Commentary: ET Pipeline, Tyler’s Greg Ward Jr. gets his chance with Eagles

Published 6:27 pm Tuesday, November 26, 2019

As East Texans and H-Town football fans would attest, Greg Ward Jr. can play.

After three years of splitting time between the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad and the San Antonio Commanders of the Alliance of American Football, the Eagles gave Ward, the former star quarterback at John Tyler High School and the University of Houston, a chance.

The wide receiver came off the practice squad and made six catches against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. That is one more reception than second-round pick J.J. Arcega-Whiteside has for the entire season.

Actually, it was Ward’s second time up this season, the first coming on Sept. 22 against the Detroit Lions.

Ward played two offensive snaps and 13 special teams snaps against the Lions, a 27-24 loss. He was waived two days after the game and added back to the practice squad the following day.

Before being called up on Friday, the former Cougar QB, now 24, spent most of the week leading up to the Seattle game under center for the scout team. Ward was helping the Eagle defenders prepare for Seahawk QB Russell Wilson.

“It was pretty fun, reminded me of my old days,” Ward said. “I was trying to make some plays and give my defense a good look.”

Earlier in the week, Eagles’ offensive coordinator Mike Groh said they had faith in Ward.

“Greg has done a terrific job for us at practice,” Groh said. “He makes a couple plays every day out there, and he’s certainly somebody that we have a lot of confidence in should we need to call on him. I don’t know when that might be, but he’ll be ready when it comes.”

In the 17-9 loss to Seattle, Ward made his first NFL reception in the first quarter. He had a total of six receptions for 40 yards.

He was a member of the Eagles’ practice squad in 2017 when they won Super Bowl LII.

Ward was the 2013 Texas High School Player of the Year after throwing for 4,202 yards and 39 touchdowns at John Tyler.

Then he led the Houston Cougars to a New Year’s Six Peach Bowl victory over Florida State and helping his Cougars coach Tom Herman eventually land the job at Texas.

The Eagles (5-6) visit Miami (2-9) on Sunday and are 10-point favorites despite losing two straight home games.

JT’S GROSS, PITTSBURG’S BACA HONORED

Former East Texas football stars — John Tyler’s DunTayviun Gross and Pittsburg’s Brian Baca — earned first-team honors on the All-American Southwest Conference team.

Howard Payne’s Gross, also known as DunDun, made the team as a slot receiver. The senior led the ASC in receptions per game (5.4) and total receptions (54). He was also second in the league in kick return average (19.4) and thid in all-purpose yards at 1,128 (112.8).

Gross, son of Laura Reddic and Royshawn Gross, is a kinesiology major. After JT he played two years at Cisco College before moving to HPU in Brownwood.

East Texas Baptist’s Baca made the team at quarterback. The senior ended his ETBU career completing 191-of-315 attempts for 2,296 yards and 16 touchdowns. He leaves the Marshal school as the all-time passing touchdown leader with 64 while becoming the second QB in program history to complete over 500 passes (501) and throw for over 7,000 yards (7,192) for his career. He was also a semifinalist for the Campbell Trophy. This is the second straight year he has was All-ASC first-team.

Henderson’s Tariq Gray, a sophomore at ETBU, made honorable mention at slot back.