Austin Shaffer '12 Recruiting Profile

I have played football since the third grade and I have never regretted a moment of it.

With the late nights, early mornings, tough losses and hard conditioning, many people have asked why I have not quit.  Honestly, I cannot quit, the conditioning and the practices are hard but on Friday nights when the lights go on and you get to step out on that field in front of hundreds of screaming fans wearing that uniform; it is intoxicating. I love wearing my jersey in the halls of school, it is like a badge of honor that shows I made it through all the hard work and every Friday night I get to show it off by knocking heads with the man in front of me.

Someone once said, “The only reason I play football is to take another man’s will” I whole-heartedly believe in this statement. I love to hit, there is just something about getting to hit someone it’s almost primal, to see who will win in the battle.  Playing football is like getting a free pass to have a street fight, especially on the line. I could not see myself playing any other position.  I love to knock heads too much and I always want to tear the man in front of me apart no-matter what his size is.  Outside of football, everyone at my school just knows me as a mild-mannered “Teddy Bear” who would not hurt a fly.

I am the first one in the weight room and on the field and the last to leave and was honored when my teammates voted me as their Captain this year.  Football is a fellowship of men and full of time honored traditions.  Ask anyone and they will tell you football is my life, my passion, I cannot see myself doing anything else other than football simple as that.