Today's Sleeper: West Rowan's do-it-all kid

We have started a Sleeper of the Day item that will target under-noticed Carolinas football recruiting prospects. It will run regularly to start with, then morph into a Sleeper of the Week and finally, as we exhaust the possibilities, maybe into a Sleeper of the Every Now and Then. As always, if you have a candidate, email me at solson@charlotteobserver.com.

JON CRUCITTI, Wide Receiver, West Rowan High

No BCS school would ever offer Crucitti a scholarship based on his workout numbers. But watching him in one-on-one drills or better yet, in a game, and any recruiter would have to be intrigued.

Crucitti, who is overshadowed at West Rowan by the talented DL Chris Smith, isn’t particularly big (5-foot-10, 185 pounds) or fast (4.75 40-yard dash). But he is a monster when it comes to intangibles.

He worked as a receiver in one-on-one drills at the Scout.com Combine in Charlotte, and showed off good hands and a scrappiness in competing with his defender for the ball. But Crucitti is a lot more than that.

“This guy’s your sleeper,” said West Rowan coach Scott Young. “He does a little bit of everything for us—last year he played some quarterback, some wide receiver and some running back. And he’s a heck of a punter.”

Young said Crucitti threw for about 500 yards and five touchdowns, ran for 350 and four scores, and had 600 receiving yards and three TDs.

“He’s such a smart kid; it really is like having another coach on the field,” Young said.

Crucitti is also an outstanding baseball centerfielder, and may play both sports in college.

He hasn’t attracted much interest from the big schools yet, although Duke and East Carolina are paying attention. He’s also being recruited hard by the service academies. –Stan Olson