CHILLIWACK — Logan Buchwitz is still so young that when he kept hearing people ask a few seasons back if Chase Claypool was someone he hoped to someday model his game after, he admits he had to do a search on the former Abbotsford Panther who is currently a star receiver with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
And he’s so big and still growing, that when it comes time to buy a new pair of football cleats, he not only has to get the size that fits now, but the ones that will fit two, three sizes higher for the not-too-distant future.
If you’re getting the idea that there is a lot to love about the 15-year-old G.W. Graham Grizzlies’ man-child receiver, who checks in at an enviable 6-foot-4, 220-pounds with the size 15 feet, you’re right.
Between playing for his junior and senior varsity teams this season, the prodigious Buchwitz caught 49 touchdown passes in 18 games.
And if you have yet to see him play, he will be on the turf Saturday (11 a.m.) at B.C. Place Stadium, the home field of his all-time idol Geroy Simon, when his Grizz clash with North Vancouver’s Windsor Dukes in the Subway Bowl B.C. Double-A junior varsity championship final.
“I was sending out film to colleges today and there was a (JV) conference game where one kid is just hanging off of him and he kind of just tosses him,” smiles G.W. Graham head coach Laurie Smith. “He is just so much stronger that it’s been a complete mismatch at JV, but at (senior) varsity he is also our best player.”
Buchwitz started playing football in fourth grade and has alway been physically superior to the rest of the field.
“I started out as a running back and then I switched to receiver just last year,” he explains of a switch that has taken off as he’s built chemistry with both JV pivot Grayson Frick and senior quarterback Colby Bessett. “Because of my height, it’s felt pretty natural for me at my new position.”
In seventh grade, Buchwitz estimates he stood 5-foot-8, which means he’s grown eight inches in the past three years.
Earlier this season, Smith spied Buchwitz fidgeting with one of his receiver gloves, which he noticed had developed a tear.
“I had a new pair, and they were XL, so I asked him if he wanted them them,” said Smith, “but he told me he took an XXXL. At some point, you think it will end, but he is still growing. He’s got the size 15 feet and now he’s got that work ethic. Even this Saturday, after out title game, he’s going to play with our basketball team. In the spring, it will be rugby. And he’s a 4.0 (GPA) student.”
Buchwitz couldn’t have a better mentor than one of the greatest receivers in football history.
“Geroy Simon used to play for the Lions,” he informs. “I’ve met him a couple of times at Lions game and he is a real role model for me. And he coached a 7-on-7 team that I played on.”
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