JANESVILLE — Janesville Parker High junior offensive tackle Gavin Meier is 6-foot-6 and weighs 275 pounds.
Last Friday night, he lined up across from Middleton High senior Torin Pettaway, a menacing 6-foot-5, 289-pound senior. Pettaway, who didn’t go out for football until his junior year at Middleton, is headed to the University of Wisconsin on a football scholarship after turning down offers from USC, Washington, Nebraska and Minnesota.
Meier came away satisfied with his performance against Pettaway and the Cardinals.
“Going into the game, I knew it was going to be a test,” Meier said as he walked off the Vikings’ practice field Monday. “When I went up against (Pettaway) the first couple of plays, I said, ‘No, this isn’t horrible; this isn’t bad.’
“I definitely was nervous,” Meier said.
That is what Meier has done to most of his opponents the past two seasons. That is why many major schools—including Wisconsin—are courting him.
The personable Meier is soaking everything in as the Vikings prepare for their annual rivalry game against Janesville Craig on Friday night at Monterey Stadium.
“I’m being conscious of what I’m doing, because I know there are college scouts out there every game watching what I’m doing,” Meier said. “I’m trying to be a team leader and giving it my all.”
Quickness, athletic ability set him apart
First-year Vikings coach Joe Flister first met Meier during the COVID pandemic when Meier was in the Janesville Youth Football program.
Meier’s athleticism is what has turned him into a lineman worthy National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I teams’ attention.
“He has great feet,” Flister said. “He’s physical. He’s gotten stronger.
“He has all the tools that they look for,” Flister went on. “And he is a great kid. He does well in school (3.7 GPA). All the things he needs to do, he is doing.”
Meier works out at a training facility in Oconomowoc.
“I’ve come a long way from last year to this year,” Meier said. “I’ve grown and I’ve gotten a lot better.”
At a University of Minnesota summer camp two months ago, Meier’s wingspan was measured at 83 inches; he triple-jumped 24 feet, 10 inches and ran two 40-yard dashes in 5.0 and 5.08 seconds.
“I’m very quick,” Meier said. “That is something college coaches have caught on to.”
While Meier was a member of the Vikings’ track and field team last year, he did not participate in the triple jump or run sprints.
Meier competed in the throws, and he finished first in the Big Eight Conference Meet discus event with a toss of 148 feet, 11 inches.
Still growing
Schools likely are aware that Meier is still growing.
“When I was going to college camps this summer, they had me at 6-3 or 6-4,” Meier said. “Now I am 6-6.”
That means frequent trips to the grocery store for his mother Meghan, and step-father, Matt Everhart.
Gavin, who weighed 9.5 pounds at birth, says his younger brother, who is going to soon turn 8, was a 10-pound baby and is likely to be bigger than he is.
“I’m always drinking milk,” the older brother Meier said, who says he goes through about a gallon every two days.
As his body grows, the happy-go-lucky Meier has also developed a football demeanor — on the field.
“It took a while for me to get that kick in me,” Meier said. “I’ve always been a super nice kid. “Me’ and ‘football me’ are very different now. In my sophomore year, I was soft.
“This year I kind of kicked it into gear,” he said. “Football is a physical sport.”
Rivalry game Friday night
“He’s got a great personality and that carries through on the field and practices,” Flister said. “But he’s pretty much business when he straps on the helmet and puts on shoulder pads.”
Devin Conners-Shaw is the Viking tackle opposite of Meier. They interchange sides during games. Guard Dean Harilal, an honorable mention All-Big Eight Conference selection last season, adds to the formidable front for the Vikings as they look for their first victory of the season Friday night against Craig.
“You take our line, and you throw in James Frazier at tailback and Palmer Butters at quarterback, we have guys that are really working hard,” Flister said. “We’re certainly not satisfied with our record, but they know how big this game is coming up.”
Meier knows what he wants to do.
“I come into every game thinking I’m going to kick some butt,” he said.
College decision is coming
Meier is now visiting college campuses as he prepares to make a decision on where to go after next season.
“Playing Division I football has always been my dream,” Meier said. “I just started to realize that Holy cow, this is really happening.”
That realization began last year during a chemistry class. Meier’s Twitter account buzzed with a message from the University of Wisconsin inviting him to the Badgers linemen camp.
“Everything is open,” Meier said of his recruiting status. “I have no rankings. I want to go to a school that accepts me as a person.”
He has no timetable for when he might make a decision on what college he will attend.
“When I do, I’m sure everybody will know,” he said.
Until that time arrives, Meier will continue to work to put more grass stains on the backside of opponents’ football pants.
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