Football
Favorite athlete: Current: Andrew Luck. All Time: Joe Montana
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Helping my team achieve a 7-3 record and making the playoffs my senior year.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Back when I played township football, I really had to go to the bathroom during practice one time. I asked my coach if I could go, and he said no because he thought I could hold it until practice was over. Needless to say, I went in my pants and had to leave practice early. I was so embarrassed.
Music on iPod: Country, Hip-Hop, Rock
Future plans: Attend and graduate from a four-year college with a degree in actuarial science.
Words to live by: "Actions speak louder than words."
One goal before turning 30: To drive a Rolls Royce Ghost or a Nissan GT-R.
One thing people don’t know about me: I enjoy reading a good book.
By GORDON GLANTZ
It was a sight and sound no high school football coach wants to see and hear during a preseason scrimmage.
But the feared blur and thud of his quarterback’s red-orange jersey amid a sea of bodies was not a nightmare from which he could awake.
Josh Abrams was well on his way to securing the starting nod at quarterback when visions of losing him overcame the coach, who immediately began the instinctive chant to the official of “they can’t do that, they just hit my quarterback.”
In actuality, though, nobody on the opposing team sought and hit Abrams.
It was all on Abrams.
“I always try my best,” said Abrams. “I like to hit, you know. People think quarterbacks don’t like to get hit. It’s not that I like getting hit, but I can handle it.”
And Beach probably should have known better.
“The best way to describe him is as a linebacker playing quarterback,” said Beach, whose Golden Bears face Bishop Shanahan Saturday in the first round of the PIAA District One Class AAA playoffs. “That’s his mentality.
“He’s out there, throwing a block in a scrimmage, and I’m screaming at the official.”
And despite his mentality, Abrams – the Univest Featured Male Athlete of the Week – will be under center, running an offense that feeds off of star tailback Ty Whitmore but needs his running ability (more than 400 yards) and play-action passing (10 touchdowns against only three interceptions) for balance.
“With Whitmore, we are more of a running team, but that opens up play action,” said Abrams. “We have a really good team. The line has been amazing.”
Abrams will also stay on the field when Shanahan has the ball as the first-year starter at quarterback is a second-year starter at, you guessed it, linebacker, where he has to change his mentality a bit.
“It is a lot different,” said Abrams. “As the quarterback, you have to be composed. On defense, you have to be mean, and make hits.”
Spiritual Leader
All things considered, Beach could not be any more satisfied with where the team sits right now, considering playoff success gravy for the turkey they will enjoy after facing rival Hatboro-Horsham on Thanksgiving.
“We’re doing well,” said Beach. “We’re 7-3 and took care of business outside of our league. Now we get to face schools our own size and anything can happen. I’ve seen growth in our kids.”
And a lot of that growth can be attributed to Abrams, who is the team’s spiritual leader.
“He talks a lot, but I wouldn’t say he is a screamer and a yeller,” said Beach. “I would say he is an emotional guy, but he is not a yeller and a screamer. He doesn’t really need to be. He has the respect of all the kids on the team.
“He knows where he is coming from and where he needs to be. A lot of kids don’t do that. He’s the kind of a guy who, as a coach, you want to hold up on a pedestal and say, ‘be like this guy.’”
Back in the Fold
The fact that Abrams will even be in the field marks an intriguing about-face as he had temporarily soured on the sport he began playing at a young age but felt reinvigorated when Beach returned to the helm last season.
Abrams had not participated in offseason workouts and his value had yet to be unearthed.
“We didn’t really know what we had until about halfway through the season,” said Beach.
Abrams said it was a bit more complicated, as he had a full-time job, working close to 40 hours a week.
“I didn’t think I had time for football,” he said, while adding that he now realizes he could have worked around the frenetic schedule enough to make some workouts.
“I joined the team late, and (I had) to get into rhythm with the new coaches, but I liked the way they ran things.”
Going into this season, however, it became clear that Abrams would have a good shot at winning the quarterback job.
“He dedicated himself to make sure it happened, “said Beach. “It’s a credit to him.”
The 5-11, 185-pounder says the opportunity was all he needed.
“I knew I had a good shot to be the starting quarterback,” said Abrams. “I decided to put everything into it. I never missed a lift in the offseason. I just put everything I had into it.”
Abrams said his mother, Lisa, who has battled health issues, has been one of his biggest cheerleaders.
“My parents have been there through everything,” said Abrams, whose older brother, Chris, played football before shifting gears to music and whose sister, Hannah, is in middle school. “My mom has been right there, telling me I can’t give up. She really helped me make the decision.”
The ‘All-American’ Boy
Beach described Abrams as “the All-American boy,” and with just cause.
Abrams, in addition to being the senior quarterback and team captain, is currently ranked third in the senior class and carries himself as a leader in the school community the way he does in the smaller and contained world of the football team’s family.
“He really is,” said Beach. “Everybody says, you know, ‘If I had a son’ … All I can say is that if my son turns out like Josh, I’ll be happy.
“He has the respect of team and the respect of the student body. He works hard on the field, in the weight room and in the classroom.
“I’m just happy to have him.”
Lee Abrams, Josh's dad, introduced him to township football, and the game has been in his blood ever since.
Abrams would love nothing more than to continue playing at the college level, but it is not that simple.
He is as realistic about the size-speed requirements at the next level as he is about his priorities when it comes to academics.
While Upper Moreland has what he calls a “weird” grading system, his GPA at other schools would come out above 4.0. He takes five AP classes and has broken 2,000 on the SAT.
That work has made him eligible for a QuestBridge scholarship. Abrams has listed his eight schools, in order of preference, and would get a full ride to any upon acceptance. The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School tops a list that also includes the likes of Yale and Stanford.
He has already been accepted to non-QuestBridge schools, like Penn State and Robert Morris and is waiting to hear from Temple.
With hopes of becoming an actuary, which takes years of intense study, it is what it is when it comes to football.
Perhaps he could try to walk on at an Ivy League school, but he is at peace with whatever comes next.
“I love the game,” he said. “I have played it since I was a little kid, but academics come first and football comes second.”
