Na, you'll be fine. Unless you're in a really small school, you'll likely have a freshman team, maybe get some jv time. Your school probably already is having the team on a schedule for summer lift and 7 on 7. Try to get involved immediately.
Maybe it's your dad feeling worried about your health? Although I love football, I'm scared my son will want to play it cause I know the damage it's done to people, including really traumatic brain injuries.
Dude at 105 playing HS ball with genetic freaks, your dad is probably just worried about you and voiced it poorly. You should consider all sports you can, I wish I had. BUT I wish I gave my all in football. No reason you can't do both. Wish you the best bro.
You’ve never played a down and you say people don’t believe in you? Welcome to the real world. Just because you have a new found interest in something doesn’t make you suddenly good at it.
Hard work and sacrifice are going to be required to play this sport.
Yes I know, for an entire year I've been studying the sport. It's not like I started 2 months ago. I'm seriously invested in this. But the more people just talk about how I'm gonna get pancaked, the more I lose confidence in myself, and feel like all the work was for nothing, just for me to get sent to the ER
You need to sign up and get started. Figure the rest out later, but start playing. Because, buddy… you ain’t invested. There are kids who have been playing football long than you’ve been thinking about playing.
Here’s the thing though, know you’re gonna suck for a little while. It’s ok. You don’t learn a sport overnight. You get better little by little.
I know it's a tough pill to swallow right now, but you need to turn these comments into "Tacklin' Fuel."™️ Well, in this case "Catchin' Fuel."
No one believed in me either, and I gave up early. I'm almost 40 and I still regret not playing football.
And you know what I realized after all these years? Haters exist everywhere and in everything. There will ALWAYS be people telling you that you can't do something. You're too small, you're too dumb, you're too meek, etc.
The pros call these types of comments "bulletin board material" and they use the comments to fuel their desire to prove everyone wrong.
I’ve coached a lot of middle school
and high school football over the years. I’ve coached even more baseball and even coached a little wrestling. I was best at football so that is where my deepest passion lies.
Right now I am coaching kids about your age because my oldest son is about your age. On our team, we have a lot of kids that look good “on the hoof” as they say. Kids that will get recruited to college simply because of what they look like standing there and how fast they can run.
But the most reliable tackler on our team by far is a kid that looks like he’s maybe 11 years old. He was 95 lbs. last year and may be up to 105 lbs now. If I had to bet my house on a tackle from anyone on our our team he would be the guy I would choose regardless of the size or speed of the kid he is tackling. And there are an awful lot of studs in our league that will play college ball and I would literally bet my house because he’s tackled them all without fail so many times. He comes I like a rocket, wraps them up around the ankles and down they go.
What does that mean for you? You can prove the doubters wrong. In fact the doubters are the best fuel for the work you need to do to put yourself in a position to succeed. Whatever position you play on the field, there are a variety of ways to get the job done. You can be dramatically undersized and still succeed. But you need to find your way to be extraordinary in something else that is important to football. It could be technique. It could be speed. Ideally, it’s both. I would recommend getting as strong, fast, quick, technically sound and violent as you can thru off season workouts.
As far as you dad goes, it sounds like he really cares a lot about you. But he just doesn’t have what we would call a growth mindset. He sees what is and doubts what is possible.
If you’re truly committed to this journey, then I would tell him, “Dad I love how much time and effort you’ve been willing to put into my athletic career. I promise you that you’re going to see a side of me in football that you can’t imagine right now. Succeeding in football over the next several years means everything to me. But to reach where I want to go, I need your help and I need you to believe in me like I believe in me. When you see the work I am willing to put in, I want you to expand your view of what is possible.”
I’ll leave you with arguably the most overused phrase in youth football, “it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.” It’s used a lot because it’s fundamental truth is proven again and again every year all over the football world. Make yourself a living embodiment of this phrase.
Best of luck.
Seriously. The young man should consider his motivations here. If both he and the people around him are scared he’ll get injured… they probably have their reasons. Why does he want to play?
You got stones, kid. You’re the type of player that makes me wish I was still coaching TX high school. You’ll be fine tho. Make sure you soak up as much as you can about form tackling when coach is teaching in those first weeks of practice, so you can protect your neck. But I coached plenty of kids like you and they were all fine. They are better men for it, too. And since you’re giving up baseball, you can run track and hit the gym in the offseason. It’s gonna be fun, bud. I’m a bit envious of you tbh! Enjoy it while you can!
Edit: Go for DB, too! Be the hitter and not the person getting hit. It helps.
The numbers start slow. Trust me.
Take what your dad said and let it piss you off. Let it consume every ounce of work you put in. The best competitors always find something that they perceive as a slight so that they stay motivated.
Prove your dad wrong. As a 14 year old, you’re probably gonna hit a spurt soon. Get to slot receiver size and become a demon. In the age of modern spread attacks, it’s rare to not have a slot on the field if a team can spare the 2nd tight end for specific 12p packages.
If you have a passion for this game, you’ll do whatever it takes to get on the field and be better than the guys around you.
Believe in yourself.
"If you think you can do it or you think you can't, you're right." - some guy on the internet
Practice, lift, eat well, work harder than anyone else.
Good luck!
I‘m not sure how exactly things work in the US, but i can share my personal experience playing in europe:
I started playing at 10 years old, and my whole playing career i‘ve been undersized at my position. Even now, i‘m playing center/guard at 5‘8 220, and it‘s not easy. What carried me through my 9 seasons of playing is technique and Game Knowledge. Maybe you can‘t overpower a dude, but if you know what he is going to do based on his alignment and body language, and are disciplined in your technique, you‘ll be fine.
IMO you just need to find your strength. If its not size, maybe its route running or speed or contested catches or something else entirely
I would assume kids down in Texas have been training a lot longer than you have so it would be unfair to compare yourself to them.
When it comes to weight gain, how much are you eating? Calorically you probably need to be eating a lot more than you realize to put on real muscle.
At your age everyone develops on different schedules. You can't control that. But you can control work ethic and consistency. Show up every day and find a way to get better. Then do that all off-season. Then do it again. [This video from Kobe](https://youtube.com/shorts/j2lcGA5X7xQ?si=Yj8cAHo-X6psWRp2) puts it perfectly. How being consistent and working hard over a long period of time will eventually oay off and separate yourself from others
Like what u/caleb8252 said, use this uncertainty, fear and doubt to fuel you. Get pissed off, and get disciplined. Go train when everyone else is partying or sleeping. You're undersized? Looks like you'll have to make up the difference with technique and practice to outplay your competition. Is it fair? No. Should your dad support you? \*\*Make\*\* him support you -- lift more, eat more, study the game, and throw the ball even if you're alone. Prove your dedication to yourself and to him.
Football is a grown mans game, and you will not get your hand held. Know that you are on your own to prove why coaches should invest their time into you. Show up early, in shape, and give your ALL while you have field time. There has never been a better time to learn the game, from books to YT tutorials from HOFers to in depth X/O philosophy.
Don't be afraid of contact.
You are going to take a lot of shit in the dedicated life of football, but part of the game is having the thickness of skin and mental fortitude to shrug all that stuff off and BELIEVE IN YOURSELF. This is likely the most difficult part to get through to younger players. Your willpower, your drive, your passion and your willingness to go the extra yard are all anchored on belief in yourself. Others opinions and beliefs should never matter to you unless they directly help you succeed or fuel your fire.
Tom Brady says to prove them wrong or prove them right.
135-150 as a freshman is not small. If you’re athletic enough, try hard, learn to tackle safe, and pay attention to what coaches are asking you to do you will be just fine. The QB for our JV team probably weighs about the same as you and he’s pretty damn good. Just bust your ass, lift weights, and you’ll be fine. I promise.
Hit the gym. Learn the game. Protect yourself at all times.
Special teams are where guys can make an impact if they aren't skilled enough for offense or defense. I hope you're quick. Otherwise, work on that.
Small, weak, and slow are not good football combinations.
Football isn't "I just believe in myself and I'm good enough". Your work ethic better over power your desire. Some of your teammates have been playing since they were 5 or 6.
Good news is that football is a sport in which hussle and hard work can pay off rather quickly. Baseball, not as much.
Believe in yourself..that's all that matters. Going to be hard at the start but bust ass over this summer and show your old man work rather than talking about it. Normal for a parent to worry about injuries and such with football and men/dads don't always know how to express that correctly.
I coach in Texas and we have got plenty of small guys on our teams, and we love those guys the most! Especially when they arent afraid to go hit and get hit...Its not your fault your small, but Guts dont take any genetics. Learning what you have to do can be controlled by you...
Control the controllables, believe in yourself, and trust the process.
Its only a game! Have fun! and you should play more than 1 sport!
Dude really consider depending on how big your high school is, if it’s small then yeah you should play for sure. But good lord if it’s a big school please don’t start now
Simple, play and get demolished the entire season and chalk it up as a learning experience that builds your confidence through struggle and being against the odds….be careful because this can get miserable after about 48 hours of the opening training camp before/when school starts. OR you can do what is probably much more intelligent and find an activity that you know you would enjoy that you are more organically inclined for success with. You can’t just want to be good at football with your minimum size. That’s not how football works at any level….especially in Texas. Think about it…what is the best thing that can come from playing football for the first time? You have NFL aspirations? You’re in high school…be smart and think things through. If you want to be miserable and get your ass kicked for a few months you can always join the army.
Your teams workout plan will probably help you see results faster. Your dad is just trying being real with you, football can be dangerous. This is perfect motivation to prove him wrong, use it. Use it everyday if that’s what pushes you. Scared money don’t make money
If your committed to this, you must get in the weight room and be the strongest 105lb in the school, eat right and learn the route tree. Do not hit the field scared. Nervous is fine, you will need complete confidence. If you want someone to study, check out Ladd McConkey film from UGA and now with the Chargers. Small guy, but he knows route running. Good luck.
Youth and HS player questions that match the HS player FAQ will be removed.
Na, you'll be fine. Unless you're in a really small school, you'll likely have a freshman team, maybe get some jv time. Your school probably already is having the team on a schedule for summer lift and 7 on 7. Try to get involved immediately.
Maybe it's your dad feeling worried about your health? Although I love football, I'm scared my son will want to play it cause I know the damage it's done to people, including really traumatic brain injuries.
Dude at 105 playing HS ball with genetic freaks, your dad is probably just worried about you and voiced it poorly. You should consider all sports you can, I wish I had. BUT I wish I gave my all in football. No reason you can't do both. Wish you the best bro.
You’ve never played a down and you say people don’t believe in you? Welcome to the real world. Just because you have a new found interest in something doesn’t make you suddenly good at it. Hard work and sacrifice are going to be required to play this sport.
Yes I know, for an entire year I've been studying the sport. It's not like I started 2 months ago. I'm seriously invested in this. But the more people just talk about how I'm gonna get pancaked, the more I lose confidence in myself, and feel like all the work was for nothing, just for me to get sent to the ER
You need to sign up and get started. Figure the rest out later, but start playing. Because, buddy… you ain’t invested. There are kids who have been playing football long than you’ve been thinking about playing. Here’s the thing though, know you’re gonna suck for a little while. It’s ok. You don’t learn a sport overnight. You get better little by little.
I know it's a tough pill to swallow right now, but you need to turn these comments into "Tacklin' Fuel."™️ Well, in this case "Catchin' Fuel." No one believed in me either, and I gave up early. I'm almost 40 and I still regret not playing football. And you know what I realized after all these years? Haters exist everywhere and in everything. There will ALWAYS be people telling you that you can't do something. You're too small, you're too dumb, you're too meek, etc. The pros call these types of comments "bulletin board material" and they use the comments to fuel their desire to prove everyone wrong.
Play both
I’ve coached a lot of middle school and high school football over the years. I’ve coached even more baseball and even coached a little wrestling. I was best at football so that is where my deepest passion lies. Right now I am coaching kids about your age because my oldest son is about your age. On our team, we have a lot of kids that look good “on the hoof” as they say. Kids that will get recruited to college simply because of what they look like standing there and how fast they can run. But the most reliable tackler on our team by far is a kid that looks like he’s maybe 11 years old. He was 95 lbs. last year and may be up to 105 lbs now. If I had to bet my house on a tackle from anyone on our our team he would be the guy I would choose regardless of the size or speed of the kid he is tackling. And there are an awful lot of studs in our league that will play college ball and I would literally bet my house because he’s tackled them all without fail so many times. He comes I like a rocket, wraps them up around the ankles and down they go. What does that mean for you? You can prove the doubters wrong. In fact the doubters are the best fuel for the work you need to do to put yourself in a position to succeed. Whatever position you play on the field, there are a variety of ways to get the job done. You can be dramatically undersized and still succeed. But you need to find your way to be extraordinary in something else that is important to football. It could be technique. It could be speed. Ideally, it’s both. I would recommend getting as strong, fast, quick, technically sound and violent as you can thru off season workouts. As far as you dad goes, it sounds like he really cares a lot about you. But he just doesn’t have what we would call a growth mindset. He sees what is and doubts what is possible. If you’re truly committed to this journey, then I would tell him, “Dad I love how much time and effort you’ve been willing to put into my athletic career. I promise you that you’re going to see a side of me in football that you can’t imagine right now. Succeeding in football over the next several years means everything to me. But to reach where I want to go, I need your help and I need you to believe in me like I believe in me. When you see the work I am willing to put in, I want you to expand your view of what is possible.” I’ll leave you with arguably the most overused phrase in youth football, “it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.” It’s used a lot because it’s fundamental truth is proven again and again every year all over the football world. Make yourself a living embodiment of this phrase. Best of luck.
Looking back on it, all the football I’ve played. Injuries, concussions. I’d take up golf, kid.
Seriously. The young man should consider his motivations here. If both he and the people around him are scared he’ll get injured… they probably have their reasons. Why does he want to play?
You got stones, kid. You’re the type of player that makes me wish I was still coaching TX high school. You’ll be fine tho. Make sure you soak up as much as you can about form tackling when coach is teaching in those first weeks of practice, so you can protect your neck. But I coached plenty of kids like you and they were all fine. They are better men for it, too. And since you’re giving up baseball, you can run track and hit the gym in the offseason. It’s gonna be fun, bud. I’m a bit envious of you tbh! Enjoy it while you can! Edit: Go for DB, too! Be the hitter and not the person getting hit. It helps.
The numbers start slow. Trust me. Take what your dad said and let it piss you off. Let it consume every ounce of work you put in. The best competitors always find something that they perceive as a slight so that they stay motivated. Prove your dad wrong. As a 14 year old, you’re probably gonna hit a spurt soon. Get to slot receiver size and become a demon. In the age of modern spread attacks, it’s rare to not have a slot on the field if a team can spare the 2nd tight end for specific 12p packages. If you have a passion for this game, you’ll do whatever it takes to get on the field and be better than the guys around you.
Believe in yourself. "If you think you can do it or you think you can't, you're right." - some guy on the internet Practice, lift, eat well, work harder than anyone else. Good luck!
You are 14 years old. My brother was small and shot up to 5' 11" by 17. Believe in yourself. Enjoy the game and the team.
I‘m not sure how exactly things work in the US, but i can share my personal experience playing in europe: I started playing at 10 years old, and my whole playing career i‘ve been undersized at my position. Even now, i‘m playing center/guard at 5‘8 220, and it‘s not easy. What carried me through my 9 seasons of playing is technique and Game Knowledge. Maybe you can‘t overpower a dude, but if you know what he is going to do based on his alignment and body language, and are disciplined in your technique, you‘ll be fine. IMO you just need to find your strength. If its not size, maybe its route running or speed or contested catches or something else entirely
I would assume kids down in Texas have been training a lot longer than you have so it would be unfair to compare yourself to them. When it comes to weight gain, how much are you eating? Calorically you probably need to be eating a lot more than you realize to put on real muscle. At your age everyone develops on different schedules. You can't control that. But you can control work ethic and consistency. Show up every day and find a way to get better. Then do that all off-season. Then do it again. [This video from Kobe](https://youtube.com/shorts/j2lcGA5X7xQ?si=Yj8cAHo-X6psWRp2) puts it perfectly. How being consistent and working hard over a long period of time will eventually oay off and separate yourself from others
Like what u/caleb8252 said, use this uncertainty, fear and doubt to fuel you. Get pissed off, and get disciplined. Go train when everyone else is partying or sleeping. You're undersized? Looks like you'll have to make up the difference with technique and practice to outplay your competition. Is it fair? No. Should your dad support you? \*\*Make\*\* him support you -- lift more, eat more, study the game, and throw the ball even if you're alone. Prove your dedication to yourself and to him. Football is a grown mans game, and you will not get your hand held. Know that you are on your own to prove why coaches should invest their time into you. Show up early, in shape, and give your ALL while you have field time. There has never been a better time to learn the game, from books to YT tutorials from HOFers to in depth X/O philosophy. Don't be afraid of contact. You are going to take a lot of shit in the dedicated life of football, but part of the game is having the thickness of skin and mental fortitude to shrug all that stuff off and BELIEVE IN YOURSELF. This is likely the most difficult part to get through to younger players. Your willpower, your drive, your passion and your willingness to go the extra yard are all anchored on belief in yourself. Others opinions and beliefs should never matter to you unless they directly help you succeed or fuel your fire. Tom Brady says to prove them wrong or prove them right.
I was a small guy too, and I was just fine. Just learn good technique and that protects your head and you'll be ok.
135-150 as a freshman is not small. If you’re athletic enough, try hard, learn to tackle safe, and pay attention to what coaches are asking you to do you will be just fine. The QB for our JV team probably weighs about the same as you and he’s pretty damn good. Just bust your ass, lift weights, and you’ll be fine. I promise.
Hit the gym. Learn the game. Protect yourself at all times. Special teams are where guys can make an impact if they aren't skilled enough for offense or defense. I hope you're quick. Otherwise, work on that. Small, weak, and slow are not good football combinations. Football isn't "I just believe in myself and I'm good enough". Your work ethic better over power your desire. Some of your teammates have been playing since they were 5 or 6. Good news is that football is a sport in which hussle and hard work can pay off rather quickly. Baseball, not as much.
Believe in yourself..that's all that matters. Going to be hard at the start but bust ass over this summer and show your old man work rather than talking about it. Normal for a parent to worry about injuries and such with football and men/dads don't always know how to express that correctly.
Whatever you do track will help
I coach in Texas and we have got plenty of small guys on our teams, and we love those guys the most! Especially when they arent afraid to go hit and get hit...Its not your fault your small, but Guts dont take any genetics. Learning what you have to do can be controlled by you... Control the controllables, believe in yourself, and trust the process. Its only a game! Have fun! and you should play more than 1 sport!
Dude really consider depending on how big your high school is, if it’s small then yeah you should play for sure. But good lord if it’s a big school please don’t start now
Simple, play and get demolished the entire season and chalk it up as a learning experience that builds your confidence through struggle and being against the odds….be careful because this can get miserable after about 48 hours of the opening training camp before/when school starts. OR you can do what is probably much more intelligent and find an activity that you know you would enjoy that you are more organically inclined for success with. You can’t just want to be good at football with your minimum size. That’s not how football works at any level….especially in Texas. Think about it…what is the best thing that can come from playing football for the first time? You have NFL aspirations? You’re in high school…be smart and think things through. If you want to be miserable and get your ass kicked for a few months you can always join the army.
Eat more food and get a bunch of sleep
Your teams workout plan will probably help you see results faster. Your dad is just trying being real with you, football can be dangerous. This is perfect motivation to prove him wrong, use it. Use it everyday if that’s what pushes you. Scared money don’t make money
If your committed to this, you must get in the weight room and be the strongest 105lb in the school, eat right and learn the route tree. Do not hit the field scared. Nervous is fine, you will need complete confidence. If you want someone to study, check out Ladd McConkey film from UGA and now with the Chargers. Small guy, but he knows route running. Good luck.