How to be a professional football player

Hard work and determination are often what is calibrated when it comes to becoming a football player. Like many high school football players pursuing the big dream, they wonder – how to be a professional football player. Before one can become a professional it is important to make it to the collegiate level. Here are a few thoughts on how to be a collegiate athlete.

Brains

I know a lot of you football players are not excited to see this at the top of the list but if you don’t have the grades it really hurts your chance of getting to a good college and playing ball. Division I football teams have to have a certain GPA average to maintain scholarships from the NCAA. If the team GPA begins to drop it will hurt the chances of scholarships for next year. Some collegiate teams will grab a Division II athlete that has a 4.0 GPA to be on the team to bring up the team average. This may be a good way to getting at that level and then working your tail off to start.

Speed

In today’s age of football it is about speed. You might know a few guys that are just monsters in the gym, but they are slow – this really hurts their chances to making it big. Many linemen in the NFL are running below a 5 second forty. If you are a speed athlete and you are not close to a 4.4 forty then you really need to step it up. Football is about speed no matter what position you are in, and the game only gets faster when you get to the next level. The forty is important when being looked at because it shows the explosiveness that you have, working on your vertical can help your time as well.

You are competing against yourself

Remember that when you are training you cannot be content with being better than the people around you. You need to be able to push yourself farther even when you do not have people to push you. Maybe you are someone who looks like a football player but you don’t have the brains to remember plays, and can’t read an offense or defense – you are your worst enemy. The game of Football is for athletes you can know something before they even happen. Hopefully this article has give you a good idea of how to prepare yourself for the next level in football. Obviously training is important but this is only a third of what needs to be done.