All throughout his junior year at Pottsville Area High School in central Pennsylvania’s coal country, Steve Pilconis made all the right moves. The star wide receiver sent videotape of his games to football programs across the country. He waited patiently as programs returned interest. He watched as his older brother, Ryan, was recruited to play football at Harvard. But most of all, Pilconis let his junior season statistics speak for themselves: 27 catches, 704 yards, eight touchdowns.
Soon, coaches from the major conferences and storied football programs came calling to the Pilconis’s home in Pottsville, a small town located about 100 miles from Harrisburg.
Division I-A programs like Boston College, Vanderbilt, and Pittsburgh showed interest. Pilconis readied himself for the college camps and combines where scouts could see the 6’5 wideout from the videotapes in the flesh.
Then, during the track and field season of his junior year, everything changed. Pilconis pulled a hamstring running hurdles, raising doubts about his football future.
“That definitely lowered my stock in the recruitment process,” he says. “Some big-time schools were still looking, but it wound up really increasing my interest in Harvard.”
Harvard’s camp wound up being the only one that a healthy Pilconis could attend. By the time he arrived in Cambridge, he was ready to play, and was surprised by his short time at Harvard.
“During my junior year, Harvard really wasn’t my top choice,” Pilconis says. “It wasn’t until I got to Cambridge and saw what Harvard was all about that I really gave it some hard thought and it became a place where I really wanted to be.”
HOMEWARD BOUND
Pilconis’s arrival at Harvard will be a homecoming of sorts for the whole family. Both brothers, Steve and Ryan, were born in Salem, Mass., less than an hour north of Cambridge. After moving to Pottsville, the Pilconises visited extended family in the Boston area once or twice a year. Not only will the brothers be playing in an area with which their family is well acquainted, but they’ll be back on the same field again.
“During my junior year I didn’t think we’d be playing together, but I like playing with him,” Pilconis says. “My parents are happy because they’ll get to see us on the same team for another three years.”
As for playful brotherly rivalry?
“I’m faster than him, but he’s stronger than me,” Pilconis adds. “It helps a lot that we don’t play the same position.”
Next fall, Ryan will play on the offensive line, while Steve will line up at wide receiver. But in high school, Ryan played tight end as well as offensive lineman, so there was always the possibility of competition for catches.
“There was some sibling rivalry, but it was beneficial because it kept us both motivated through all the years,” Ryan says. “Competition improves everyone.”
Kevin Keating, the Pilconis’s high school coach, says he believes that having an older brother on the team will improve not only Steve’s work ethic, but also his overall experience at Harvard.
“To have someone you know to get you through that first day, that first night, and to then have that person be a brother, it’ll be great,” Keating says. “It’s a win-win for both of them.”
“I’m going to be glad to be able to look back on these years with him and have all the same memories, football-wise,” Ryan says. “If I had to do it all over again, I’d take a brother going through the process every time.”
At 6’5, 210 pounds and still growing, Pilconis will provide a big target for rising junior quarterback Liam O’Hagan.
“He’s got extraordinary size for a wide receiver, that’s the thing that jumps out at you,” Keating says. “And for his size, he runs very well.”
What’s more, Pilconis’s arrival in Cambridge will give a boost to an experienced Crimson receiving corps. He’ll join Corey Mazza, Joe Murt, Matt Lagace and Alex Breaux, all of whom saw significant time at wideout last season. Harvard will hope that Pilconis can make an immediate impact in its campaign to return to the top of the Ivy League.
“We obviously think Steve is a great prospect,” says Harvard head coach Tim Murphy. “We think that he has an opportunity to be an outstanding player here.”
“To its credit, Harvard didn’t lose interest in Steve after his injury,” Keating says. “That loyalty is going to be repaid.”
—Brad Hinshelwood contributed to the reporting of this story.
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