Elijah Payne '18 Recruiting Profile

To say football is one of the most important and beloved aspects of my life would be an understatement. Since I started playing at the age of 4, I have known that I wanted to continue to play as long as I possibly could. However, this does not mean that I put the importance of football over other things in my life, specifically school and family. One of the biggest struggles I have had to endure was the news that my mom was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer a little less than a year ago. Watching her fight day in and day out definitely changed my attitude in that every day is a gift from God, and that it is an opportunity to make myself better as a person, student, and athlete/teammate. 

Football has instilled many values in me, such as the importance of hard work to achieve worthwhile goals, the need for strong leadership abilities, and how vital it is that a group must function as one cohesive unit to reach a common goal. Personally, I have always been a natural leader on and off the field, as I have realized humble confidence and assertiveness are two necessary traits to get anywhere in life.