Heisman Trophy candidate Ashton Jeanty's football roots trace back to a Navy base in Italy

GRICIGNANO DI AVERSA, Italy -- The shot section instantly strikes nan oculus for visitors driving connected an overpass approaching nan U.S. Navy Support Site extracurricular of Naples.

An American shot section successful nan mediate of confederate Italy.

Turn past nan pothole-filled section streets, get done nan information gate, and nan unkempt Italian roads are replaced by perfectly paved thoroughfares. Home to much than 500 families, nan Navy guidelines is wherever Heisman Trophy campaigner Ashton Jeanty learned to play football.

Now a inferior moving backmost for 15th-ranked Boise State and a unanimous action connected The Associated Press midseason All-America team, Jeanty’s talents were first spotted by Naples High School shot coach Jim Davis erstwhile he was successful seventh grade.

Not connected nan shot field, though. That's because tackle shot wasn’t an action for mediate schoolers.

It was connected nan hoops tribunal during mediate schoolhouse lunch.

“He’s going up for a layup and he’s getting truthful overmuch tallness I’m reasoning this kid’s astir to dunk nan ball,” said Davis, who besides teaches beingness acquisition astatine nan school. “As a seventh grader, you tin ideate really short he is. He’s 5-9, 5-10 now. So he was astir apt person to 5-4 aliases 5-5. And it’s like, ‘Wow, look astatine nan powerfulness this kid has astatine specified a young age.’”

Davis had to hold 2 years to unleash that powerfulness successful his squad erstwhile Jeanty was a precocious schoolhouse freshman successful 2018.

And it wasn’t until nan coach moved Jeanty from backmost 2 games into nan play that he really began to return off.

“I realized he needed to beryllium nan moving back. I could get anybody to manus disconnected nan shot to him,” Davis told nan AP during an question and reply astatine nan subject guidelines this week.

In nan remaining 4 games of Naples’ season, Jeanty ran for complete 1,200 yards connected less than 100 carries and scored 17 touchdowns.

“I’d beryllium lying to you if I told you that (I thought) he would beryllium a Heisman candidate,” Davis said. “The only personification that astir apt really felt that measurement was himself. But I knew he could play astatine nan adjacent level, and that’s why I knew he had to time off present to get nan exposure.”

So Davis encouraged Jeanty to spell backmost to nan U.S. for his last 3 years of precocious school. And that’s what Jeanty did by enrolling astatine Lone Star High School successful Frisco, Texas. Now he leads nan federation pinch 1,376 yards successful 7 games for Boise State and is considered nan apical moving backmost imaginable for nan NFL draft.

The 1 twelvemonth of shot that Jeanty played successful Italy was dissimilar thing astir American precocious schoolhouse athletes experience.

Naples’ closest title is 9 hours distant astatine a akin guidelines successful Vicenza successful bluish Italy. During Jeanty’s season, nan squad besides played games successful Germany, Belgium and Spain. The crippled successful Germany required an 18-hour autobus ride.

Current Naples backmost Camden Kasparek was nan ballboy erstwhile Jeanty played connected nan team.

“On those agelong autobus trips, you do a batch of squad bonding, a batch of cool opportunities, a batch of nosy trips pinch nan team,” Kasparek said, adding that Jeanty still keeps successful touch pinch him via societal media and follows nan school’s results.

Featuring a movie theater, a bowling alley and a supermarket stocked pinch American goods, nan Navy guidelines is for illustration a location distant from location for nan kids who unrecorded there.

“We person Popeyes and Wendy’s and Subway, and they tin bargain American apparel and they tin bargain Skippy peanut food and Halloween candies now and they’ll spell instrumentality aliases treating present shortly,” Davis said. “So, yeah, it’s very overmuch for illustration a small America.”

Because nan Navy support tract section doesn’t person lights, immoderate of nan team’s games are played astatine nan Carney Park subject recreational installation wrong a dormant volcano successful adjacent Pozzuoli.

The rec tract is linked to a narration betwixt nan U.S. subject organization and Naples that dates backmost to World War II.

“It’s beautiful neat," Davis said. “You spot nan crater each astir you.”

Growing up successful a subject family helped style who Jeanty is.

“The consciousness of discipline, order. You activity until nan occupation (is) done, not conscionable because nan clip is over,” Davis said. “He has that activity ethic.”

Other athletes person followed Jeanty’s way earlier from overseas bases to nan elite level for illustration George Teague, Michael Strahan, Alejandro Villanueva — and Shaquille O’Neal successful basketball.

Military life translates good to football.

“It’s each astir teamwork, subject and honoring nan concatenation of command: not having to for illustration nan personification adjacent to you, but respecting them to get nan ngo complete," Davis said.

Davis often wakes up during nan mediate of nan nighttime now to watch Jeanty play. What he sees isn’t overmuch different from what nan coach witnessed first-hand six years ago.

“He wouldn’t spell down connected nan first hit. He was explosive. You conscionable felt for illustration you’re ever sitting connected nan separator of your spot waiting for him. You know, adjacent touch mightiness beryllium a touchdown,” Davis said.

“Most of our games were precocious scoring, for illustration 45-42, 38-35. We were conscionable very fortunate astir of those times that we had nan shot last. So we were ne'er retired of it arsenic agelong arsenic we gave it to No. 2.”

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