Kaiden Box '23 Recruiting Profile

Football has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. People tell me stories of when I was 3 or 4 years old having a football with me wherever I went. I started playing flag football in Kindergarten. On the first day of practice, I remember thinking how much fun this was and that I wanted to continue playing forever. I started playing tackle in third grade. That year really was a challenge because I was one of two third graders on a fourth-grade team. I played three snaps the whole season and I was miserable sitting on the sidelines. The next year was much different. I worked harder. I had a new coach. And I became the starting quarterback who played every offensive snap. That season was amazing. I went on to play for the same team until eighth grade, every season better than the one before.

Now to high school. I went to a different high school than my middle school teammates and started playing with a whole new group of guys. Our team bonded immediately and had a lot of success. My freshman year I threw for 38 touchdowns and over 3,000 yards, with a 9-1 season. 

As a sophomore, I started JV while sitting on varsity behind one of the best senior QB's in the state.But  I still threw for 9 touchdowns and over 800 yards in only three games due to the COVID pandemic. It was extremely frustrating to only play three games and to sit on the bench on Friday nights.

But for my junior year I was ready. I spent the summer going to camps and working out to prepare for my junior season but broke my collarbone two weeks before the season began, putting me out for the first half of the season. Unfortunately for the team, that wasn’t even close to the worst thing that happened. Not long into the season, one of our teammates passed away unexpectedly. As you might expect, this set us all back. To be honest, we never fully recovered. It seemed like everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. I returned half way through the season, but in my first game back, I went down after the second drive due to my collarbone again. Although I was able to return in the following game, I did not play up to my potential in the first few games; I think I was worried about re-injury. To be honest, I do not believe I was at 100%  until the last three games of the season. In the end, I played the last five games of the regular season and one playoff game, throwing for 1,000 yards and 9 touchdowns. I am proud of myself and my team for pushing through and never giving up, but I also know that we could have done so much more if a few more things had gone differently.

My teams have had their ups and downs, but I can truly say that football has taught me a lot. Leadership, effort, and perseverance are areas of growth since I started playing football. I use these traits to help others..

Football is only one of my passions. I am very interested in STEM, with 3D printing, and engineering intriguing me. I am  currently a junior. First semester freshman year was a little rough for my grades but through some hard work I was able to bring my GPA back up to a manageable 3.2. COVID was my next challenge, putting me online for the end of freshman year and almost all of sophomore year. But mid-way through my junior year, my GPA is a 3.25. I have been taking honors and AP classes throughout.

My hobbies include all sports, hanging out with friends, downhill skiing and games. I believe I am a  helpful and kind leader, who puts others before myself.

www.kaidenbox.com

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbPUU2PAtH_ymOTZaYdN4dQ/videos