42 and Counting: State Champion Heritage Hills' Goldsberry and Ruxer adding major college offers

Lincoln City, Ind. - The high school football season has come and gone, but the work isn't close to finished for Heritage Hills standouts Jett Goldsberry and Tyler Ruxer.

Between the pair, Goldsberry and Ruxer have amassed 42 Division 1 FBS offers, while the coaches' calls and mail continue to roll in. The heirs apparent in a line of college and professional standouts that the Heritage Hills football pipeline has produced, including former Chicago Bears Quarterback Jay Cutler and former Indianapolis Colts Tight End Ken Dilger.

As a high school quarterback and defensive back, Goldsberry carries the 'Athlete' tag when recruiting is concerned. Accounting for nearly 3,500 yards and 54 total touchdowns in his junior campaign, a wide-ranging list of high-profile universities are vying for his services for one position or another.

"I have 18 official offers right now, my biggest ones are Purdue, Vanderbilt, and Colorado State - who's moving into the Big 12 here in a year, so they'll be a Power 4 school as well," Goldsberry said. "WKU (Western Kentucky) is really good, too."

Patriot Tight End Tyler Ruxer, with 24 D1 offers, has already locked in official visits in June with both Purdue and West Virginia. With nearly 900 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns this past season, he's been extremely busy on the unofficial visit circuit, he told WITZ.

"I've been to Cincinnati, I've been to Purdue, I've been to Wisconsin, and I've been to West Virginia, those have kind of been the big ones so far," Ruxer said. "Official visit-wise, the first week in June, I have Purdue locked in, and the second weekend I have West Virginia locked in."

Ruxer has set up unofficial, upcoming visits to Duke, Pittsburgh, Michigan, and Texas A&M.

While both Ruxer and Goldsberry have those close to them, and each other, to help guide them through the process, it's a process that has undergone a dramatic shift due to the passing of 'Name-Image-Likeness'. NIL, as it's commonly known, allows athletes to profit as university employees for their efforts on the gridiron. While a payday may be at the forefront for some, for Ruxer, he's more concerned about his fit with the program, and how his degree will translate post-grad.

"Some schools will talk numbers, I don't really like to talk money with these coaches just because of the fact that I feel like it creates a relationship that's based on money," Ruxer said. "I don't really want that to be the emphasis on why I'm coming to your program, I want that to be a benefit of it."

"As of now, I'm more focused on the relationship with the coach, and making sure that's sound, and then I can worry about that aspect of it later," Ruxer added.

Goldsberry doesn't have to look far for guidance, turning to his father, Jon, who played collegiately for Purdue and spent time in the NFL.

"He jokes around, saying, 'I couldn't even get a free Subway sandwich when I played, and now everyone's making all of this money,'" Jett said. "It's completely different; it's a good and a bad thing."

Goldsberry adds, "The transfer portal is a good and a bad thing for college coaches. But it's a bad thing for high school students, you know, it's hard for us to find traction."

As is which college will earn his signature, Goldsberry's location on the field is up in the air, with offers for each position.

"For me, I have a bunch of safety, I have a bunch of quarterback, and I have a bunch of running back," Goldsberry said. "What I'm probably going to go with is safety, obviously, you want to stay open to any coaches that want to move me around."

Depending on possession and situation, Goldsberry has functioned as all three. Though Ruxer's spot at the next level is much less murky.

"I'm more of a hybrid, flex tight end at the next level, that's where most schools see me," Ruxer said. "So, I want to make sure that the program I go to, they'll have a scheme for me that is going to use me and play to my strengths."

Ruxer, as does Goldsberry, were placing stock heavily into which colleges, academically, would open doors in the future.

Another common theme, mentioned by both Ruxer and Goldsberry - a winning culture.

"We had some great success here at Heritage Hills, so I want to go to a program that's going to win at the end of the day, and has a great culture, a good winning tradition, a good head coach," said Ruxer.

The man responsible for carrying the tone and expectation of success and culture at Heritage Hills is Head Coach Todd Wilkerson. More than anything, Coach Wilkerson says, he's happy to see the duo receive the interest and offers they deserve.

"They've been talking about wanting to play college football since I've known them, since they've come into junior high, then high school football," Wilkerson said. "The way that the recruiting landscape has changed, it was a big unknown how many high school kids are really going to get offered in the transfer portal days of today. I'm just so happy for them that they've had these offers come through and things have really taken off for both of them."

Though it might be easy for focus to shift to personal duties or to be bogged down by future possibilities, during both interviews, it did not take long for Goldsberry or Ruxer to make it known that there is still a task at hand, and unfinished business at the high school level.

"It makes you feel great as a coach, they are both hungry to go and have a great senior season," Wilkerson said. "That says a lot about their character, they're not just concerned about their own future or all of the accolades they're going to get, they're excited about 2025 and the football season."

The Patriots will have the chance to win back-to-back state championships.

Best friends on and off the field, Tyler Ruxer and Jett Goldsberry both hope to set their future plans in stone in June.