Foster rare commodity — a top WR from area
It was the first practice of Robert Foster’s high-school career and a coach told him to “go wide.”
This wasn’t where Foster envisioned his star to rise. He was a midget-league standout running with the football, not catching it.
Then, that same assistant coach at Monaca High School told Foster the running back to go wide and run. Straight. As fast as he could.
“I ran right between two people and caught the ball,” Foster said.
They immediately should have sent out birth announcements for this Foster child. A star receiver was born.
Three years after that day of position transformation, after speeding through his receiver infancy stage, Robert Foster III just might be one of the most unusual players in WPIAL history. Go ahead and call him RFIII.
It has been well-documented what Western Pennsylvania has produced at quarterback.
Other high school players from this area have gone on to big things at linebacker, offensive line and other positions.
Scan through the all-time list of NFL players from the WPIAL and you’ll see loads of players from those positions. But big-time receivers? Nah. They come from Florida, Texas, California or even Ohio. That’s why Foster is a Western Pennsylvania rarity.
Foster is a senior at Central Valley High School in Beaver County and one of the few receivers in the WPIAL over the years who has been so heavily recruited and so highly touted. Foster is ranked among the top 10 receivers in the country by scouting services. Scout.com ranks him No. 2, Super Prep magazine him No. 4 and Rivals.com No. 8.
Foster’s college recruiting tells you plenty about his talent. This summer, he narrowed his list of schools to seven — Pitt, Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Oregon and Southern California.
“For whatever reason, receivers aren’t a commodity here,” said Joe Butler, longtime WPIAL scout for Metro Index Scouting who also helps run Scouting Pennsylvania. “You can go back to Gordon Jones [of East Allegheny] when he was a big-time receiver recruit in the 1970s, but we haven’t had many of those types. But I think Foster and the Tyler Boyd kid at Clairton are both big-time receivers. They’re national-type receivers.”
Jones went on to become an AllAmerican at Pitt and played in the NFL, but scouting services weren’t around when Jones played. No one ranked players across the country. Aliquippa’s Jonathan Baldwin (a first-round NFL draft pick a few years ago out of Pitt) is one of the few Western Pennsylvania receivers in the past few decades who has garnered as much attention as Foster.
Foster’s receiver toolbox is too full to shut. He has good size (6 feet 2, 185 pounds), good hands and Central Valley coach Mark Lyons claims Foster’s route-running is impeccable. Then, there is that speed. The kid whose favorite food is gnocchi will knock your socks off with his speed.
He started showing it as a sophomore when Foster moved into a new school. Monaca and Center high schools merged to form Central Valley, and Foster played a big role in helping Central Valley win the WPIAL Class AAA championship in its first year.
Some college coaches and recruiting gurus say Foster has speed you