T.J. Thorpe Show: What does it take to play football at the highest level?
High school football players across the country have dreams of playing at the highest levels — in college and professionally.
On the debut episode of "The T.J. Thorpe Show," former college and professional football players Maurice Harris and Anthony Boone spoke to Thorpe about several topics, including their advice for kids hoping to climb the football ladder to the highest levels.
Harris played high school football at Northern Guilford High School, then played college football at Cal. A wide receiver, he was picked up by the then-Washington Redskins as an undrafted free agent in 2016, but also spent time with the New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints. Boone was a successful quarterback at Weddington High School before going to play at Duke. He signed with the Detroit Lions as an undrafted free agent in 2015.
Two guys who played high school football in North Carolina and made it to the NFL have some insight into the process and the pathway to the league.
Be a person of high character
According to Harris, the number one thing that high school athletes need to focus on is being a good person that teammates want to gravitate towards. This applies to football players at all levels.
"First and foremost, before anything, you have to be a good person. You have high character," Harris said. "Nowadays, there's too much talent going around for somebody who doesn't have high character ... I feel like back in the day, you could kind of get away with it, but now, people have to want to be around you and you have to be a positive influence."
One important aspect student-athletes should focus on is cleaning up their social media, Thorpe said.
"Yep, exactly," Harris agreed. "Everything is out there now. Everybody can see everything."
Boone agreed with Harris' point, but added that includes having good grades in high school.
"Like (Harris) said, you've got to have the high character, you've got to have the grades. It's hard to sell a kid that's physically talented but doesn't have the grades," Boone said. "People specialize too early, too often now to where you're not going to find this kid that's super raw where you're going to get this kid for four years and work on him."
Put in the work on the field
Boone uses the word "obsessed" when he talks about the mindset football players have to have about the sport to succeed at a high level.
"There are too many guys who are engulfing themselves in perfecting their craft, understanding the game outside of their high school offense — like understanding what a three technique is, understanding what an over front is, understanding what scrape pressure is. That's stuff guys are now knowing at a young age ... there's not many guys going to college like, 'Yeah, I want to get redshirted.' These young cats now are like, 'I'm trying to go somewhere and start.' That's the mentality," he said.
Boone said he used to spend time watching Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey on YouTube, picking up on tools they used to make themselves better football players. Watching other players and picking up things from them to make your skill set stronger is one way a football player can be obsessed, Boone said.
"You've gotta be obsessed to that point where you're just studying other guys' games, you're watching film, and you're seeing what makes other guys successful. If you're not doing that and you're not that obsessed with that position of that game, you're not going to be successful at a high level," Boone said. "And that's at the Division I level on down — I train guys that are Division III, that are JUCO players, who are that obsessed. If you don't have that level of focus and commitment and sacrifice built into your psyche, it's going to be hard to play at the next level anywhere."
Harris said working on your weaknesses, not just repeatedly showing your strengths, is also key. Working on weaknesses makes a player more well-rounded.
"There are a lot of people who are really good at what they do in certain areas, but I think what is going to take kids to that next level is working on the things that you're not good at — evening yourself out, being versatile, especially nowadays," Harris said.
Be a versatile player
Being versatile is one of the important tips Harris had for players who want to play at a high level, and that's something he has experience in himself — especially when it comes to special teams.
"I think that probably trumps everything," Harris said of special teams. "I don't care who you are. There are first round draft picks who have to play special teams. I know from my experience, that probably kept me in the league a little longer than probably what I should have been."
When Harris was playing in the NFL for Washington, he would regularly join Jamison Crowder in practicing catching punts. Crowder was the starting punt returner, but Harris saw it as an opportunity.
"I would do it because I had good hands and I just wanted to work on my game," he said.
Crowder was later injured and missed about eight weeks, Harris recalled. Because he had been practicing special teams, Harris got the call to step in and start in place of Crowder.
"They come to me ... and all of a sudden I'm back there starting six, seven, eight games," said Harris. "In my head, I didn't think I was supposed to be back there, but they believed in me, I worked at it, I practiced it to get better, but it was an opportunity. I wasn't getting as many reps of offense at receiver, so I'm like, 'Shoot, this is an easy way for me to steal 10-15 reps a game.'"
Along the same lines as Harris' point about special teams, Boone said the best players should always find ways to be on the field to impact the game.
"The best player on the field is typically your Division I player, and he's typically never off the field. That's how I look at it. So if you feel you're the best player, why are you not on kick off? Why are you not on (kick off return)? Why are you not on punt team? The best players on the field never come off the field," Boone said.
Don't get comfortable
"You see it fast when you get to that (college), those who grind and really still want it, and those who got to this pinnacle and they're like, 'Alright, I'm cool, I'm here.' Those are the guys that either play on Saturday or don't, and a lot of people don't get that," Boone said.
If you become content with where you are, other players will pass you. Boone said there are players who look the part, but they don't produce because they're content with where they are.
"I've seen the best athletes, the best players, and you're like, 'This kid's 6-4, 240, he runs a 4.3, why is he not on the field?' He doesn't want it. He got here. He's cool," said Boone.
If a player is going from high school to college, that mindset can set them back.
"A lot of these kids in high school get privileged, they go to school for four years, nobody to compete with, and then they go to this power five school and there's five other guys to compete with — they're at the bottom," Boone said.
About "The T.J. Thorpe Show"
Former college & professional football player T.J. Thorpe, a native of Durham, N.C., talks with former high school football players from North Carolina who have gone on to play collegiately and professionally or are contributing to the game in other ways, offering insight into their football journey and advice for current high school football players hoping to make the most of their football careers. T.J. will also talk with current high school football players about their experiences, recruitment, goals, and more. T.J. Thorpe played high school football at Jordan High School in Durham, N.C., graduating in 2011. As a senior, T.J. made the ESPNU 150 list as the No. 88 overall prospect in the country and the No. 11 athlete in the Class of 2011. Rivals.com rated him as the No. 15 wide receiver in the country and the sixth best prospect in North Carolina. After his senior season, T.J. played in the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas, an all-star game that puts North Carolina's best senior high school football players up against their counterparts in South Carolina. To this day, T.J. holds the Jordan High School career record for receiving yards with 2,423, and the N.C. High School Athletic Association single-season record for kick returns for touchdowns at 5. After high school, T.J. was a scholarship player at UNC for coaches Butch Davis and Larry Fedora. In 2011, he was a finalist for the Johnny Rodgers Award, recognizing the nation's top returner, and earned All-ACC Honorable Mention honors. T.J. graduated from UNC with a degree in exercise science and played one season at UVA as a graduate student, where he earned his Master's degree. T.J. entered the NFL in 2016 where he spent time with the then-Washington Redskins and the Philadelphia Eagles. He also played in the Canadian Football League.
