2009 Spartan Nation Football Profile: TE Garrett Celek #85

2009 Spartan Nation Football Profile: TE Garrett Celek #85 Height:  6’5” Weight: 243 2009 Eligibility: Sophomore EXP: 1 Letter Status: Backup

2009 Spartan Nation Football Profile:Â TE Garrett Celek #85

Height:  6’5”

Weight:Â 243

2009 Eligibility:Â Sophomore

EXP:Â 1 Letter

Status:Â Backup and Frequent Contributor

 

Strengths: Celek was fun to watch last year. Each and every time he stepped on the field you could tell that he was getting better. He is committed to each and every day getting better. He is a hard worker and even though he is not the starter (Charlie Gantt) but is a solid player in a group of three (with Linthicum) that could play and start at most Big Ten schools. Celek is young as last season was his first as a player, but while youth is served, he is a solid TE.

 

A great example of Celek’s talent is from the EMU game. In the first quarter with MSU on the EMU 41 a 2-yard running play is executed. Most wouldn’t notice anything special on a two yard gain, but there was something. Celek took out the RDE and dropped him to the ground. Celek jumped up and sprinted downfield looking for another man to block.

 

What does that show? Celek is committed to doing the ugly things. Getting to the second level is huge. It is what turns good plays into great plays. Had someone else done their first assignment on the other side as good as Celek did his, he would have been downfield with a block that would have turned a two yard gain into a ten or fifteen.

 

TE and FB are the two biggest positions on the field that have a lot of grunt work with little praise. Celek does it without hesitation and loves it. I remember watching him in practice as they repeated the same play over and over and each time he had a smile and blocked with a happy heart. Celek is a football player. He loves the practice and the playing and his strength is that he plays football with a passion for the game.

 

Weakness: His biggest weakness is his youth. He is still learning the game. I know that shocks a lot of people that at this level people are still learning, but at each level there is a huge learning curve. Here is an example of one of Celek’s.

 

Let’s go back to the EMU game. The Spartans had a 1st and ten at the fifty in the second quarter. Celek engaged the DE on a RB ISO play and he had his pad level way to high. In fact he was almost standing up. He didn’t use his hips to turn the DE because he had such high pad level and didn’t have leverage. Because he didn’t have pad level or leverage, he drove the DE right at the play. 

 

I have mentioned in a previous writings that one of the worst things that can happen is when a player makes a mistake and still gets a good result. With most players they think they got away with something and they use that as a reason to get lax. This play worked because the DE tried to get fancy and didn’t have his head and eyes up to see that Celek was blocking him into the play. He tried to spin and when he did, he spun himself away from the tackle.

 

Celek loves the game and won’t let the success of a bad play make him lazy. He is a student of the game and will still fight to get better.

 

Final Analysis: Celek is young, but he is good. The Spartans in my opinion have the best TE combo in the country. In fact I wrote about it in detail (follow this link) previously this year. Celek is one of the players that won’t get as many reps now as in the past and that is only because of the amount of talent at this position.

 

Celek’s ceiling is high and I expect him to push even harder and make an even bigger contribution in 2009. I know this Celek doesn’t need anyone to push him. He is a self-motivator and will have a great season.