Former San Benito star getting used to playing at the junior
college level
Gilroy – Hollister to Gavilan College is approximately 12 miles in distance.
It is much farther than that from a football standpoint. Just ask Jeff Weltz.
It’s not just that last season Weltz was a running back on a conference winning team and this year he is a defensive back on a 2-6 squad. The whole mentality of college is different from high school, even on a junior college level.
“From speed to the size of players, it’s a tremendous jump,” said the 5-9, 170-pound Weltz. “I was never one of the biggest players in high school but I wasn’t one of the smallest. Last year I was average. Now I feel every game that I’m the smallest.
“As far as speed, in high school you miss a tackle and can adjust and maybe make the play. In college, it’s a touchdown.
“And then there’s the guys you are playing against. You don’t know who the Division 1 athletes you are playing against are. In high school, they (players) are there because they can be. (At Gavilan), you have to want to be here.”
As far as the adjustment from a won-loss standpoint, Weltz is philosophical as the Rams prepare for Saturday’s game at De Anza College. The Dons are 5-3 overall, 1-1 in the Coast Conference.
The De Anza roster includes Hollister product Chuck Thompson of San Benito at safety. Brennen Marion leads the conference in receiving yards (1,033) and is second in average reception yardage (21.5) and touchdowns (14).
“Winning and losing is a part of the game,” Weltz said. “Everything is in the past. You just have to let it (last game) go.”
Weltz, who had a 3.3 grade point average in high school, is a physical therapy major at Gavilan. Given his past, that is not surprising.
As a sophomore, he tore his ACL which caused him to miss the season at San Benito. He played with a broken wrist his junior and senior seasons that required surgery less than one year ago. And Weltz tore his ACL again in the second game of this season, but has continued to play through it. He will have surgery at the end of the current season.
“It’s kind of tough to deal with because I had higher expectations,” Weltz said. “My dad is a powerlifter so I thought I could get up to 200 pounds with no problem. That hasn’t worked our because of his injury.”
The physical ailments also led him to Gavilan instead of to Fresno State or San Jose State. Now he talks about perhaps moving on to San Diego State when he is finished wearing the Rams’ uniform.
But while he’s wearing the Gavilan uniform, he will make the best of the situation.
“We have a lot of players on this team from winning programs — Hollister, Palma, Valley Christian,” Weltz said. “It’s frustrating for everybody. That’s just how it is. All we can do is come out each week and get better. You can’t dwell on what happened. You go forward.”
