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West, DeGroot Committed To Replacing QB Jenkins

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By CRISTINA LEDRA

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 23, 2008

WESLEY CHAPEL - Neither C.J. West nor Geoff DeGroot believes he can come in and be at the level Greg Jenkins was when he was quarterbacking Wesley Chapel until his senior season this past year, but both are committed to improving to lead the Wildcats this season.

West, a sophomore and DeGroot, a freshman, can see what they need to work on in order to be the kind of asset Jenkins was and intend to do so this summer after spring practice concluded Thursday with the Blue and White game.

"Greg, obviously, if he didn't have time and his line missed a couple blocks he would run around and make things happen," DeGroot said. "That's a tough spot to fill though, because we need the line for us to get out of there and make plays."

Improving speed and strength are at the top of the priority list for West and DeGroot, but getting better acquainted with the game itself is also a main concern.

"I want to work on my speed and power and just the quarterback position, knowledge of the sport," West said.

West is in his second year at the position, while DeGroot is in his first.

The most important thing for a lot of the younger players is to get game experience, Wesley Chapel coach John Castelamare said, and the spring game helped out a little in that area.

West saw some playing time last season when Jenkins was out with a shoulder injury.

"I made rookie mistakes and I know what to do now," West said. "I know when to take a sack and when to not throw up an easy ball and just knowing the speed of the game."

West and DeGroot are looking forward to the Pasco County 7-on-7 league that starts up June 17 and runs for seven weeks, which will give them more reps, and opponents unlike the intrasquad spring game.

The development of the quarterback will be especially crucial considering the Wildcats have a couple of up-and-coming targets in 6-foot receiver Mitchell Wozniak and 6-foot-2 tight end Sebastian Pinckney.

Both accounted for touchdowns during Wesley Chapel's spring game.

"We learn from each other's mistakes," DeGroot said. "If someone makes a mistake, Coach Cas jumps on us and says 'We don't do that!" and now we know not to do that because we don't want to get yelled at."

Overall, Castelamare thought the players did well in the spring, so much so that he gave both teams the reward dinner of sausages and burgers instead of the just the winning team.

"This was the first time in about eight years that I let them all have it," Castelamare said. "And probably because they evenly worked real hard. It wasn't a lopsided thing. I think it was a pretty good game and they worked hard in practice. They were always enthused to play each other in practice and I think the coaches had a good time, too."

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