John Elswick '16 Recruiting Profile

Hi my name is John Elswick. I am an honor student at New Kent High Scool in Virginia. I am a rising senior in the Class of 2016. This is my third year playing varsity football. This past season I was starting MLB and Fullback and was given the honor of being team captain. I also received a Honorable Mention All Conference and team Defensive Player of the Year. I have played multiple positions on offfense, defense and special teams. I have good endurance and am used to being on the field for most of the game. I'm ready to play where I'm needed. During the off season I stay active with wrestling, track(discus and shot put) and 7 on 7.  I have also competed in Blue-Grey Regional and Super Combines this summer. I have been selected as a Blue-Grey All-American Linebacker for the All-American Bowl game to take place on January 16,2016 in Jacksonville, FL.

I would love to find out more about your school and football program. Please feel free to email me if you feel I may be a good fit for your team.

My Personal Statement:

It is very rare that someone has an experience that forever changes their life.

Some of these experiences are good, some are bad. Unfortunately, I had one of the

latter. Since 7th grade, the year that I first started playing football, I played beside one

of the most influential people of my life. His name was Jacob Aulman Vick. He was just

another kid in my class when we started playing together. However, we quickly became

best friends since we both played linebacker and had the same ambition for the sport.

Some of our teammates would even call us twins on the football field because we were

the same size, played the same position with the same intensity, and had very similar

personalities. We went on to have many great times with our team and friends

throughout middle school and into high school, until sophomore year. On October 29th,

2013, I watched him collapse on the football field during practice due to a concussion.

He passed away later that night. His 16th birthday was only a couple days later. The

saying that any day could be your last never felt so real than on that night. He was the

best person and friend I had ever met. He was an accomplished athlete and student,

starting on varsity during his freshman year while maintaining a 3.7 GPA. He was a

perfect role model. Not a single day goes by that I don’t reminisce the times we had

and the memories we made. Ever since that terrible day, I have been trying to live my

life to the fullest. I now realize that tomorrow is never guaranteed, and that life isn’t

something that should be wasted by not living up to your potential. For the rest of my

life I will try to make the best that I can be, just as Jacob Vick did.