Home Grown: Family-Oriented Ways at East High School Helped Mold Ohio State's Tyler Gerald

PORTSMOUTH, Ohio — On a hot and humid summer morning, James Gifford strolls around the weight room at East High School when he notices his football team needs to refocus a bit. This is common practice for many high school football coaches, but it is by no means a daunting task for Gifford. After all, he discovered a small secret to quickly get his team back on track.

Four simple letters do the trick: “OWYO,” he shouts.

Outwork your opponent.

“That’s all I’ll have to say when we’re in the weight room or whatever,” Gifford says. “Everybody knows then that it’s time to go, it’s time to work.”

The 42 members of the East football team in the weight room on this day hear the phrase and promptly get back to work. It’s hardly a complex idea, to outwork your opponent, but it is one Gifford has implemented since he took over as head coach prior to the 2015 season.

The quick response to the orders of a head coach and the increased numbers on the football team here at the small town school in southern Ohio are quite different than the way it used to be, though. Gifford spent four years as an assistant coach at East before taking over as head coach and he remembers those days vividly.

“When I first got here as an assistant coach, I showed up to the first summer workout and we literally had seven kids,” Gifford recalls. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’ve got to be kidding me.’ Now, today in our weight room I had 42 and the other seven were accounted for; they were on vacation or had something else going on.

“To go from seven kids to that many, it’s an awesome experience.”

Gifford and the rest of his coaching staff are doing everything in their power to make sure it’s an experience that doesn’t stop anytime soon.

Tyler Gerald opted to transfer to IMG Academy down in Bradenton, Florida for his senior football season, but the 2016 Ohio State signee was shaped by Gifford and his staff at East, which is also known as Sciotoville Community School. Gerald came up through the system in small town southern Ohio, and even though he may not have finished his high school career here, East is a huge part of who he is.

Gerald pledged to Ohio State on June 19, 2014, becoming the Buckeyes’ second commit in the 2016 class at the time. Virginia Tech was the only other Power 5 offer Gerald had when he committed to Ohio State. Alabama, Florida State and Penn State would follow with offers, but Gerald remained strong in his commitment to the home-state Buckeyes. 

Listed at 6-foot-5 and 300 pounds, Gerald was rated at the nation’s No. 8 offensive guard prospect, according to 247Sports’ composite rankings. Gifford says Ohio State fans should be excited about the kind of player they’re getting up front.

“They will see a player that is very, very goal driven. When he makes up his mind that he wants to do something, there’s no stopping him until it happens,” he said. “He really invests and falls in love with the process and with the players that surround him and the coaches and you will never find a better teammate to play with.

“I could just go on and on bragging about Tyler’s work ethic and his drive and stuff.”

After leaving Portsmouth, a shoulder injury ended Gerald’s senior season at IMG. He enrolled at Ohio State in January and worked through spring practice to rehab and make sure he’s ready to roll by the time the Buckeyes open fall camp Aug. 7. Gifford says he’s on track to do so.

“We talk every week,” Gifford said of his relationship with Gerald. “I talk to Tyler two or three times a week. He’s doing great. He’s doing well in the classroom; last semester I think he had a 3.0 GPA. His injury is coming along great and he’s ready to fight for that starting spot next year.”

Open communication with players, past and present, is important to Gifford. Since taking over as East’s head coach, he has made it a point to form strong relationships with his players — ones that carry on long after their time playing for him is over.

“I always have a thing that I tell them: I want to run into them at Walmart or something 10 years from now and be proud of the husband they’ve become, the father they’ve become, having a good and steady job. That’s what I want,” Gifford says. “My dad, he was a coach and he was my line coach in high school so I was able to see him interact with players growing up and that’s what it’s all about. I tell players all the time that football is a game and games are meant to be fun, but when you stop having fun then maybe it’s time to go another direction.

“Football is just a tool to help you be successful in life. Whether it’s football or whatever it is that’s your thing, let those be a tool to help you become a better man.”

Gifford smiles when he gets asked a question about the water here, and whether or not there’s something in it that produces big-time college offensive line prospects.

“I”ve gotten that question a few times,” he says, laughing.

Blaine Scott will be a junior next season here at East. His recruitment blew up a bit this spring and summer, at an even faster rate than Gerald’s did back when he was in high school. Scott already has 25 offers to his name including the likes of Michigan State, Miami, Virginia Tech and others. Ohio State is a strong possibility to extend an offer at some point, as well.

Other players at East see Gerald and Scott and think that can be them one day. Interest surrounding the program is at an all-time high — so much so that Gifford recently posted on the team’s Facebook page trying to get some money raised to put new lockers in the team’s locker room. Within 24 hours, the program raised $2,600.

“It’s creating tons of excitement,” Gifford said. “Whether it’s players or people in the community, they’re really wanting to be part of what we’re doing.

"It was very surprising, very humbling and it just reminded me to keep doing what we’re doing.”

East, which plays in Ohio’s Division VII — the smallest in the state — is coming off a state playoff appearance in Gifford’s first season at the helm. Interest is at an all-time high. It’s a unique time to be part of the Tartan football program.

All of the football things comes secondary to Gifford, though. The life stuff is what matters most. 

“The biggest thing is, and Tyler and Blaine know this, and they ask me, ‘Coach, you do so much for us. How can I repay you?’” Gifford said. “My thing is whenever I’m sitting down at your graduation and you’re walking across the stage and getting your degree that’s your repayment.

“All our players, they know that football is great, but it’s just a tool of success because it’s about going on to college and getting your degree. Some will play football, some won’t.”