Greg Isdaner

From NCAA College Football Information & Resource

Greg Isdaner

Profile
College	West Virginia University
Position	OL
Jersey No.	79
Class	Junior
Career	2006 – present
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight	322 lbs (146.0 kg)
Nationality	American
B-date	February 25
B-place
High School	The Episcopal Academy
Career Highlights
Awards
2007 All-BIG EAST First Team 2007 CFN All-BIG EAST Team 2007 CFN sophomore All-American 2007 All-Bowl team 2007 Ideal Mountaineer Man Award 2007 Phil Steele All-BIG EAST First Team 2007 Rivals.com All-BIG EAST First Team
Championships
2007 Big East Co-Champions
Bowl Games
2008 Fiesta Bowl 2007 Gator Bowl

Greg Isdaner is an offensive lineman for the West Virginia University Mountaineers in the NCAA college football tournament. In just two seasons at WVU, the bulky Isdaner has already taken the reigns as one of the leaders in the Mountaineer offensive line. With the Gladwyne, Pa. native on the O-Line, the Mountaineers zoomed to an 11-2 record in 2007 capped by a huge upset victory in the Fiesta Bowl over third-ranked Oklahoma and a #6 placing in the final rankings. One of the highly regarded linemen in the league and in the nation, Isdaner has provided solid and consistent protection to the likes of running back Steve Slaton and dual threat playcaller Pat White.

1 Personal Life
2 High School
3 College
- 3.1 2005
- 3.2 2006
- 3.3 2007
- 3.4 2008
4 Achievements
5 References

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Personal Life

Greg is the son of Bart and Eileen Isdaner, a financial advisor and an accountant/payroll specialist, respectively. Most of his parents' family attended Georgetown University, namely his father and his uncle Scott, and her mother and seven others in her family. His younger brothers Shane and Cody attended the same high school as him and were also on the football roster at Episcopal.

Greg, also known as Shrek to some---because of his round and hulking frame---wore a necktie with the ogre cartoon character on it as part of his high school attire. In college, his friends and teammates, who did not know about his nickname back in high school, also called him Shrek. Former WVU assistant head coach and offensive line mentor Rick Trickett also labelled him as the "Big Caterpillar" because he was "a road grader."

Greg, who according to his academy history teacher and assistant coach Khari Baten, "liked being involved in class discussions, liked to challenge his classmates intellectually and academically," is an Athletic Director’s Academic Honor Roll and a Big East academic all-Star. He majored in business and economics at West Virginia University.

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High School

Isdaner attended The Episcopal Academy, a parochial school located approximately 5 miles from their home in Gladwyne, Pa. Isdaner's first sport of choice was actually lacrosse, but then "he kind of grew too big for lacrosse" according to his father and eventually decided to switch to football. The summer before enrollment, he contacted head coach Rick Knox and told him he was uncertain about joining the football team since he hasn't played in the gridiron before. He was however determined to make the transition and did whatever it took to learn the sport, like studying game tapes and improving and strengthening his huge frame by spending more time on the gym (he grew from 235 to 305 pounds).

A three-year starter for the Churchmen, Isdaner went on and claimed first team all-conference and all-Main Line honors, in addition to a third team all-state accolade. He did suffer a midseason ankle injury during his senior year.

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College

Among the universities that was interested in bringing in Isdaner include Harvard, Penn, Villanova and Georgetown. Georgetown, Penn, and Harvard only offered him partial scholarships, which means that he will have to shell out about $15,000 to enroll at these schools. West Virginia on the other hand, the only Division I school to recruit him, offered him a full scholarship. Going to WVU however wasn't the most popular choice among the Isdaner's, most especially his parents who wanted him to be a Georgetown alum like them, or just plainly use his talents in football to land at a best academic school.

The "tension" ended up with Isdaner's parents refusing to sign WVU's scholarship offer and him moving out/getting kicked out of their home. For awhile, he stayed at an empty apartment owned by his high school's equipment manager and former coach.

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2005

When defensive back Marquis Melvin decided to back out of his scholarship, a new door opened for Isdaner at West Virginia. He arrived on the second day of camp, was redshirted, and traveled with the team during road games as a back-up guard. He was named as scout team champion prior to the Wofford game.

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2006

During fall camp, Trickett played Isdaner in the first team offense as a left guard on an "experiment" and moved left guard Ryan Stanchek at the left tackle position. After starting left tackle Damien Crissey sustained a serious left ankle sprain right on the opening series of the season opener against Marshall, Isdaner had his unexpected debut in the WVU offensive line. The Mountaineers had an easy win over the Thundering Herd, 42-10, with Isdaner and the rest of the O-Line creating holes for Slaton who ran away with 208 yards rushing. The following week, he kept his starting position and once again opened the doors for Slaton to gain over a hundred yards with two scoring runs in the first quarter.

Isdaner kept the starting left guard position the rest of the year, helping the Mountaineer rushers gain 340 yards on 43 carries against Maryland, 153 yards on 42 carries against East Carolina, 314 on 44 attempts against Mississippi State, 457 yards on 45 carries against Syacuse, 263 yards on 42 carries against Connecticut, 318 yards on 50 carries in the first loss of the season against Louisville, 313 yards on 38 carries against Cincinnati, 437 yards on 47 rushes against Pittsburgh, 132 yards on 37 carries in the upset loss to South Florida, 195 yards on 47 carries in the triple OT win over Rutgers, and 311 yards on 45 carries in his first bowl game appearance at the Toyota Gator Bowl against Georgia Tech. He continued to start the rest of the season despite sustaining a stinger against the Bulls.

He ended the year with 21 knockdowns and an 87.7% average game grade while earning several postseason accolades that include freshman All-America and freshman All-Big East citations from The Sporting News. The WVU offensive line also allowed only 15 sacks that year for 82 yards loss while helping the team gain an average of 302.3 ypg (#2 in the nation) and score 38.9 ppg (#3 in the nation).

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2007

During the spring drills, Isdaner had to sit it out to recuperate from a shoulder injury. He and the rest of the O-line spent most of spring and summer getting acquainted with new offensive line coach Greg Frey.

With a whole year of experience, Isdaner and the rest of the offensive line became one of the more highly regarded O-line not only in the league but in the nation as well. He appeared and started in all 13 games of the season and registered a total of 57 knockdowns for the season in more than 850 plays he had appeared in. He was on in a season high 88 plays in the 13-21 defeat at the hands of 18th ranked USF, while appearing in 60 or more plays in nine of the 13 games. He established his season high of nine knockdowns in the 38-31 win over Louisville and finished the season with a total of 57 knockdowns, including five or more in eight outings.

Isdaner and the rest of the offensive line helped the Mountaineers gain a total of 3,864 yards on the ground (#1 in the Big East, #3 in the nation), score 39.62 points per game (#1 in the conference, #9 in the FBS), and tally 456.23 total offense per game (#2 in the league, #15 overall), while allowing opponents only 13 sacks which was ranked inside the top 10, nationally. For his efforts, Isdaner was given a spot at the All-Big East selection as part of the first team in addition to being named into CFN's sophomore All-American team and honored with the coaches' Ideal Mountaineer Man Award.

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2008

WVU missed several players during the spring practices because of minor injuries, one of them being Isdaner. He and center Mike Dent were out as they recover from shoulder surgeries. On the positive side, he and Stanchek have been included in the 70-man Outland Trophy watch list for 2008.

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