There’s a slip of paper on T.J. Gill’s dresser.
Nothing all that important anymore, other than the fact that it serves as a reminder of a phone call that changed the North Penn senior’s world. A phone call Gill made in August to coach Dick Beck asking if he could come back to the team after walking away from football last spring to focus on basketball.
“I was nervous,” Gill admitted. “I asked my dad what to say before I called. I still have the note of what he told me to say.”
The conversation with Beck didn’t include a whole lot of small talk.
“I said, ‘This is T.J. Gill,’ and he was abrupt and said, ‘Yeah,’” Gill recalled. “My adrenaline started pumping.”
“He said he really wanted to play, he thought he made a mistake,” Beck said. “I told him he would have to pay his dues and probably be a back-up the first couple of weeks, but we play the best player.”
Gill didn’t have a whole lot of time to spare before preseason began.
“It was two days before pictures and one day before two-a-days,” he said. “I had to scurry to get everything done, but it all worked out.”
To say it’s been a win-win for both sides would be an understatement.
Gill, who is enjoying every minute of his final high school season, is making important contributions on both sides of the football at free safety and wide receiver.
Beck, meanwhile, has inherited an unexpected leader.
“He’s a kid on our team who has become a major asset,” the Knights’ coach said. “If you had talked to me about him during camp, I would have said, ‘Well, I’m not really sure where he fits on the team.’”
Gill has been a perfect fit at free safety where he has collected a team-high three interceptions.
“We always saw him as an offensive player, but he’s a ball hawk in the secondary,” Beck said. “He’s got a knack for where the ball’s going to be thrown.
“He’s really taken a leadership role back there where he’s making all the check downs and calls to the other D-backs to change the coverage. Surprisingly, he’s been a pretty sure tackler. When he’s had an opportunity, he’s always making tackles.”
On the offensive side of the football, Gill has 16 receptions for 218 yards and three touchdowns. He had one reception for 14 yards in North Penn’s 39-12 win over Council Rock North in Friday night’s District One Class AAAA opening round contest.
It came on a huge third-and-long play.
“He caught a little three-step pass, broke a tackle and ended up getting a first down inside the three,” Beck said. “Each week he’s made a play for us offensively and defensively.”
It’s a far cry from last season when Gill saw only mop-up duty as the third string quarterback for a Knight squad that advanced to the state semifinals.
“During the year, he kept saying to me, ‘Can I play another position next year? Can I play wide receiver? Can I play defensive back?’” Beck recalled. “I said, ‘Of course.’
“The offseason started, and he really was working hard. I really expected big things from him, and then he came to me sometime in April or May – I guess he was told he should concentrate on basketball if he wanted to start for the basketball team. I thought he would have a good chance of having a big year for us, but I wasn’t going to argue with him. If his heart wasn’t in it – there’s just too much work involved.”
Basketball had been Gill’s number one sport since he started playing as a youngster. Football didn’t enter the picture until he was in seventh grade.
“I was a late bloomer in football,” he said. “My decision this year to focus on basketball more than football was because I thought I was better at basketball, and hopefully, I could get some scholarship money or go somewhere and play basketball in college.
“With how big North Penn is, it would be hard to play two sports and excel at both because they overlapped.”
So Gill directed his focus on basketball, but something was missing.
“I was really bored not being with my football guys during the summer workouts and lifting,” he said. “It was just nagging me, so I called coach Beck one morning.”
And that one phone call changed everything. Now it was just a matter of finding his niche on the team.
Gill was already in shape for basketball, so conditioning wasn’t a concern.
“It was just a matter of getting stronger, lifting in the weight room and just putting on those pads for the first time,” he said. “Coach Beck actually put me in motion almost every single play to get revenge on me for not being there in the summer.”
It wasn’t long before Gill was in the starting lineup for the Knights.
“He’s been an offensive spark for us,” Beck said. “I know he wants to touch the ball more for us – he gets two or three touches a game, but the one thing he’s really done a great job at is hustling downfield and blocking.
“He’s like another offensive lineman for us and has been an important part of our running game with his blocking. He’s a kid that never complains about not getting the ball. You can tell he’s a team guy.”
Gill admits he has enjoyed every facet of the game from blocking to receiving to calling the defensive signals.
“We have so many playmakers on the team,” Gill said. “Once they get in the open field they can just follow me or Dom (Taggart) or Gerard (Wendowski). (Quarterback) Todd (Smolinsky) has been making some great throws. He has been amazing for us this year.”
Gill is still planning on trying out for the basketball team when football season ends, and he hopes to make equally important contributions on the hardwood.
He plans to play either football or basketball next year at the collegiate level. Beck, for one, believes he has a future on the gridiron.
“He’s a kid who could probably walk on at a West Chester or Kutztown,” the Knights’ coach said. “His best days are probably ahead of him.”
The present isn’t turning out too bad either, and just in case Gill forgets, there’s a note on his dresser serving as a reminder that admitting a mistake is a whole lot better than living with it. Every day of the week.
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