Derek Lort '19 Recruiting Profile

     My name is Derek Lort and I am a scholar athlete from Loganville High School.  I am currently 6'3" tall, I weigh 270 pounds and I have a very competitive edge. I am a well rounded teammate and I’m extremely disciplined. I'm so excited about playing football in college and plan to meet that challenge with the same attitude and work ethic as I have in high school. I did not play football as a young child but I became interested in playing football when one of the coaches at my middle school approached me in the 8^th grade and asked me to play football due to my size and he had seen me play basketball and complemented my athleticism.  I began playing football in the 8^th grade and I enjoyed it immediately.  After learning the sport and becoming comfortable with the sport by the end of 8^th grade I decided to play football for the high school.

     Beginning the summer before my freshman year I attended football conditioning all summer and became very excited about football. I became the starting Center on the Varsity team as a Sophomore.  This has made me feel so proud and helped me to realize that hard work and perseverance can help you to reach your goals. Playing football over the last 3 years has taught me how to be a good teammate and about having discipline. This discipline and working as a team have translated to the classroom and have helped me to be successful at school and has helped me to be a leader and help my teammates and classmates.

      Some of my academic goals are to take classes next year at a local college to earn both high school and college credit and to remain a scholar athlete.  I currently have a 3.6 GPA and I am in BETA club. I have faced some adversity that I have had to overcome.  People have always told me that I am too big to be a good athlete and many people told me that I started playing too late and that I would never be a starter on the high school team.  I used this negativity to motivate me.  I began working out 3 times a week with a personal trainer and went from weighing 215 pounds and added over 30 pounds of muscle and strength within a few months. My coaches noticed this when I came back to summer conditioning before my Sophomore year and they quickly moved me into the starting line-up when they saw a difference in my strength and size.  I proved all of those negative people in my life wrong and it motivates me to build up my team mates and encourage them instead of seeing them as competition.  This team cohesion and attitude is big part of what helped Loganville High School to make it to round 2 of the state playoffs doe the first time in over 25 years.