The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Mentor lines are anchored by Big Ten recruits
It’s not easy, but sometimes Mentor football coach Steve Trivisonno likes to separate himself from being a coach and just take a moment to be a fan.
On a sunny August morning at Jerome T. Osborne Stadium, Trivisonno watched his team’s drills featuring the first-string offense going against the starting defense.
On the first play, defensive end Noah Potter locked up against left tackle Ryan Jacoby. Potter flipped sides on the next play and battled with right tackle Nick Samac. Trivisonno smiled. “They’re pretty good, aren’t they?” he said.
Most coaches wait a career to have one big-time college lineman recruit. Many never get the opportunity to coach one.
Trivisonno? He has three on the same team.
When Mentor kicks off its season Aug. 24 against visiting St. Edward, it will do so with Ohio State recruit Jacoby at left tackle and Michigan State recruit Samac at right tackle.
Potter (also Ohio State) will torment the opposition from multiple positions across the Mentor defensive line.
Three big-time college recruits in the trenches.
No wonder goals are so high for the Cardinals this year.
“It’s something, isn’t it?” Trivisonno said.
Mentor has churned out some Division I linemen in the past, including Brady DeMell (Navy), Kurt Laseak (Ohio University), Nico Lautanen (Bowling Green), Tom Strobel (Michigan) and Kent Berger (a captain at OU this year). But three in one year? Did Trivisonno ever imagine this?
“We knew we had two,” Trivisonno said of Potter and Jacoby. “The third one (Samac) really grew into it. He should actually be a year behind the others. But once Nick got to that 6-5 range, then yeah, we knew.”
The journeys Jacoby, Potter and Samac took to get to their current positions were all different.
Jacoby (6-5, 275) cut his teeth as a hockey player, and didn’t play football until junior high. He still credits his hockey background for his footwork on the offensive line.
Potter (6-6, 260) attended Mentor Christian when he was younger and only spent one year at Shore Middle School before coming to Mentor High.
Samac (6-5, 275) didn’t ascend to the varsity level until his junior year.
“I didn’t really know them because I went to Mentor Christian,” Potter said.
“I grew up watching Mentor football,” Samac said. “So it’s such a dream to be playing here for this team.”
One of the best things about being teammates and classmates together is that they help each other get better every day. On every play that Mentor’s starters go against each other, Potter is squaring off against either a Michigan State recruit or an Ohio State recruit.
With that type of daily competition, improvement is inevitable.
“There aren’t too many Big Ten offensive linemen I get to go against,” Potter said. “It’s rare and awesome. I get to go against two of the best in Ohio every day in practice.”
Imagine how offensive line coach Matt Gray and defensive line coach Bob Berwald feel, tailoring their game plans around such talents.
Trivisonno broke down each player.
• “Ryan is just a mauler on the offensive line,” Trivisonno said. “He’s an aggressive, tough kid. He gets after it and plays to the whistle every single play.
• “Nick was a latebloomer. He’s a puller and a trapper. He’s a good football player who has better days ahead of him yet.”
• “Noah is fun to watch. He had to play inside his sophomore year because of injuries. You saw how dominating he was as a junior? Wait til you see him this year. Wait til you see what he does this year.”
The presence of Potter, Jacoby and Samac make each other better.
“Noah is so fast off the line and is good with his hands,” Jacoby said. “Absolutely that makes me better.”
They also make teammates around them better.
Aside from Jacoby and Samac, the rest of the offensive line is new to starting. Guards Hunter Colao (60, 250) and Josh Platt (6-3, 300), as well as center Sam Williams (6-1, 215), know they have help in their Big Ten tackles.
And when Potter demands double- or tripleteams on defense, that is going to leave someone else unblocked, whether it’s on the defensive line or at linebacker.
Trivisonno chuckled at the possibility of lining up all three of his marquee linemen next to each other in a goal-line package.
“You never know. We might have to look at that,” he said. “Those are three pretty big boys there to have next to each other.”
Potter, Jacoby and Samac are going to enjoy their senior season together. The goal is not only to get back to the state championship game, but to win it this year after falling to Pickerington Central in last year’s title bout.
But come next year, they’ll be adversaries, and the trash-talking has already started.
“Go Green,” blurted Samac.
Potter didn’t let it go at that.
“I tell him how we beat them, 48-3, last year and won five out of the last six,” Potter said of Ohio State’s recent ledger against Michigan State. “We’re not going to lose to them anytime when I’m at Ohio State.” Samac grinned. “We’ll see. We’ll see.”