John Schmidt '18 Recruiting Profile

Hello coach.  Thank you for taking the time to view my profile.  After an ankle injury during my junior year where I missed 5 games at Sartell, I transferred to Dowling Catholic High School in Des Moines, Iowa as of January 4, 2017.  My passion for football really solidified during my 8th-grade year when I started on the 9th-grade team so I made the goal to be a starting varsity player as a freshman.  People told me it would be impossible because we had a great team that would be state bound in 5A and the varsity coaches never start freshmen at my school. I stayed focused and lettered in track for a second year in a row before leaving junior high.  At the start of my freshman year, I played 2 games on the JV team before I was moved up to varsity. I became the starting outside linebacker beginning in the 4th game of the season and have started every game ever since.  Even though I did not play varsity at the beginning of the 2014 season, I still broke the school s all-time tackle record and the record for most tackles in a single game.  This was not only a huge accomplishment for me, but it fueled of my commitment to the game of football.

I am committed to being a coachable and versatile team player so I play offense, defense and special teams. Being a leader on and off the field is an important value that I take seriously. My life began during the civil war in Sierra Leone. The obstacles that I have overcome before and after arriving in America have shaped me to be the committed person that I am today.  I do not take any opportunity that I am given lightly.  I have set a goal for my GPA to be at 3.0 before I graduate and believe I can achieve that goal after pursuing additional tutoring resources offered at my new school of Dowling Catholic.  Education is a gift that would not have been available to me in my birth country. I believe I not only have the talent to compete for a college team, but the character, work-ethic and leadership skills to make an immediate impact on your program.