Maxence Gouin '24 Recruiting Profile

I discovered football in 8th grade. I don’t come from a football family, and everything was new to me, but I was immediately won over by the sport, the team spirit, the values of effort and perseverance. At first, I played a maximum of 2 minutes per game, but that didn’t discourage me, and I continued to work hard to become a valuable member of the team taking every opportunity to learn from my teammates and my coaches. During the offseason and the summer, I trained physically every day and I practiced my tactical understanding of football to be a starter in 9th grade, which I became. I continued putting on the hard work during the season, the off-season and the summer and remained a starter in 10^th grade. 10^th grade was a tough year as we didn’t play because of COVID, but I did my best to keep a positive attitude, continue training, encourage my teammates. My coaches have praised me for my physical ability, drive, strength, and determination. During the summer of 2021, I worked hard to strengthen my cardio, continued training every day and biked 27 miles every day. During the 11^th grade season, I was a very polyvalent player, able to play offensive guard and tackle on the right and left side, taking several snaps as defensive nose and playing on special teams (kickoff returns, punt, …).  

Since I started playing football, I learned about teamwork, and it changed my philosophy of life: I became a team player. As we were missing linemen, I began recruiting new team members, with whom I trained during the offseason so that they could be ready to play the following fall. I showed them blocking schemes during lunch, and we practiced snaps and first steps after school.

Today, I dream of playing football in college because I’m very competitive and, in my opinion, only American colleges offer both the highest level of athletic and academic excellence. I am among the top students at my school (GPA around 94%), which is among the top high schools in Quebec. I don’t underestimate the dual challenge of studying in a language that is not my main one and competing at the highest level. But I’m determined and passionate about embracing both challenges at the same time. I would be the first one in my family to achieve this goal and it would be a tremendous honor for us all.