For those of you who have never heard of Philipsburg-Osceola senior Dusty Golding, you're most likely not alone.
Golding lettered last year, but that was on special teams. He played behind J.D. Mason on offense for two years and was a backup defensive end last season.
Mason has graduated and is a freshman walk-on wide receiver at Penn State. That means Golding has some big shoes to fill, which is just fine with him.
"He set the bar, and I plan on raising it higher," Golding said. "I'm just going to get out there, catch the ball and do my thing. My big goal is to get as many yards as J.D. did last year, if not more. Hopefully, Coach [Jeff Vroman] will get the ball to me."
"J.D. was a great receiver," Vroman said. "But I think at this point, Dusty's just a little quicker. That's huge getting off the line and getting out of a break in a pattern. I think it's very advantagious for him."
Golding said he learned a lot from watching Mason play the position.
"He's helped me a lot through everything - in both basketball and football," Golding said. "I just learned from him, and now it's my turn. He just taught me to be cool, not to have such a big chip on my shoulder and play my own game."
So he has a chip on his shoulder?
"I kind of do this year with having to fill his shoes," he said. "Everybody's saying 'P-O's not going to be good. J.D. Mason, Dimitri [Sidorick] and them are gone.' But we're just as good, if not better."
"I think that's the way our kids are this year," Vroman said. "They're done with last year. They're ready to move on."
Golding is comparable to Mason in size. Mason was 6-foot-5, 205 pounds, while Golding is 6-4, 205. Mason played cornerback, and Golding has been moved to safety.
In track and field, he qualified for the PIAA Meet in the 110-meter hurdles by placing second at the District 6 Meet. So, he has the speed, but Vroman also likes Golding's desire.
"I like his aggressiveness to the football," he said. "He has a great set of hands. That's something that people didn't know about last year because he had a kid ahead of him.
"He's a basketball player, and he knows how to go up and get the football. I've been really impressed with his work ethic this summer. I'm really looking for some nice things from him."
Opposing teams knew early on last season that Mason was dangerous offensively and defensively. Golding should fly under the radar early in the season until he makes a name for himself.
"They won't know who I am," he said, "because they've never seen me. I'm just hoping to go out, do my best and do what I can for the team."
"Last year, J.D. didn't fly under the radar," Vroman said. "He had several articles and he was on rivals.com. So everyone knew about him.
"Dusty's really looking forward to that challenge. That's great. Competition is good for everybody. Even that little bit of a comparison is very healthy, and it's something that's going to serve Dusty well."
Golding not only has big expecations for himself, but he also expects a lot from the Mounties.
"Our big expectation is to win the District 6 championship for the first time in our school's history," Golding said. "That's a big possibility. We've got a lot of good, key players coming back on the line, backfield, split ends, defense and special teams."
