Michael Betsy '22 Recruiting Profile

My life is better because of football.  It does not define me but it is huge part of the young man I'm becoming.  For me football is the camaraderie of teammates, the games under Friday-Night lights or Saturday sunshine, the locker room or bus rides home after big wins.  But football is also the squat rack in February, hand-and-footwork in April and sweating it out through the hot summer practices.  Since putting on my first helmet in 2nd grade, it has defined my work ethic and conduct- whether in the classroom or playing other sports.  The games don't win themselves on Friday night and the exams don't get aced on the day of the test.  It's the work- the grind as my generation calls it- that's how wins are forged and A's are earned.  And football has taught me to grind.  To grind in the weight room and on the practice field and to grind in the classroom, study-halls and at home studying at my desk.

While football comes after the hyphen in student-athlete, what I have taken from playing this sport all these years has made the student before the hyphen- and the young man I'm becoming- better because it is part of my life.