Former Camas High School (CHS) football player Jack Colletto won the 2022 Paul Hornung Award for the collegiate football player who is the most versatile. This award came after Colletto was named the All-Pac-12 all purpose player of the year after a stellar season at Oregon State University.

“Jack’s work ethic matched his gifts. He worked so hard but he was also physically imposing, he was big, he was fast, and he was talented. There’s a lot of kids who are like that but they don’t have the work ethic. His determination and his work ethic were really what made him special. Aside from all that he is really savvy. He just understands the game really well on all sides,” CHS head football coach Jack Hathaway said.  

Colletto’s high school career was exemplary, winning the Gatorade player of the year award in 2016 after passing for 2,846 yards and 27 touchdowns, while also rushing for 1,253 yards and 21 touchdowns. His outstanding individual performance was coupled with team success, leading the CHS Papermakers to an undefeated season and a state championship in his senior year. “Colletto was a great teammate and a great leader. He is a true competitor,” former CHS football player Ryan Rushall said. 

Colletto’s college career has been all over the place. Colletto originally committed to and enrolled at Arizona Western College where he threw for 548 yards and 4 touchdowns, and rushed for 185 yards and 9 touchdowns. Following his freshman year, he transferred to Oregon State University (OSU)where he saw little field time, being used primarily as a short yardage quarterback and some special teams action. 

“He should have been a Pac-12 player straight out of high school. Camas is really an under recruited high school in my opinion for football. A lot of schools wanted him to play Linebacker out of high school, but he really wanted to play quarterback, so he went the JUCO route. He went to the national championship for his JUCO team. Then he got a couple offers, and went to OSU to play QB. Then switched positions and the rest wrote itself,” Rushall said. 

During his time at OSU, Colletto was used at many different positions. Colletto saw time at linebacker, quarterback, and even tight end, but most of his time was spent on special teams. Colletto redshirted his junior year where he saw some time as a full back and as a rushing quarterback. Then in 2021, Colletto was able to make the All Pac-12 second team as he rushed for 144 yards and 8 touchdowns, as well as having 8 tackles, 1 forced fumble, and 1 interception on defense. 

“Colletto is extremely smart on and off the field, which is what makes him a great football player. I remember Coach Eagle always saying we might be the biggest or fastest team, but we will always outsmart our opponent. Luckily for Jack, he’s big, fast, and smart, making him an ideal football player. One thing about Jack that a lot of fans don’t probably know is how well he can throw a football. The ball whistles when he throws it. I also remember he threw a ball like 55 or 60 yards from his knees at Linfield camps which was just ridiculous,” Rushall said. 

Colletto’s success was anything but given. He had to work hard his whole football career to earn his spot on the field. This was even the case in high school, as he did not start at quarterback until his senior year. “[Colletto] played behind a really good quarterback his junior year, and getting into a system and becoming a quarterback takes some time, you just can’t jump into it. When he came in as a sophomore, he played defense and was a backup quarterback his junior year, but the talent was all there. He could have been the starting quarterback for other schools, but we just had a really good one. The transformation from his junior year to his senior year, I would go home from school and see Jack and a couple kids throwing on the turf in the rain. He made himself, when you leave the school and see him doing that you know there’s something special. His talent matched his work ethic,” Hathaway said.