He left following his junior season, when he led the Sharks in receiving with 16 catches for 398 yards and three touchdowns.

"I had to get out," he said.

Riverview did provide Charles an opportunity to put some plays on film that caught the attention of college coaches.

When he narrows his long list of offers to 10 before his senior season begins, there will be certain criteria each school must meet. He's looking for a program not afraid to throw to tight ends. The likeability of the tight ends coach is a big factor. And at the top of the list: academics.

Charles wants to major in construction engineering.

Perhaps he can learn how to put that Florida trophy back together.

"This is all very exciting, but I'm not done yet," Charles said. "I want to do a lot of good things."

Reporter Katherine Smith can

be reached at (813) 259-7860

or ksmith@tampatrib.com.

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