Michael Liborio '19 Recruiting Profile

I love the game of basketball and have played it since I was a young kid.  I played a lot of other sports growing up like soccer, baseball and football but basketball was always the game that I was most passionate about.  I started really working hard at basketball in middle school and have really trained hard in my high school years.  I believe that if you want to be the best you have to work harder than everyone else is willing to.

When I started High School I made some goals like making my school's Varsity team by my sophomore year and also playing college basketball.  I accomplished the Varsity goal and progressed to sixth man my sophomore year and then something I never would have expected happened, I broke my hip in my first regular season Varsity game.  I was devastated when my doctor told me my season was over.  When most kids hear that kind of news they will hide in their room for the next three months and feel bad about themselves.  I could have done that, but that isn't who I am.  I decided to ask my doctor about things that I could do while I was injured and also asked my Head Coach at Notre Dame if I could help our the coaching staff in any way during the season to help my team.  My doctor told me I could lift weights on my upper body so I went to the gym ever day for 3 months until I was cleared to play again.  I also supported my team at every game on the bench and helped my coaching staff any way they needed.  I turned a negative into a positive and gained 20 lbs of muscle which has helped my game tremendously.

I have come back stronger than ever and had a good season my Junior year starting 1/3 of our games and I am slotted as our starting point guard for this coming year.  I want college coaches to know my story because it shows the kind of mentality I have.  I am willing to grind and go the extra mile because I know that in the end it will give me a one-up on my competition. Even when things aren't great, I am going to work hard and persevere.  I take pride in being a leader on and off the court including being a tutor to players on my team who are struggling in school.  I also set another goal in the classroom to graduate Cum Laude and I am on track to accomplish that next year.  I know I can be a great asset to a college team in being a great player and also being a great student and leader.  I will work to get better every day until I accomplish that goal!