College football coaches flock to St. Joseph for John Olmstead, New Jersey's top recruit

Some of the biggest names in college football, including Ohio State University’s Urban Meyer, already have made their way to St. Joseph High School to inquire in person about New Jersey’s top recruit and one of the nation’s most heralded offensive linemen.

The coveted junior tackle is known around campus simply as “Johnny O.” His gregarious off-field nature belies the tenacity with which his 6-foot-6 and 305-pound frame drives opposing linemen in the opposite direction, or sometimes into the ground.

Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley, Pittsburgh’s Pat Narduzzi, Syracuse’s Dino Babers, Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck, Duke’s David Cutcliffe and Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald are among the college mentors who have visited the scenic 70-acre Metuchen campus to talk to St. Joseph head coach Rich Hilliard about John Olmstead, who holds offers from 35 major Division I programs with more on the way.

Long before he established himself as the biggest man on campus since 7-foot NBA All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns graduated from St. Joseph four years ago, Olmstead was merely a physical specimen playing on the freshman football team.

“I was impressed from the beginning with his friendliness, with the way he spoke to me and how he handled himself,” St. Joseph President Gregory Brandao said of his initial meeting with Olmstead three years ago, believing at the time that the towering student-athlete had to be a senior. “I haven’t seen anything where he’s demonstrated anything less than sportsmanship or what we want to see from a St. Joe’s guy. I’m proud of what he’s done and who he is, and I know he’s going to do well wherever he goes next.”

The next destination for Olmstead, who has helped the Falcons post an 18-2 record over the past two seasons, likely won’t be determined until December's early National Letter of Intent signing period.

Olmstead was hoping to be able to announce his college choice before the start of the upcoming high school football season, making a nonbinding verbal commitment after navigating his five official visits, which can be taken after April 1 under NCAA regulations, but as the scholarship offers continue to roll in, he has decided, for now, to postpone that decision.

“I planned to verbal around May or June, but now with more schools coming in, I don’t think I’m going to be able to make the deadline,” Olmstead said. “I wanted to (commit earlier) but this has gotten crazy, and I don’t want to rush anything.”

Some of the schools from which Olmstead holds offers include LSU, Penn State, Florida, Tennessee, Wisconsin, UCLA, Nebraska, Oregon, Notre Dame, Michigan, Arkansas, Arizona, Missouri and Ole Miss. Olmstead’s bedroom is flooded with boxes overflowing with recruiting letters.

He is the most heavily recruited football player from Middlesex County since quarterback Bryan Fortay, a 1989 East Brunswick High School graduate who signed with the University of Miami after being named a consensus Parade magazine, ESPN, Super Prep Magazine, Coca-Cola and National High School Coaches Association All-American as a senior.

The school that wins Olmstead’s services won’t just be getting a gifted lineman with size 18 shoes who dead lifts more than 500 pounds, squats more than 400 pounds, benches 300 pounds and runs a five-second 40-yard dash and a 1.65-second 10-yard split. They’ll also be getting a phenomenal student with a 4.1 grade-point average who has an outstanding pedigree. Olmstead’s parents, Pat and John, both played college sports, with mom playing basketball and dad playing football, while his four older sisters all played college lacrosse, two at the Division I level.

Olmstead suspects he was holding a lacrosse stick before he was holding a rattle, saying that he played lacrosse for as long as he can remember. Ray Lepski, a middle school gridiron coach in Olmstead's native North Brunswick, convinced him to come out for the football team.

The latest in a long line of Division I linemen that St. Joseph, a fledgling program which just completed its seventh varsity season, has produced, Olmstead has only been playing football for four years (he was always too big to participate in Pop Warner). Former St. Joseph linemen Nick Krimin (Rutgers), Jethro Pepe (Delaware), Sean Mills (Illinois) and P.J. Barr (Bucknell) are all currently scholarship players.

The Falcons amassed more than 3,400 yards from scrimmage last season with Olmstead paving the way for running backs and providing air-tight protection for his quarterback. He also starred on the line for a defense that limited 16 opponents to a touchdown or less over the past two years, during which St. Joseph won consecutive Greater Middlesex Conference White Division championships.

Olmstead played lacrosse as a freshman at St. Joseph but never came back out for the team after he began to generate football scholarship offers following his sophomore season on the gridiron. Olmstead said transferable skills from lacrosse – including the physicality of the game and the agility required to excel – have helped him on the gridiron. Olmstead said his training regimen, which includes working out sometimes twice a day, including a routine that commences at 4 a.m., interfered with his ability to be a two-sport athlete.

“If I lose a day at the gym, someone else is getting better than me,” Olmstead said in explanation of his relentless work ethic, which he hopes eventually will  translate into an NFL career.

Olmstead also has to find time to eat. He consumes eight to nine meals daily, taking in between 8,000 and 9,000 calories per day.

When he needs a break from the rigors of recruiting, which include college football fans reaching out to him on social media – especially those from Rutgers, where Olmstead last month made his first unofficial visit – Olmstead said he enjoys retreating to his family’s lake house in Lake Wallenpaupack near Scranton, Pennsylvania, to do some fishing.

A leader in the school community, Olmstead has been integral in the resurgence of the Falcon Flock, the St. Joseph student section, whose attendance at winter sporting events dwindled in recent years, but has increased exponentially with classmates following the example of the big man on campus. He worked with Alyssa Davis, the school's director of communications, to formulate a plan to fill the stands at home and away games.

Olmstead is always looking out for his football teammates, as well, making sure Hilliard mentions some of the Falcons' other top players to college coaches who come to St. Joseph wanting to talk exclusively about the school’s big lineman.

“Every coach that comes in the building says this kid has what you can’t teach,” Hilliard said of Olmstead. “They just can’t say enough good things about him. They notice his motor is running well past the line of scrimmage. He’s always looking further down the line."

Hilliard, who is renown for grooming talented linemen, including former Northwestern star Brandon Vitabile, who was a Rimington Trophy finalist as college football's top center before signing a contract with the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent, said he is unaccustomed to the interest Olmstead is generating.

“This is the first athlete that I’ve been around that has had so much attention," Hilliard said. "He’s handling it better than any young man I’ve ever seen. He’s so well-grounded.”

Staff Writer Greg Tufaro: gtufaro@gannett.com