OSU's Rutschman was standout athlete at Sherwood High School
"Adley was that kid that was a pretty good athlete all around," his former football coach, Greg Lawrence, said.
Author: Devon Haskins
Published: 6:36 PM PDT June 3, 2019
Updated: 6:46 PM PDT June 3, 2019
SHERWOOD, Ore. — Before he was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles and before he was winning championships for the Oregon State Beavers, Adley Rutschman was a star athlete at Sherwood High School.
"Adley was that kid that was a pretty good athlete all around," his former football coach Greg Lawrence said. "I remember him coming up as a freshman and we didn't have any quarterbacks and my first thought was Adley."
Lawrence says arm issues sidelined Rutschman for his sophomore season, but he came back and played linebacker and fullback his junior and senior seasons. He was also a pretty good kicker.
More: Beavers' Adley Rutschman goes No. 1 in MLB draft to Baltimore Orioles
"I remember when he was growing up, he'd be out on the field. I'd see his dad and granddad would be out there with him. His grandfather told him, hey if you could be a good kicker, you could be a professional kicker," Lawrence said.
That practice paid off.
At a home game against Tigard in November of 2015, his senior season, coach Lawrence called timeout with 3 seconds to go in the half to kick a field goal.
The distance: 63 yards.
"Adley, calm and cool like he is stepped up and booted that thing through and the place went crazy!" Lawrence remembers.
That kick set an Oregon high school state record. It's also one yard shy of the NFL record for the longest field goal kicked.
In the halls of Sherwood High School, there's the wall of fame where plaques of all-state athletes adorn the walls. Rutschman was an all-state athlete in football and baseball.
"It shows that he's a pretty darn good athlete. When you can be all-state in two sports, it's pretty big," said Lawrence.
In the gym, his banner is one of the few that hang in the rafters with an athlete's name on it. His senior season, he was named Gatorade Oregon Baseball Player of the Year.
"Adley was a phenomenal athlete obviously, but even a better kid. He's been raised right," former Sherwood baseball coach Jon Strohmaier said. "Just a once-in-a-lifetime kid."
The once in a lifetime athlete though, had to wait to make it big in high school.
"He didn't play varsity his freshman year, which that probably shows you what I know," his former coach joked.
Strohmaier remembers Rutschman as a quiet kid, one that didn't need to be loud in order to be heard.
"He was a silent leader for us. He got loud if he needed to, he didn't really have to because kids just really followed his lead," Strohmaier said.
His senior year he was voted "most likely to win the Olympics" by his classmates.
Baseball was just added as an Olympic sport for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.