Stephen Lauro '16 Recruiting Profile

               My collegiate goals are to not only start at the next level of football but to also be an influential leader of the team I play for. In addition, I hope that football will allow me to receive an education at high academic school, more specifically in engineering. The reason I am a good candidate for a college team is that I am mentally and physically tough, smart, and willing to do anything to help my team succeed. On my high school team their is a saying, "Hold the rope". It means that if your teammate was hanging off the edge of a cliff and the only thing keeping him from falling was you and a rope, would you hold that rope, until your hands started to bleed and blister and burn. When you can finally say that every man on that team would hold the rope for one another, then and only then would that team succeed. This lesson endowed to me by my coach Billy Delaney has taught me to put my team first before any one else because a team is like a family and a family has to have each others back no matter what. My willingness to do so is what makes me a good candidate for a college football team.

              The characteristics that separate me from other recruits is, again, my toughness, ability to be coached, desire to win, and above all my ability to lead my team by example. This mind set has not only allowed me to succeed in Football but in my other sports, such as wrestling, as well. In the beginning of my junior year of wrestling I set out with one goal, to win the Section title for both my self individual as well as for the team title. Many people doubted my ability and at times so did I, but the thing that kept me driving to succeed was knowing that as long as I out worked my opponent I couldn't be beat. Even if they were bigger , stronger, faster , or more skilled, they could not beat my work ethic and drive to win. In the end I achieved my goal of winning the Section title for both myself and my team. This jump from 6th place the year before to now being the Section Champ is what allowed me to go to the state tournament as well as receive the most improved wrestler award at my teams banquet. My work ethic is what allowed me to succeed during that season. 

              Academically I am in all honors or AP classes, currently 5 of which are college level. In addition I am in the schools symphonic band for playing the trumpet and French horn. I currently have above a 3.9 GPA but am hoping for a at least a 4.0 by the end of this year(junior). In these classes I receive almost all A's with a few B+'s. This shows my ability to balance my academic life with my athletics and still be able to succeed. That is what makes me different from any other recruit.