If everything happens for a reason, then Jason Sylva of Plymouth, MA would love to hear what happens next. Saturday April 24th, Sylva was able to visit the pristine Boston College campus, but the visit came at a price. He ended up missing the sophomore portion of the National Underclassmen Combine on Saturday in order to see the Eagles participate in their annual spring game.

For Sylva, it was his second time back at the heights, but this visit tasted so much sweeter. "I kind of knew what to expect, but the campus was really nice. I went down the field and watched the pregame and watched the game from there. I got a way better feel for the game sitting up close."

One of the players almost everyone would like to see up close is sophomore phenom Luke Kuechly. Luckily for Sylva, he got his full dose of the torpedo during the game. "Kuechly is an animal! I have never seen someone sniff out the ball that fast in my life. He scans the reads, and then he just commits to it. It is unbelievable watching him. It was so fun."

While comparisons could easily be drawn to Sylva and Kuechly, there is no doubt that Jason is his own bonafide linebacker. He had an amazing season at Tabor Academy (MA) and played well enough this past season to prepare him for the limelight of stardom in the high school ranks. "Individually I prepared as best I could for my sophomore year, but I was very suprised when I saw the type of talent I went up against. I've never played with kids on my team with kids that are real players. When we played Cheishire (CT) everything seemed so much bigger and faster than I expected."

Sylva admits to having a season filled with mistakes but still made the best of a great learning experience. " I think I did well and had a good season with an all-league title and stuff but I think last year was a great learning experience."

Tabor ended up going 3-5 during their 2009 campaign but found success they usually could not find. "I think before this year, Tabor lost 20 something games in a row before our new coach. Next year, I feel like everyone will know how to win and we could be able to go a long way."

For Sylva, the reason for his attendance at Tabor is filled with courage and belief in ones ability. "The rebuilding process was really the main reason I wanted to come to Tabor. I had options to other prep schools but I felt I wanted to take part in changing a program, not just playing in one."

Despite the crash course experience in prep school football, Sylva more than held his own and became a big target for some great division 1 programs.

"My two main colleges are Rutgers and BC because I have talked to them the most. I was talking with the University of Virginia before they all left so that kind of sucked. I have received letters from UCLA, Notre Dame and Alabama. A letters a letter, and while it's great to have, I don't know how serious they are."

While all those prestigious schools appear to be in the running, Boston College has one intangible item; Mark Herzlich. "Easily my favorite player in college is Mark Herzlich. He is my absolute hero and I've been watching him ever since he stepped foot at BC. I have always tried to watch him and pick up on literally everything he does."

The BC pipeline doesn't stop there though because Jason's favorite player in the NFL is another solid product of Boston College. "Jamie Sylva is my favorite player in the NFL too. BC guys are my guys right there."

BC does have one fatal flaw that Jason was able to pick up on during the Spring game. "One knock on BC is the pride in the school is not that good. I wasn't really feeling a buzz from the small amount of people that were there. I want to go to a school that has a great tradition, but also has great pride in their college."

Even though the process has really just begun for the young linebacker out of Tabor Academy, a favorite may already be in place. "If I got an offer from BC then got another 10 offers that same week, then I would wait it out. If I got the offer from BC and got one or two more offers after a few months, then I would slow it down and pick. My heart is definitely at BC."

With Sylva's talent and buzz, we could possibly see him as one of those big time national signing day guys, right? "Definitely not. I could never deal with all that stress. I don't want to wait all senior year to know where I'm going. I want to know, get in the weight lifting program, then go. I won't deal with all those last minute text messages and stuff like that."

As the plot thickens, players of all ages show what they can offer to each and every college football program out there. Year after year, it seems like Jason Sylva's stardom grows brighter and brighter. Massachusetts football has never looked so promising.

Cliff Smith article