Jeter's trainer: "He looks like an NFL player now."

Four-star defensive lineman Donovan Jeter of Beaver Falls (Pa.) has been a well-known name on the national recruiting circuit for some time now. The 6-foot-5, 255-pound Jeter has earned offers from many of the country’s powerhouse programs. He cut his list down to a “final five” of Alabama, Pitt, Penn State, Ohio State, and Tennessee, before adding Notre Dame back into the mix as well.

For a player to hold the offers he does is an impressive feat, but it didn’t come easily. Jeter has worked harder this offseason than he ever has before in his life to help maximize his potential at the high school level and set himself up for success in the college ranks. His trainer, Terry Grossetti Jr. of Grossetti Performance in New Castle (Pa.), credits that to an uncommon work ethic.

“Sometimes with high school kids – I’ve trained a lot of good ones throughout my training time here – some of them just go through the motions and they’re just good. They don’t really work. I’ve trained James Harrison in the offseason before, about three years ago, and [Jeter] reminds me a lot of James. Once he gets to the gym, he’s really there to work,” Grossetti said. “Normally a high school kid won’t come in at eight in the morning, I don’t even schedule them then because they won’t wake up to come work. Donovan came at eight o’clock all summer and was here on time and warming up already. That says a lot about him and shows how successful he’ll be. Not a lot of kids are willing to do the little stuff like that. In terms of diet, Donovan really dedicated himself this offseason to eating healthy. You can train all you want, but if you’re not eating right, you’re not going to get the best results. He really tuned in and ate exactly what I told him to eat.”

The result for Jeter have been tremendous to date. While he had bulked up to nearly 300 pounds at one point and looked like a sure-fire interior defensive lineman, Jeter’s workouts in the offseason have slimmed him down to 255 pounds. However, the results haven’t simply been losing baby fat. Grossetti has seen Jeter undergo a physical transformation that has made him leaner, more explosive, and more powerful than he was with the extra weight on.”

“The thing about Donovan – you know, he weighed like 290 [pounds] or something before and now he’s down to 260 – he lost all of that weight, but he got twice as strong. He looks smaller, but he actually looks like an NFL player now,” Grossetti said. “He’s going to be a senior in high school and he looks like he’s in the NFL. His body is completely changed. He’s benching 335 in high school. He never even squatted before he came here and I would say that he can do 225 pounds 17 or 18 times right now, which is phenomenal for him. I have all of his workouts from when he started and he was doing 185 for like 10 reps. Just a sloppy high school kid, with a lot of potential. “

That sloppy kid has turned into a monster over the course of the spring and summer and expectations are high for Jeter. With his newfound physical transformation, he’s moving better than he ever has before – which is saying something given his family’s athletic pedigree and his basketball background.

“[Jeter] moves well. Just from playing basketball for such a long time growing up, he has good feet. That’s how a lot of high-end defensive ends are nowadays, almost like a basketball player. They’re 6-foot-4, 6-foot-5, 260 pounds, they can run. I think he could definitely play outside. He’s still powerful, he’ll still have a good bull rush and he’s good with his hands,” Grossetti said. “I could see him playing outside away from the center or inside. He’s athletic, he’s long. He’s got nice long arms and he’ll be able to get in the way whenever they throw short little passes, like a J.J. Watt type of thing. He’s got a good motor and he’s a hard worker, so whoever fits that mold is a good comparison.”

Between the work ethic and the physical transformation that Grossetti explained in detail, he sees a serious chance for early playing time coming Jeter’s way whenever he enrolls at the college of his choice.

“What’s going to be great for him is now that he when he goes to college, he’s already been through a professional training program for a year. Those movements, he’s tuned in on them now,” Grossetti said. “Whenever he goes to a program, there’s going to be no learning curve and he’ll kind of get things going full speed, which can help him get ready to play early on in his career.”

Whether that teams proves to be the hometown Pitt Panthers, as many have prognosticated, or any of the other top football programs and academics institutions on his list like Notre Dame, Penn State, Ohio State, Tennessee, or Alabama, Donovan Jeter has a bright future ahead of him. Stay tuned to Panther-Lair.com and the Rivals network for more updates on his future.