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Downingtown West's Warren heads back to the gridiron

05/19/2015, 9:00am EDT

By Jeff Neiburg

Jeff Neiburg (@Jeff_Neiburg)
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Josh Warren hasn’t put on a football helmet in a game yet at Downingtown West High School. With his junior year winding down, in fact, he hasn’t played organized football since eighth grade.

He originally quit playing football after eighth grade to focus on basketball, which he knew he wanted to play at the next level.

But with his senior year on the horizon, Warren has the football itch again.

“The idea of getting to play under the Friday night lights with all the kids I grew up playing football with is something that I’d like to look into,” Warren said.

His three year absence from the sport hasn’t stopped Division I schools from showing interest in the 6-foot-9 Ivy and Patriot League basketball target.

Warren, the Ches-Mont basketball Player of the Year who will play tight end on the football field, said he’s already received interest from schools like Duke, Wisconsin and “other ACC schools,” for his football services.

Without a scholarship offer yet on the basketball court, Warren could find himself with more options to play football than basketball in college.

“I’ve definitely thought about it,” Warren said of playing football at the next level. “To have those offers would be great. Not necessarily because I would definitely want to play in college, but to have the opportunity - if i end up loving it after this year and decided that’s what I want to do - just to have that opportunity would be nice.”

The Whippets started their offseason minicamp Monday, and Warren was in attendance. Head coach Mike Milano and his staff finally got their wish.

“They’ve been bugging me since freshman year,” Warren said with a laugh.

How is Downingtown West basketball coach Jason Ritter taking the news?

It was something he was going to suggest to Warren anyway.

“I was actually going to mention it, that he should play [football], after the second live recruiting period if he didn’t get an offer,” Ritter said. “I think Josh can be the first Downingtown athlete to be the first Division I football and basketball player. Just by looking at him, he’s got the body for a Division I tight end."

Though obviously playing the more physical sport could cost Warren some time on the hardwood if he were to injure himself during the football season, his hoops coach isn't thinking about the worst-case scenarios.

“He can get injured walking down the street, so you can’t look at it like that," Ritter said. "It’s just got to be what’s best for Josh and I think he has a great future in both sports.”

Basketball still remains a big focus for Warren. He’s currently in the midst of the AAU season with Delaware’s WeR1 program.

WeR1 is 7-1 thus far on the Under Armor Association circuit, and unlike at Downingtown West, where Warren is one of the top scoring options, Warren is still carving out his role with a talented group that features high-major targets in the frontcourt like Sedee Keita, Nysier Brooks and Kodye Pugh.

“With WeR1, there’s a lot of really talented kids so I’m no longer the first or even second or third option,” Warren said. “So I just need to find my role, which on this team is mainly rebounding and defending.”

“Josh is projected as a stretch four,” Ritter said. “He can shoot the ball. People don’t realize that; he can really shoot it. But he’s so good in the post that it’s almost scoring at will in the post. We’re working on his perimeter game, just ball handling on the perimeter and shooting off the dribble. If he gets those two things down, he might be a mid-major type player.”

Perhaps he could blossom into a mid-major basketball player, but his best offers may just come in the sport he forgot about three years ago.

“I’ll say this for him: I think Josh is like any other kid, he wants to go to college on scholarship,” Ritter said. “He wants to go to college for free. If it comes down to football or basketball, that’s a pretty nice option.”