El Camino High's man for all seasons

06-02-2007

By Tom Shanahan, San Diego Hall of Champions

Nelson Rosario is tall, he can run and he can jump. The El Camino High three-sport athlete, who finished his junior season at the CIF State meet with medals in two events, has long made it look easy to beat opponents with his athleticism.

In fact, sports was too easy for Rosario – a 6-foot-6, 205-pound junior who is one of the West Coast’s top wide receiver recruits -- until one Memorial Day weekend in 2006 at the CIF San Diego Section track and field finals. That’s when he learned the longer you play sports, the more mental the games become.

Rosario was the CIF defending champion in the high hump and long jump, having won the titles as a freshman in 2005. He was the favorite to repeat and a contender for a state title.

But he not only didn’t defend his section titles in 2006, he didn’t qualify for the state meet. He had trouble with fouls in the long jump and let his disappointment carry over to the high jump later in the meet.

“I learned a lot that day,” Rosario said. “I was really mad, and thought I would make up for in the high jump, but I didn’t do well. I learned you have to be patient and focus. I learned when you’re having trouble with your steps, you just have to get in a good jump so you can advance.”

A year later, Rosario showed how much he learned at the 2007 CIF championship. He became the first San Diego Section athlete to sweep the long jump, high jump and triple jump. He won the long jump at 24 feet, 2 ¼ inches to rank second in the state, the high jump at 6-7 and the triple jump at 47-9 ½.

He followed up his CIF triple with a state-meet double in Sacramento, placing second in the long jump at 23-8 1/4 and tying for fifth in the high jump at 6-8.

Every jumper has an off-day, but then Rosario admitted there was more to his 2006 flop.

“I also learned hard work pays off,” Rosario said. “I had kind of slacked off in my workouts, and what happened is what you get when you don’t work hard.”

Oceanside's Willie Banks, the former world record holder in the triple jump, won the long and triple jump in 1974. El Camino's Dokie Williams, the former Oakland Raiders wide receiver who led El Camino to the 1978 CIF state track team title almost single-handedly, won the long and triple in 1977 and 1978. But Rosario's high jump title leaps him past the San Diego legends by one event.

Now imagine Rosario applying his lessons, combining his natural athleticism, a strong work ethic and a more cerebral approach to the games he plays.

El Camino football coach Trace Deneke, a retired Marine Corps colonel not given to hyperbole, almost shudders at the thought.

“When he gets in college and starts working with a card-carrying receivers coach and a card-carrying weight coach, he could become an Antonio Gates or Larry Fitzgerald,” said Deneke, referring to two big NFL receivers, the Chargers’ three-time Pro Bowl tight end and the Arizona Cardinals’ star wide receiver. “He’s strong and he’s a large human being who can run.”

Rosario, who has a 3.2-grade-point average, has scholarship offers from all Pac-10 schools but USC and Cal and one from San Diego State. Nebraska also is among others who have offered. He says he’s leaning towards a Pac-10 school or football schools with a track program. But he added he’s still considering the Aztecs, although SDSU doesn't have a men's track program.

Rosario, who also plays basketball, said he realized football was his future after his sophomore year when he played varsity and was one of North County’s leading receivers.

As a junior, he was named first-team All-CIF and helped the rebuilding Wildcats advanced to the Division I playoffs. He caught 53 passes for 1,015 yards, an average of 19.1 yards per catch, and 10 touchdowns.

“He’s great at converting third downs,” Deneke said. “Even in obvious third-and-long situations, he was remarkable at converting. And he’s very formidable red zone threat. He allows us to do a multitude of things, and we’ll work to create mismatches for him.”

But the Wildcats count on more than his athletic ability.

“He has a way of giving our players confidence,” Deneke said. “One of our candidates for quarterback next year is a ninth-grader (sophomore in the fall), and he’s making him feel like a million bucks. He tells him, ‘Just get me the ball, and I’ll do the rest.’ ”

Besides teaching and rebuilding El Camino’s proud football program, Deneke also has undertaken the task of counteracting the growing gang problems in Oceanside that extend their destructive tentacles on to school campuses.

“A guy like Nelson is a tremendous ambassador on our campus,” Deneke said. “No matter how discouraged you get with things that are going on in schools, kids still always gravitate to truly positive kids and situations. Our gang attrition is starting to go the other way.”

Tom Shanahan can be contacted at 619-699-2334 or toms@sdhoc.com.