Fox Chapel High School isn’t exactly a football factory.
The Foxes own just one playoff win and two winning seasons over the past 25 years, and while they do send players on to play in college, it’s rarely ever for an FBS program, let alone a national power.
That’s what makes senior Harran Zureikat so unique. Zureikat is a kicker who next season will kick for the University of Georgia, where he will be on full scholarship.
“He’s a generational talent,” Fox Chapel coach Dave Leasure said. “I’ve come to grips with the fact that I won’t coach a kid that’s wanted across college football ever again. It’s just not going to happen. I put it like this: When the University of Texas sends a coach to Pennsylvania to watch a kid kick, that tells you something because Texas doesn’t need to leave the state for anything.”
Texas wasn’t the only heavyweight to recruit Zureikat, ranked by Kohl’s Kicking as the No. 1 kicker in the country in the senior class. Penn State offered. Ohio State was in hot pursuit, as well. He also had offers from the likes of Pitt, Syracuse, Boston College and Maryland.
But in the end, Zureikat picked Georgia, which just a few seasons ago won back-to-back national championships and is 105-19 under coach Kirby Smart, who is entering his 10th season. Zureikat was the second WPIAL kicker to commit to an SEC school in as many years. North Allegheny graduate Peter Notaro is a freshman at Alabama.
“Playing at Georgia, you’re playing on the biggest stage, and a lot of the best kickers are in the SEC,” said Zureikat, who has a 3.5 GPA and said he is leaning toward majoring in business. “It’s not only the biggest stage, but you’re competing with the best guys in the country. I truly believe that I’m meant to be on that stage. And the staff is second to none.”
The story of how Zureikat got into kicking is a neat one. Zureikat, whose parents were born in Jordan, was playing pickup soccer at Carnegie Mellon one summer day before his eighth grade year when he decided to see if he could make a field goal. He nailed it … from 40 yards away. Zureikat played soccer at Shady Side Academy his freshman year before deciding to transfer to Fox Chapel, where he dropped soccer and began focusing on football. He converted 5 of 6 field goals his sophomore season before making 5 of 9 last season with a long of 44 yards.
Zureikat’s reputation as one of the nation’s top high school kickers has largely been built through many outstanding performances at Kohl’s Kicking Camps. Kohl’s provides training and college exposure for kickers, punters and long snappers from around the country. Zureikat’s career-best field goal of 65 yards came at a camp in Florida in January. Zureikat has also trained heavily with renowned trainer Adam Tanalski of Hammer Kicking Academy.
And while Zureikat has converted many high-pressure kicks at Kohl’s, it paled in comparison to the pressure that was on him when he, along with three other highly regarded senior kickers, competed for one Georgia scholarship while visiting the school on June 10. The talent pool vying for the spot had included close to 30 players a year earlier before the staff narrowed it to just four.
“We’re all buddies, and we all knew going into that one that one of us was going to get the offer,” Zureikat recalled. “We all know we’re the best of the best and that we’re all going to find homes either way, but there was definitely a little bit of tension.”
What’s interesting is that Zureikat said he wasn’t at his best that day, yet that didn’t keep him from winning the competition.
“It’s not really about how you chart during that day,” he said. “It’s how you respond when you hit a bad ball.”
Zureikat met with Smart in his office that day, which is when Smart delivered the scholarship offer. By then, Zureikat knew Georgia was the place he wanted to be, so he committed before leaving campus and then canceled a scheduled visit he had to Ohio State the following day.
“It was surreal,” Zureikat remembered. “I think I might have shed a tear. It was crazy, a big weight off my shoulders. I knew I had found a home.”
Said Leasure, “It will be cool to turn on the TV and see Harran in the biggest games.”
Zureikat (6 feet 2, 180 pounds) didn’t see much action in Fox Chapel’s season-opening 30-7 loss to Allderdice last Friday. He converted an extra point following the Foxes’ lone touchdown and averaged 42.5 yards on four punts.
The WPIAL record for longest field goal is 55 yards, set by East Allegheny’s Josh Miller in 2002 and matched by Hopewell’s Rocco Marcantonio last season. Zureikat misfired on a 55-yard attempt a season ago, but chances are he’ll get another opportunity to bang a long one through sometime this season.
“I feel comfortable letting him try from 65 and in,” Leasure said, “because if the ball goes out of the end zone it’s just a touchback.”
Zureikat affects games in other ways, too, particularly when it comes to kickoffs.
“Say we’re playing Penn Hills. They have tremendous athletes returning kicks, and as a coach you’re holding your breath when you’re kicking the ball to them. But with Harran, there’s now a 99% chance they’re not going to have a chance to return it,” Leasure explained.
There could be another Zureikat booming balls at WPIAL games in the upcoming years. Harran has passed down some of his kicking knowledge to 9-year-old brother Zaid, who Harran said is kicking for his youth team this season.
But for now it’s big brother Harran who’s taking center stage, and next season this “generational talent” will play on arguably college football’s biggest stage.
“When I say generational,” Leasure said, “I mean I’ll never see anything like it again.”
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.