“I’m a receiver, and committed to Southwestern University to play football. My recruiting process started late, because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to play football at the next level. I was kind of just babying it, taking it easy. Then Southwestern came. I liked the school, nice location, so I took it and committed.
Southwestern has a pretty low acceptance rate, but they put me through the football process, so I didn’t go through like everybody else. I was kind of nervous, but when I got the letter, I was extremely happy and couldn’t stop smiling. After I got the letter, I sent a screenshot to my family group chat telling them I got accepted. Everyone was super excited and made the moment feel bigger.
They have a good career center, so after college I’ll have a stable good job. I had a walk-on spot at Lamar University in Beaumont, but it didn’t really feel right. It felt like they would just use me to fill the roster. For Southwestern, I felt like they wanted me to actually play.
During the football season at Bellaire, I wake up around 6:15 and get to school around 6:40. Practice doesn’t start until 7:00, but I’ll get there, stretch a little bit and wake my body up. This year I started taking stretching more seriously. I realized how much stretching helps with staying loose, preventing injury and keeping me fresh throughout the season. After warm up, the team practices from 7:00-9:00. Then I go do a school day, go home and do homework. I spend around 18 hours a week on football.
Off season, I run track. I’ll get to school at the same time, 6:40, go to practice for track and then I’ll go with my trainer after school to get my football skills up to par. My trainer usually gets to Bellaire around 4, and we’re normally working on advanced releases for football. Then, on the weekends, we slow it down and are working on the basics.
I considered doing track in college, but I didn’t really like track. It was just something to keep me in shape. I chose not to run in college because I never had the same passion for conditioning by itself. In football, you’re running with a purpose; you have the ball, you’re making plays and it’s a lot more fun for me. Track helped me stay in shape, but it wasn’t something I wanted to pursue at the next level.
I’m excited to get to play four more years of football and kind of build on what I’ve been doing my whole life. A lot of people don’t get to do it, so it’s just something I’m really excited for.
I talked to some of the players at Southwestern, and they took me around the school and Georgetown. My experience was pretty cool. What stood out to me about Southwestern was how close it is to UT Austin and Texas State. It gives me the chance to get a fresh start at a new school while still being close to my friends and family.
I hope to bring the same energy I’ve been giving: positive and just ready to play and grind.
I’ll say, start the recruitment process early, because you don’t know how much you’ll miss playing. When you’re done, you’re going to miss your sport during those months of the playing season. I felt like, ‘I’m going to miss football a lot. I want to do it,’ so decide early, because you can always back out, but you can’t always just jump into it. I was blessed to have the opportunity to do it this late.
We used to say during football, ‘I’d rather die.’ Basically, ‘I’d rather die than give up or not do it fully.’ I’ll just say to do everything to the fullest.
I was really stressed because I’d have nowhere to go, and then Southwestern came. So stay patient, just keep going, even when it feels like nothing is happening, and always have a plan after college.”
