VALLEY / VENTURA COUNTY Sports : COLLEGE ENDOWMENT : Svitek is an unpolished gem at tight end for Newbury Park but his raw skills will get him a scholarship.

“Give me a good athlete and I’ll turn him into a good football player.”

George Hurley, the Newbury Park High football coach, says several college coaches have made statements in that vein after watching tight end Will Svitek play.

Svitek, a 6-foot-6, 235-pound senior, s being recruited by several Pacific 10 and Big Ten conference schools not so much for what he’s has done, but for what he’s capable of doing.

“He’s not the most refined tight end,” Hurley said of Svitek, a three-sport athlete. “He’s very raw. But several coaches have told me they get paid to turn good athletes into good football players.”

Svitek was born in the former republic of Czechoslovakia before moving to the U.S. at the age of 2.

He was a starting forward on the Newbury Park basketball team last season, won the shotput in the Division II final of the Southern Section track and field championships in May and finished second in the decathlon in the young men’s division of the USA Track & Field Youth Athletics championships in July.

But football is the sport in which he’s expected to earn a scholarship to an NCAA Division I school.

“[Football] is my sport,” said Svitek, the No. 9-ranked tight end in the nation by SuperPrep magazine. “I’d like to continue competing in track in college, but football is my ticket to college, and hopefully, after that.”

Although Svitek has been competing in basketball and track since the fourth grade, he didn’t play football until seventh grade and he bypassed the sport as an eighth-grader in order to focus on basketball.

He was a tight end and defensive end on Newbury Park’s freshman team before playing both positions on the junior varsity level as a sophomore.

He was an All-Marmonte League defensive end last season, but his future lies at tight end.

He is talented enough that Hurley has added a tight end to a Newbury Park offense that previously featured four wide receivers and a running back.

“We haven’t had a tight end since 1991,” Hurley said. “We just haven’t had the body to do that. We either had a bunch of little guys or some big fat kids, but we haven’t had anyone like Will.”

Svitek, who will take a recruiting trip to Ohio State on Sept. 10, had 17 receptions for 180 yards and one touchdown last year.

Those numbers should increase substantially because he is Newbury Park’s leading returning receiver and his pass-catching abilities improved greatly this summer.

“He doesn’t have great hands, but they’ve gotten much better,” Hurley said. “Last year, he didn’t catch the ball very well. He caught about 50% of the passes thrown to him. He had a tendency to look upfield and see where he was going to run before he caught it.”

Svitek admits he had trouble looking the ball into his hands or chest, but says that won’t be a problem this season.

“I’m really starting to become a student of the game,” he said. “I’m starting to study all the little things you need to do to be good at this game, whether it’s reading coverages, knowing when to put your hands up to catch or knowing how to use your hands to block.

“I want to be the best. I want to be No. 1. . . . But in order to do that, I have to become a student of the game.”

Hurley, who has guided Newbury Park to five of the last seven league titles and to an 80-31-2 record since 1989, figures Svitek has the physical talent and the mental makeup to play at the next level.

“He’s very coachable and he’s a great athlete,” Hurley said. “He’s run 4.58 in the [40-yard dash], he’s high jumped six feet and he’s thrown the shot 57-6. He’s also very intelligent. It’s just a matter of him getting more experience.

“He’s a very inexperienced football player right now.”

SNEAK PEEK

Fourth in a nine-part series. Today:

Wednesday: Quarterbacks. Fabulous Foursome

Thursday: Running backs. Manuel White of Valencia

Friday: Offensive linemen. Steve Nevarez of San Fernando

Saturday: Wide receivers. Keary Colbert of Hueneme

Tight ends. Will Svitek of Newbury Park

Sept. 1: Defensive linemen. Travis Johnson of Notre Dame

Sept. 2: Linebackers. Patrick Norton of Hart

Sept. 3: Defensive backs. Michael Washington of Paraclete

Sept. 4: Kickers. Drew Thomas of Westlake