At 6-foot-7, the behemoth defensive end for the Lorne Park Spartans football team — he has lined up at the position for the squad since Grade 9 — has drawn attention from many over the years, including a number of U.S. college teams who came north to knock on his door.
Urban, who's entering Grade 12, ended speculation earlier this summer when he verbally agreed to attend the University of Virginia in 2009. He had been entertaining offers from other big schools such as Louisville, Connecticut, Michigan State and Maryland.
They all attended the Nike combine camp at Penn State that Urban attended after graduating from Grade 10.
“I haven’t been playing football that long and it had just become a new sport,” said Urban, who earlier concentrated mostly on hockey. “To get that kind of feedback was great.”
The talented 264-pound lineman’s decision to play for the Cavaliers of Virginia came for a number of reasons. He felt the team’s 3-4 defence required a need for bigger players on the outside, plus he enjoyed the campus atmosphere.
It also didn’t hurt that Virginia assistant coach Bob Price was head coach in the CFL for the Montreal Alouettes in 1996 after spending time in Saskatchewan, Ottawa and Baltimore as an assistant.
Urban said he's eager to learn the finer details of the game once he arrives at Virginia and learns from former NFL coach Al Groh, now Virginia’s head coach.
“I think I am raw in some aspects of it with the coaching up here, but I feel like they can mold me,” said Urban. “I feel like the skills are there and I just need a better understanding of the game and I need to refine that.”
The size and strength are certainly there.
Although he’s 6-foot-7 and growing, Urban, the scouts say, has surprising speed, moves well laterally, runs 40 yards in 4.9 seconds, can bench press 300 pounds and jumps 27 inches vertically.
Groh, who won a Super Bowl with the New York Giants when Bill Parcells was head coach, will attempt to add some polish to that huge football frame.
dwiner@mississauga.net
