How did the high school football season go overall?
“Overall my season had its highs and lows. Highs being my overall play on the field offensively and defensively, I was able to get film to help me market myself this summer in camps and combines. Also, our team at Gilman was very close and we had a great relationship on and off the field. We could all tell we truly had each other’s backs. Lows being obvious in which we did not have the season we were hoping for as we went 1-9 and it was hard for our older guys adjusting to a brand-new coaching staff which built distrust in our playbook. Overall, the season did go the way I wanted as a team because we did not win much games, but I was fairly happy with my individual play on the field.”
What are your plans now with sports and workouts?
“During the winter I wrestled, and the season ended great placing fifth in the state at 220lbs. I came up one match short at being an All-American in the National Preps tournament this year. I was seeded 12th in the country, but unfortunately, I was unable to pull it out with only the top 8 becoming All Americans. Next year I hope to accomplish this task. Currently, I am training at my school with my football coaches. A normal day for us is one hour in the weight room and one hour in the outside working on speed, agility, and flexibility 3 days a week. In the coming months I will be working with Coach Bill at Spartan Sports and Wellness in Harford County which is very convenient from me because I live in Harford County as well.”
What are you trying to improve on the most as a player?
“Currently I really am trying to improve my speed and explosiveness. Being a 6’5 220lbs defensive end, I know will not beat offense lineman with my strength and muscle them to the ball. I will have to beat them with my speed so right now I am trying to get faster off the ball so I can beat offense lineman with my explosiveness off the ball quickness and speed. It will also help on the offensive end with playing Tight end.”
How do you feel your team will do next football season?
“Next year our Gilman football team will be a bottom of the pack MIAA A conference team. We will be kind of young this year and our depth will be low. For our non-conference schedule, we do have some MIAA B conference teams on the schedule, so we should pick up some wins in our non-conference play. If anything is for certain, we will have a lot of guys playing both ways and young guys stepping up. With the Gilman football program having 3 different head coaches in the last 4 years, it has been hard to recruit. We finally have Coach Bach who has promise and was able to get 4 scrappy freshman and some transfers who can play both ways. It is safe to say we are in rebuilding process, but we still will be a tough team.”
Who do you feel will be the toughest competition on your schedule next season?
“The toughest team we’ll play next year I think will be Mount Saint Joseph as they were very competitive last year. They have a lot of the same guys who played for the same youth team as me, the Hamilton Tigers. All across the board, MSJ was a competitive team throwing and running the ball exceptionally. Their defense was very solid too, stopping us numerously last year.”
Do you want to play sports in college? If so, which one?
“In college, my dream as a child has been to play college football at the highest level for me as cost free as possible. Although I’m pretty good at wrestling, I do not plan on doing it past high school.”
What colleges have been recruiting you?
“So far, no colleges have been recruiting me as I am a sophomore and it hard for coaches to talk to me because I am so young. I have had conversations with schools like Penn State, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Lehigh, Army, Michigan, Boston College and Eastern Michigan. Those are some school that stopped past my school and my Coach told them a little bit about me.”
Have you made any college trips yet?
“I have made three college trips in the form of going to football games. I went to Penn State this past football season and Maryland. Previous to that, I’ve went to Maryland my freshman football season.”
Do you have plans for more trips soon?
“I plan on going to the Maryland spring football Game. My Dad spoke with Coach Marcus Berry (Director of Recruiting at Maryland) the other day trying to get that planned out I also hope to go to the Penn State spring football game, but I have not spoken with anyone there about that yet.”
Did you have a favorite college growing up?
“My favorite college growing up have been Auburn, South Carolina, Maryland, Penn State, and Florida State. Those favorites came from nothing more than me just tuning into their games every Saturday and watching them play.”
“Overall my season had its highs and lows. Highs being my overall play on the field offensively and defensively, I was able to get film to help me market myself this summer in camps and combines. Also, our team at Gilman was very close and we had a great relationship on and off the field. We could all tell we truly had each other’s backs. Lows being obvious in which we did not have the season we were hoping for as we went 1-9 and it was hard for our older guys adjusting to a brand-new coaching staff which built distrust in our playbook. Overall, the season did go the way I wanted as a team because we did not win much games, but I was fairly happy with my individual play on the field.”
What are your plans now with sports and workouts?
“During the winter I wrestled, and the season ended great placing fifth in the state at 220lbs. I came up one match short at being an All-American in the National Preps tournament this year. I was seeded 12th in the country, but unfortunately, I was unable to pull it out with only the top 8 becoming All Americans. Next year I hope to accomplish this task. Currently, I am training at my school with my football coaches. A normal day for us is one hour in the weight room and one hour in the outside working on speed, agility, and flexibility 3 days a week. In the coming months I will be working with Coach Bill at Spartan Sports and Wellness in Harford County which is very convenient from me because I live in Harford County as well.”
What are you trying to improve on the most as a player?
“Currently I really am trying to improve my speed and explosiveness. Being a 6’5 220lbs defensive end, I know will not beat offense lineman with my strength and muscle them to the ball. I will have to beat them with my speed so right now I am trying to get faster off the ball so I can beat offense lineman with my explosiveness off the ball quickness and speed. It will also help on the offensive end with playing Tight end.”
How do you feel your team will do next football season?
“Next year our Gilman football team will be a bottom of the pack MIAA A conference team. We will be kind of young this year and our depth will be low. For our non-conference schedule, we do have some MIAA B conference teams on the schedule, so we should pick up some wins in our non-conference play. If anything is for certain, we will have a lot of guys playing both ways and young guys stepping up. With the Gilman football program having 3 different head coaches in the last 4 years, it has been hard to recruit. We finally have Coach Bach who has promise and was able to get 4 scrappy freshman and some transfers who can play both ways. It is safe to say we are in rebuilding process, but we still will be a tough team.”
Who do you feel will be the toughest competition on your schedule next season?
“The toughest team we’ll play next year I think will be Mount Saint Joseph as they were very competitive last year. They have a lot of the same guys who played for the same youth team as me, the Hamilton Tigers. All across the board, MSJ was a competitive team throwing and running the ball exceptionally. Their defense was very solid too, stopping us numerously last year.”
Do you want to play sports in college? If so, which one?
“In college, my dream as a child has been to play college football at the highest level for me as cost free as possible. Although I’m pretty good at wrestling, I do not plan on doing it past high school.”
What colleges have been recruiting you?
“So far, no colleges have been recruiting me as I am a sophomore and it hard for coaches to talk to me because I am so young. I have had conversations with schools like Penn State, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Lehigh, Army, Michigan, Boston College and Eastern Michigan. Those are some school that stopped past my school and my Coach told them a little bit about me.”
Have you made any college trips yet?
“I have made three college trips in the form of going to football games. I went to Penn State this past football season and Maryland. Previous to that, I’ve went to Maryland my freshman football season.”
Do you have plans for more trips soon?
“I plan on going to the Maryland spring football Game. My Dad spoke with Coach Marcus Berry (Director of Recruiting at Maryland) the other day trying to get that planned out I also hope to go to the Penn State spring football game, but I have not spoken with anyone there about that yet.”
Did you have a favorite college growing up?
“My favorite college growing up have been Auburn, South Carolina, Maryland, Penn State, and Florida State. Those favorites came from nothing more than me just tuning into their games every Saturday and watching them play.”
