Versatile Senior Ready to Work Hard

ATASCADERO — Atascadero senior Jack Megason signed his National Letter Of Intent Thursday afternoon in front of the Atascadero High School’s athletic office to continue his career as a student-athlete at the University of Northwestern in St. Paul Minnesota.

Surrounded by friends, family and a gang of fellow offensive lineman, Megason addressed the crowd and shared refreshments with everyone after Athletic Director Sam DeRose said few words regarding the gritty senior.

Megason earned first-team, all-league honors in the PAC 4 in his senior season playing offensive tackle and was unquestionably one of the most versatile players on the Atascadero team as he spent time playing center, guard, tackle and even some defense during his four years in the orange and grey.

“He is a very blue-collar, very workmanlike, gets it done,” Atascadero head football coach Vic Cooper said. “He is very technique-driven — when you look at him he was the biggest guy we had out there for sure and one of the stronger guys but his technique was good enough to propel him to this level. Once he gets to the next level he is not going to be the biggest guy, he is not going to be the strongest guy and he will be able to fall back on that technique.”

Megason was one of the Hounds’ most reliable players in the last two seasons and is excited to finally find a new place where he can make an impact for the next four years.

“It is just such a relief to know that I am finally in somewhere,” Megason said with a smile stretching across his face. “I have had such a supportive community to help back me and help me into this dream and it is just awesome.”

The UNW Eagles, who play in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, finished last season 4-6 and will be looking for their first winning season in 2020 since the 2017 season when they finished 6-4.

Megason also preached the importance of versatility on Thursday afternoon, saying “They [UNW] definitely talked about my versatility. Playing center freshman year and JV year really got me to branch out to other positions and see what else there is and that is what got me into college, being versatile.”

The senior will head East over the summer and will study Kinesiology while in school.