Strauss hopes to capture Singleton’s flag again when they reunite Saturday
When JR Strauss went to games at Beaver Stadium as a kid he imagined someday playing there. Saturday he’ll realize that dream.
The Exeter grad will start at linebacker for Villanova when it faces heavily favored and second-ranked Penn State in front of 100,000 fans.
“Going to those games (when I was in high school) made me really want to play college football,” said Strauss, a redshirt junior. “That game day experience, the energy there is unlike any other, I think.”
Sprinkled amongst a sea of Nittany Lions fans will be a bunch of family members wearing Strauss’ No. 10 Villanova jersey. It will be an important moment for them and for Strauss, who was slowed by injuries early in his career at Nova before earning his first start last week in a 24-17 win over Colgate.
He had a team-high eight tackles, broke up a pass and was in on a sack as the Wildcats won their season-opener.
“I was excited to run out there on a Friday night,” Strauss said. “The adrenaline was high; the whole team was getting hyped.
“First games have the most energy. It was a good feeling to get out there and play the game of football like I did in high school.”
Strauss played it as well as anyone ever at Exeter. He was a two-time All-State linebacker and started at tight end on the Eagles’ only district championship team.
To get their hands on that trophy they had to do what was considered impossible at the time: Go to Governor Mifflin, stop Nick Singleton, and beat the top-ranked team in the state.
Strauss and the Eagles checked off all those boxes, limiting Singleton to a season-low 40 yards in the 31-28 victory.
“That’s something I’ll remember forever,” Strauss said.
It ranked as one of the greatest upsets in Berks football history, mostly because seven weeks earlier Mifflin had mercy-ruled the Eagles in Reiffton. Few people gave the Eagles a chance in the rematch.
“That was a big rivalry,” Strauss said. “For us to be matched up to them that close to the state championships was a really cool experience. I’ll never forget (us) getting that first down with two minutes to go (to clinch the win). It was a high-energy (moment).”
Strauss looks forward to his reunion Saturday with Singleton, as well as with former Exeter teammate Joey Schlaffer, who was also part of that unforgettable victory over Mifflin. Schlaffer is a redshirt sophomore tight end for the Nittany Lions.
Strauss has competed against Singleton his whole life; he recalls grabbing Nick’s flag when their teams played each other in flag football. During high school they played each season and often trained together at Garage Strength.
“It’s been cool to see him progress,” Strauss said of Singleton. “I always see him on TV making plays, watching him progress. Hopefully I’ll see him make it to the NFL.”
Strauss would’ve loved to have been a college teammate of Singleton. Penn State flirted with him during his Exeter days. He performed well at a Penn State prospects camp and later had facetime meetings (this was during the Covid era) with Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin and assistant coach Brent Fry.
Strauss got nearly two dozen college scholarship offers but none from Penn State.
“Depth chart-wise I wasn’t on their radar,” he said. “(All-American linebacker) Abdul Carter was in my (recruiting) class. I spoke (to their coaches) but never heard back, so I moved on. It was kind of disappointing but I don’t think everything is (always) going to go my way. I accepted that.”
Strauss had hoped to get a full-time role at Villanova sooner than this but suffered a hamstring injury late in his sophomore season. It lingered for months. He strained it again during winter workouts, and then again during spring ball.
“It was really frustrating,” he said. “It kept me behind.”
He was on the field for all 14 games last season, mostly on special teams: kickoff, punt and field goal coverage. He blocked a field goal against Towson.
Strauss entered spring practice this year as one of several candidates for a spot at outside linebacker. It was in summer camp, he believes, that he moved ahead of the pack and wrested away a starting berth.
“I was really locked in,” he said. “I tried my hardest to make my way up that depth chart and it seemed to work out in my favor.”
What did he show the coaches to win that job?
“My pure physicality,” he said. “I wouldn’t say I’m the fastest player but I play downhill and get off blocks well and tackle well. I think that impressed the coaches.”
Strauss emerged as a starter on defense as a freshman at Exeter and was one of the Berks League’s most dominant players his final two seasons, 2020 and 2021. He ran a 4.55 in the 40 at the U.S. National Combine before his senior year and was rated the No. 22 player in the state by Rivals.com.
He received scholarship offers from Maryland, Princeton, Lehigh, Richmond, Harvard and Penn, as well as from each of the military academies. Obviously academics were, and still are, a strong part of his overall game.
He’ll graduate this December – after just 3 ½ years – with a degree in Statistics and a minor in Computer Science. In January he’ll begin pursuit of a Master’s, likely in the financial field. He has a fifth year of eligibility and hopes to play again next season.
Strauss can’t wait to run into Singleton again – literally.
“It’ll be fun and cool to play against him, and hopefully I get him down a couple times,” he said.
Penn State was favored by 40-plus points before its wins over FIU and Nevada; the line will be similar for this game. Strauss isn’t concerned with any of that.
“It’ll be really cool to play in that stadium,” he said, “(but) we’re going up there to get a job done.”