Eli Mahan '21 Recruiting Profile

    Any accomplished football player has started out as a kid with a dream. Everybody with a profile on NCSA has a dream, like me, to play football at the next level.  That said, I will attempt to describe here what I feel is important to know about me as a football player and person.

    As a 9th grader, I was fortunate enough to earn a contributing role at defensive end, tackle, or nose guard on our varsity team. I loved that year and I had to adapt quickly to the speed and physicality of the varsity level; I especially loved the physicality but also knowing that my older teammates could count on me. I made some great friendships that year. I feel I have demonstrated I can adapt to a team and understand schemes fairly quickly.

    My sophomore year included traveling to the state final, something my football team and town had not done for 50 years. While we lost the game by one point and the sting is still very raw, I learned about pressure at the biggest stage in our small state, I learned just how critical even the smallest plays are, and I learned to look to the future again with purpose and renewed goals. My goals won’t stop after highschool.

    Outside of each football season is more than time off or vacation for me. While I do play high school basketball and an AAU schedule, I lift and train daily. The weight lifting, the running, the sprint work, the stretching, you have to love all of these phases if you want to grow and improve. I feel I am aware of the talent that is out there and that I may not always be one of the bigger guys on the field. The challenge is exciting to me.

    Lastly, I have always realized that football and academics go hand in hand. Performance in the classroom is necessary if I want to be on the field. Yes, I also put hours in each day for my studies. From a coaching standpoint, I have played under both demanding and middle of the road coaches. My coaches, of either style, have not needed to motivate me to compete. Rather the motivation comes from wanting to extend my football career as long as I can.