The pressures of being a top recruit

Like most kids who play sports, I once had dreams of playing in the NFL. When I scored touchdowns or intercepted passes in the pee-wee leagues, you couldn’t convince me that I wasn’t going to be the next Jerry Rice or Champ Bailey.

Around middle school, I realized that my dreams probably weren’t going to become reality. The other football players where much bigger and more athletically gifted than me. Although I was optimistic, I wasn’t naïve.

As a track runner in high school, I had solid performances but nothing spectacular. A small school in Virginia showed some interest in me, but that was the only attention I ever received. I c h o s e n o t to accept it because even though I was solid, I didn’t possess great love for the sport like a college athlete should. In all honesty, I only started running because I knew most of the cute girls liked athletes. I wasn’t interested in going to school in the middle of nowhere. Instead, I decided to go to school in a big city and place all my focus on journalism. I realized that I would probably make more money writing about sports than I ever would playing them.

Something I never experienced during my athletic career was the constant pressures of being a top recruit. I didn’t have to deal with the pressure of eyes being on me all the time. Besides my family, nobody cared where I was going to college. The bigtime schools never called my phone, knocked on my door, or sent me a message via Twitter.

An athlete that does deal with these pressures is RHS running back Cam’ron Valdez. He is a young man of few words, but his actions speak for him. After watching his highlight tape, it’s clear why he’s one of the top running backs in the nation. He displays a great combination of speed and strength and makes defenders look silly when they try to tackle him. According to Rivals. com, a recruiting website, Valdez ranks as the fourth all-purpose running back in the country and 30th overall player in the state of Texas. He has received 24 offers from top Division I programs and is poised to have a great 2020 season. During a conversation

During a conversation with him, Valdez helped me to understand what it’s like for him being a top recruit in a small town where all the eyes are on him. He explained how he deals with the pressures and expectations that come with his ranking. He also discussed his recruitment and provided an explanation on how he plans to go about making his big decision.

“The most stressful part is not being able to take official visits because of COVID,” Valdez said. “The best part of the recruitment is knowing I’ll be able to go to college for free.”

A few weeks ago, Valdez narrowed his choices down to seven schools. These schools include Texas Tech, Utah, Purdue, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Arkansas and Arizona State. “It wasn’t that hard to tell

“It wasn’t that hard to tell the other schools I wasn’t coming because I didn’t have the greatest relationship with them,” Valdez said. “Those seven schools were recruiting me the hardest.”

V a l d e z disclosed some of the characteri st ic s he’s looking for when deciding where to play his college football.

“I want to go to school where I can continue to develop as a player and a young man,” Valdez said. “I want to play somewhere that I can win games and get a great education.” Being the top athlete can

Being the top athlete can come with a lot of pressure. The spotlight is constantly on you and expectations are sky high. Spectators expect every carry to be a touchdown and expect you to acquire video game-like statistics in every contest.

“Sometimes I do feel the pressure, but I don’t shy away from it,” Valdez said. “Honestly, I just use it to go harder. I’m a pretty popular guy on campus, but I’m mostly quiet. It really doesn’t matter to me whether people know me or not. I just go out and play.”

Though regarded as one of the top running backs in the nation, Valdez knows there is still plenty of things he can improve on to develop his game.

“I don’t doubt myself, but right now I feel like some of the other running backs are more developed than me.” Valdez said. “I have to stay in the weight room and continue to improve my vision, long speed and other aspects of being a running back.” Valdez aims to cement

Valdez aims to cement himself as one of the best players in RHS history. He sits 660 yards away from breaking the all-time rushing record and 8 touchdowns away from breaking the all-time touchdown record.

Valdez, along with the rest of the Tiger football team, come into the season with lofty expectations as TexasFootball.com ranked them 7th in their Division 1 3A pre-season rankings.

I am excited about watching Valdez and the RHS Tigers compete at the highest level and making it a season to remember for the entire Rockdale community.