This is a blog about my Son’s football season. Not the D1 one, but the High School one. No, it is not over, and in fact he has two more opportunities for success. That being said, I will not be present for either, due to other responsibilities. I’ve watched my last High School game of 2024. Overall, the kid improved on his freshman season. He did not come close to making the leap he expected to make. He dealt with long stretches of timidness in terms of getting to the football. He thought too much; trying to make sure the kid he was tackling (or considering tackling) wouldn’t escape for a big play. There are reasons for this. He plays safety, which is often the last line of defense. He plays safety on a bad team, which means he is often the last person to beat before a touchdown and often the only person to beat before a touchdown. The pressure of failure was too great at times and had him hesitant.
If you study the film, he looks like he’s always jogging to the play. This is a bad look, and the kind of look recruiters do not want to see. He has two games to understand that, and thus the sort of leap he needs to make in order to get to the next level. It is not all bad news. He shows explosiveness at times, and with that the ability to excel anywhere in the secondary. He does have the tools. He will need to put in even more work this off season through track to get himself to where he needs to be to get offers at the D1 level as a Junior. Consider his brother who was looked at by USC, BYU, and Drake only receiving an offer from FCS Drake. He is two years older than his sophomore brother and a far superior technical player. #16 has two seasons to get there and earn that opportunity to continue his quest at the next level.
I think he gets there. I think he’s a 15 year old kid playing as a starting Varsity player without the coordination or physical power he will have as a 16 then 17 year old high school player. He will get there physically. He has the mind to play the game. The key is the mental fortitude–the confidence to play without fear. Part of that requires him to accept that he may screw up and that his team may suffer because of it. However, playing balls to the wall is the only way his team will honestly and realistically benefit from his skillset.
He has to decide to let things go. He has to accept that he needs to do his job and only his job right now. I think I may have contributed to him thinking he needs to do more, and I will work to change that immediately. What he needs to do is lock in and dominate.