Former standout Camas High School quarterback Jack Colletto has committed to Oregon State, he announced Friday afternoon.
He committed to Oregon State over Vanderbilt after narrowing his decision down to two schools because he feels OSU presents him with a better chance to start quicker.
“I felt like I’ve been sitting and waiting forever, always having to wait my turn and I think with that the only thing I need to be the player I want to be is experience,” Colletto said. “I don’t see myself getting any better sitting on the sidelines and watching someone else play, I really want to get in and go.”
— Jack Colletto (@Jackcolletto) February 3, 2018
Colletto was the starting quarterback at Kingston High School in Kitsap County as a sophomore in 2014.
But after his family moved to Camas, Colletto played mostly defense his junior season with the Papermakers and was the team’s backup quarterback before getting his chance to start as a senior.
In 2016, Colletto was named player of the year by Gatorade and the Associated Press in addition to being The Columbian All-Region Player of the Year after throwing for 2,846 yards, 27 touchdowns, rushing for 1,253 yards and 21 touchdowns and leading the Papermakers to a 14-0 season and a 4A state championship..
Colletto, who is 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, also starred at defensive back in high school, and received Football Bowl Subdivision offers his senior year as an “athlete.”
But he chose the junior college route to give four-year colleges more time to assess his talent at quarterback.
This past fall at Arizona Western, a junior college in Yuma, Ariz., Colletto split time at quarterback, often coming off the bench.
Colletto appeared in 10 games and threw for 548 yards and four touchdowns in a season where the Matadors lost in the National Junior College Athletic Association championship game.
And now, he’s committed to a Division-I program in a power-five conference.
“I definitely thought it paid off to kind of steer off the road in terms of my goals and where I wanted to be,” Colletto said. “But I think it’s leading me back into the right direction in terms of my goals and where I want to go. It’s really exciting that I’m able to do what I want to do and go and chase my dreams.”
He joins Lake Oswego (Ore.) quarterback Jake Dukart as the second quarterback in the Beavers’ 2018 recruiting class.
He liked Vanderbilt because of its position in the highly competitive Southeastern Conference, and its pro-style offense.
“Playing in the SEC is one of the best conferences there is from a competition standpoint I think Vanderbilt is up there with the best of them,” he said.
Ultimately, the Beavers won out. Playing in Corvallis, Ore, he’ll be closer to home, which he said will allow those who helped him in his football career attend games.
Colletto wielded offers from Memphis, Eastern Washington and Idaho State, according to national recruiting site 247 Sports, before narrowing his decision down to the two schools, which were the only schools where he took official visits.
See Colletto’s senior year highlights from Camas’ 2016 season:
