Class Act -- Jeff Eulberg Wants His Senior Season To Make The Grade On O'dea's Honor Roll

The unwritten code at O'Dea is that football players are remembered by how well the team did their senior season.

Seniors on the 1991, 1994 and 1995 teams have a special place in the macho Irish pantheon because their teams won state titles.

Seniors on teams that lose early in the playoffs are sentenced to wear an invisible leg-iron.

As a football co-captain and student-body president, Jeff Eulberg is well aware of O'Dea's customs and tradition. His goal this fall is simple:

"I want people to respect the '99 team when we're all gone," he explained, sitting on a sofa of his family's Woodinville home on Sunday morning.

As the team's premier lineman, the 6-foot-3, 265-pound Eulberg will have a jumbo role in determining how far the Irish go this year, especially since he will be playing on both sides of the ball for the first time.

College recruiters are eager to see how Eulberg does this year against quality opponents, and they won't have to wait long. The Irish open Friday at 4A Gig Harbor (6-3 last year) then get a visit from always-tough 4A Puyallup (8-3) the following Friday at West Seattle Stadium.

After that, O'Dea starters might find themselves lifted as early as halftime as the Irish coaches try to keep scores down against undermanned Metro League opponents until the title game against respectable Rainier Beach or Eastside Catholic.

Eulberg is considered the top college prospect in the city and has taken informal visits to Notre Dame, Michigan and Washington (his favorites) plus trips to Kansas State, Nebraska, Idaho and Washington State.

If the Huskies go after Eulberg, they have two good salesmen in kicker Jim Skurski and center Kyle Benn - O'Dea grads that Eulberg admired as an underclassman. He spends a lot of time at Benn's house because Brian Benn is a classmate and a close friend.

Eulberg's appeal to recruiters is summed up in his own two-word description of himself: "hard-working."

Others agree.

"Jeff has good size and strength," said Irish Coach Monte Kohler. "He's got pretty good feet. He's a captain and respected by his peers. He likes to work hard."

Fellow captain Ryan Mallory said, "He's a team leader and he takes charge. If the huddle isn't getting broken, he lets people know. . . . He likes to have a good time, but he can distinguish when it's time to have a good time and time to go to work."

Eulberg comes across as serious but likeable. A lot of things about him seem paradoxical - his favorite music genres are rap and country. He loves to pancake defenders with drive blocks yet belongs to the chess club. He lives in a comfortable suburb but chooses to commute to a high school that sits just a 3-wood from the downtown Seattle core.

His parents also are a pair of docs Michael, a pulminologist, and Jeanne, a pediatrician who is a third-generation doctor. Both are Nebraska natives.

Eulberg is unlikely to follow them into medicine because he prefers history and English classes. He has a 3.3 grade point and an SAT score of 1,130.

He is the best-known athlete in his family but hardly the only one. An older sister, Megan, who played basketball and tennis at Inglemoor, is at Notre Dame. A younger sister, Lindsey, is a junior who plays three sports at Seattle Prep. His usual video-game opponent is his younger brother, Tommy, 12.

Eulberg is one of the strongest players in the city, able to bench-press 320 pounds and squat 450. He threw the shot 46 feet last spring.

Last year he took creatine, the popular and much-debated combination of amino acids that can be purchased over the counter. This year, he has stopped taking creatine to the relief of his parents, who like many coaches and doctors are concerned about the lack of research on the long-term effect of the substance.

Last year, he was a good player on a team that cruised through the Metro League then suffered a stomach-twisting 7-0 loss to White River in the first round of the playoffs. It was a terrible feeling, particularly for the seniors.

This year, he should be a star on a team determined to go farther. After all, their Irish reputations depend on it.