Nov 14, 2024
Staff file photo / Neel Madhavan. Warren G. Harding QB Chaz Coleman stiff arms a John Hay defender during a 49-yard carry in the first round of the playoffs at Mollenkopf Stadium.
To first-year Warren G. Harding head football coach Matt Richardson, Chaz Coleman’s value could not be understated.
“For us this year, you could argue he was the best player in every phase of the game — offensively, defensively and special teams as our punter,” Richardson said Tuesday.
Coleman truly did it all this season for the Raiders, who won eight games and reached the second round of the playoffs with Coleman leading the way.
And now, the 6-foot-5-inch Harding senior is preparing to join James Franklin and the Penn State Nittany Lions.
Coleman announced his commitment to Penn State on Sunday evening via X, formerly Twitter.
“I’d like to thank everyone who’s been instrumental in getting me to this point. I’m truly honored and beyond grateful,” Coleman wrote.
For Harding, Coleman rarely left the field this season; in addition to handling the punting duties, he started at quarterback and, as an edge rusher, presented one of the most challenging assignments for opposing offensive tackles who tried to stop him.
Before August, though, Coleman had received offers from just Akron, Hampton and Youngstown State. But after attending several camps over the summer, Coleman attracted interest from numerous power-conference teams around the country.
Rated a three and four-star recruit by different services, Coleman received an offer from Ole Miss a few days before he nearly led the Raiders to a season-opening win over Canton McKinley. In the 26-19 loss, Coleman threw for a touchdown, ran for another, forced a fumble and crushed McKinley quarterback Kam Montgomery as he threw an interception.
For the season, Coleman scored 21 total touchdowns, recorded five takeaways, five sacks, and 68 tackles. He also gathered offers from Toledo, Kentucky, Florida State, Illinois, Purdue, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Missouri, Michigan State and, on Sept. 18, Penn State.
“As soon as Ole Miss offered me, they just started coming in more,” Coleman said Tuesday.
Coleman said he had initially planned to wait a while to make his decision, but following a trip to Happy Valley, he opted to commit to Franklin and the Nittany Lions on Sunday.
Coleman, who said there was no frontrunner in his recruitment process, took an official visit to State College, Pennsylvania on Nov. 9, a day after the Raiders were eliminated from the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) Division II playoffs by Austintown Fitch.
While on his visit, Coleman attended the Nittany Lions’ game vs. Washington, which featured Penn State’s famed ‘White Out’ game.
Coleman said the atmosphere he experienced “played a lot” in his decision to attend Penn State.
“I feel like I’d be great playing there,” Coleman said.
Despite his multi-positional use at Harding, Coleman, who said he will not enroll early at Penn State and will instead remain at Harding to play his senior basketball season, indicated Penn State sees him as an edge rusher at the next level.
Richardson, who became the Harding football coach in January, praised Coleman’s improvement on and off the field since the beginning of the year.
“Since day one, he’s done everything I’ve asked him to do, and I’ll always appreciate that,” Richardson said. “He’s just continued to grow, being around our staff, growing as a leader, being a great kid, a great example for the community. And I’m just super proud of him.”
Coleman is just the latest Harding football player to commit to schools since Richardson’s hiring, and the coach said seeing the program’s young men make a positive step in their life is “important” to him.
“Every athlete in the program [should] have a plan for when they’re done with high school. That’s the biggest thing,” Richardson said. “Not all of them are going to go to college. Some of them might want to go to trade school. Some of them might… go to the military, the service. But the biggest thing is just to have a plan. And the biggest thing to me is for them to have a positive impact on society and their life.”
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