After only seeing a little bit of time as a freshman on varsity, Arsenal Tech's James Gilbert has received more opportunities as a sophomore and made the most of it so far. Through two games, he has 389 yards and seven touchdowns on 47 carries.
"I'm feeling real good about it," the 5'9, 185-lb Gilbert said, "because as a freshman, I played a little. As a sophomore, I'm getting a lot of carries. I feel good about this season for us on the new turf and everything."
Arsenal sees some tough competition in the Indianapolis area, and they end the season with Cathedral and Chatard, two successful programs. Last year, Gilbert says he got a taste of playing high level opposition.
"It was hard at frist had to get used to it. We played some big teams like Warren and Lawrence North and teams like that. In practice, I worked hard, me working hard in practice elevated the game to where it felt easier for me."
Since he is just beginning to make a name, and because of his youth, mail from colleges has not come in yet, but he did catch the eye of a couple Big Ten programs this summer.
"I went to Indiana and the University of Illinois. I think I was the youngest player there. It was really 7 on 7 and stuff. At Illinois, we did a lot of drills. It was individual with skill players. I liked it. I felt like I got better. The stuff we did at camps, you get opportunity to show how good you can do it in front of the college coaches. At Illinois, one of my coaches said one of the Illinois coaches asked about me."
Gilbert should hear from more and more schools as he moves through his career, and he does not have a preference as to who contacts him, he just wants to know that school will be taken care of.
"I really don't have any [favorite] schools, I just want a scholarship and whatever school it is, I'll go there."