Connor Koenig '20 Recruiting Profile

I wanted to play competitive football my whole life but it was not until my first year in high school, while we still lived in Charlottesville, Virginia, that my parents allowed me to compete.  I played junior varsity those first two years at Western Albemarle High School, learning the game, the positions, and improving quickly. 

My father took an offer to join the leadership at Rice University’s business school in 2017, and with that, the family picked up and moved the summer after my sophomore year to Houston, Texas.  Although I was concerned about what Texas had in store for me, that move allowed me to really blossom as both a football player and a leader.

The day after I arrived into Houston in August of 2018, I joined workouts with Coach Reimers and the Emery Jaguars.  They made me feel at home immediately, and six-man football was particularly exciting in that a player had a chance to play on both sides of the ball and on offense, all positions were eligible as receivers.  It was a wide-open game and my junior year I learned the nuances, played quite a bit, but even with nine seniors, we lost in the quarterfinals against Austin Veritas, the eventual 2018 Texas state champions.

With only three seniors in 2019, I suspect that many teams dismissed the Jaguars, but I knew we had young talent, and as a captain, I worked to bring them aboard, encourage and teach them the ropes, and motivate them to push and strive to be their best.  That open and honest approach to the game and our opportunities together really paid off.

Together we surprised everyone and brought home the second ever TAPPS Texas State Six-Man Championship to Emery.  Although the team’s three seniors were no doubt core to our success, I believe it was these captains ability to collaborate with the coaching staff to motivate, leverage and manage a diverse set of athletes, creating a deeper and driven team that took us over the top in 2019.

I am interested to know whether I could compete at the division III university level, and most interested in a university that couples competitive academics with a football team striving to achieve.