I want to tell you the story today of a football player who beat the odds. He was not someone who knew that he was going to be a success for a long time and wasn’t someone who had the easy road to get to where he is now, but he is someone who has always worked hard and done everything he can to make his life a story of success. The most important thing in his life is a work ethic that he can use to beat anyone else, and you add to the mix his commitment to learning as much as he can and the type of personality that never knows when to quit and the result is someone who might just be able to surprise you! This is the type of person that James Wilkinson is and he believes that soon he won’t be a surprise player, people will no longer be able to ignore what it is that he can do and will be forced to take him seriously before long. He is sure that he has all the ingredients to take him to where it is he wants to go and all that he needs to do now is put in the work to get himself there!
The road to greatness started for James Wilkinson when as a child, him and his father would spend every week going to watch college football games. His father loved to watch Clemson play and the two of them would always make time to go and spend at the stadium every weekend. It gave James a love for the sport and it made him know what it was he wanted to do from a very young age and that was to do exactly what his heroes were doing on the football field. Making it to be a football player for Clemson would be a very tough task due to the level of competition that he would face but this did not put James off, and from a young age he would tell anyone who would listen that he was going to be a football player in college! Getting to achieve this would mean a lot of sacrifices would have to be made and this was something that James was not afraid of, as he put football ahead of everything else in his life from as soon as he could remember. Every day would be spent practicing and trying to get better and this meant that a lot less time was spent on working hard in school than there should have been. Over time there was a lot of concern from James family and teachers who wished that he spent more time working on his studies and less time in the gym or on the football field, but there was nothing that they could say to James that would change his mind. It was impressive that even from a young age he was able to be so determined and focused on one thing in his life, and he began to feel very comfortable with not getting distracted from his goals. When his friends would go out to party James would focus only on getting better at the game, choosing to go to the weight room or watch game tape for the week ahead. James was a popular player for his coaches who respected the commitment to the game that he showed and although he was not the biggest or most talented player, they valued his work ethic a lot and began to use James as a consistent piece in their offense. James had decided from a young age that the position that he wanted to play in football was tight end. He had grown up watching the NFL and his favorite player was Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots. James would spend hours watching videos of Gronk playing and he thought of him as his hero. He would spend a lot of time sat dreaming of himself one day getting to make the kind of catches that Gronk did and he would try and add things to his own game that he saw his hero do. Over time the amount of hard work and dedication to the game that he showed started to pay off and before too long he was offered the chance to go and play college football at NC State. It was not the dream of his that playing at Clemson was but James recognised that playing in his home state would be a big opportunity and that if he played well he might get the chance to transfer to Clemson and play there.
A lot of time was spent at NC State working on his game and it was soon showing. James was getting better and quickly, and it wasn’t long before people began to take notice. He had a great season with the team in his freshman year and worked very hard the whole time, determined to achieve his lifelong dream of playing football for Clemson. He didn’t have to wait long for that to come around and before long, James was offered a place at the university as a transfer to start his second season in the NCAA. It was a dream come true to be able to make the trip across and suit up for the Tigers and James was determined not to waste the chance that he had been given to fulfil his lifelong dream. Before long he was one of the main pieces on the offense and earned a lot of attention from various professional scouts which made him think that he could take things further than he had dreamed and be able to make a career out of the game he loved! It was all going perfectly for James and he was continuing to grow in confidence and ability until one day something that he never saw coming happened and changed everything. During a game where he was blocking on a running play, another player fell on James and he landed awkwardly. It didn’t feel too bad for James at first but when he started to to walk he could tell that there was something wrong straight away. James was taken off the field and examined but the medics could not tell what the problem was at first. He was sent for a scan and got the bad news that he had been dreading. He had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee and would have to miss the rest of the games in the season. It was a heartbreaking day for James and he had to spend the rest of the season sat watching his friends play after he had surgery to try and fix the problem. Instead of a successful season James instead was having to try and be able to walk again. It was a difficult time for the young player and he wasn’t able to deal with the pain very well. After a few months things were not improving quick enough and James began to worry that he might not be able to play for another season. This was something that was very scary because he had worked so hard to make an impact and get himself drafted in the following season but it looked as if it would all be for nothing. James decided that he had to get rid of the doubt and worry and instead just focus on getting recovered and being able to play again in the league. He spent all his energy and time on learning what he needed to do to get back to where he was. It wasn’t long before he was starting to improve fast, and it shows how valuable the work ethic that he has is because before you know it he was able to train. In his senior year he was able to play the first game of the season in a very emotional day where the long road to recovery had finally paid off! All of James’ family came to watch his big comeback game and he even caught a touchdown pass in the game. James couldn’t hold back tears and let it all out when he scored, and it felt like the end of a long road for him and his family. He spent the rest of the season playing some great football and Clemson had a very good season which he was a big part of. James learned a lot about the way that he needed to play in order to be successful and in some ways the injury was a blessing for him because it showed him just how much pain he could take and bounce back from. Recovering from the injury made him feel unstoppable and before you know it he was back working hard in order to cross the next bridge in his career, becoming a professional.
The next stop on his journey is becoming a player in the ISFL. If he is going to make it that far then there is a lot of work that he needs to do in order to improve and learn. Being a great college football player is one thing but there’s a different world of talent waiting for him, but he isn’t scared of what he needs to do next. If he wants to make it to this next level then there needs to be a lot of time spent working on everything that he does. To reach the ISFL he knows that he will need to spend some time playing in the development league. If he can show what he is capable of there and use it to grow and work on the areas of his play that aren’t as strong, he will be in a good position to succeed when the time comes to play in the ISFL. There is a lot of challenges that he is going to face along the way but he is confident that he has what it takes to beat them. It won’t be easy for James to leave his home behind and make a home in a new city; he didn’t live far away from Clemson and so he was able to keep his support network close to him all the time, but things are different now that he will need to move further away to play in the pro leagues. He will have to be able to rely on himself for support and make new friends in the team who he can use to help make himself feel more at home. Playing at such a big and popular school means that James is used to being in the focus of the media but that is nothing compared to what it is like as a pro. There will be a lot of attention given to James and what he does on the field and so he will need to be able to ignore that and focus on doing his job instead. James is a naturally quiet person who doesn’t like being the center of attention, but he can’t let things get to him and should make sure that it doesn’t become a problem for him and for his career. If he can focus only on what’s important then his career will be off to the best start possible!
Something that James will be confident in his size and height make him a natural fit to play in his position in the ISFL. He isn’t the most naturally talented player in the world but he is big and strong and that is very important when it comes to playing the position of tight end. He is the type of player who loves to catch the ball, but he also enjoys being involved as a blocker and is always happy to help his team out in that area too. He is hopeful that teams will like his height and strength as positive attributes and that he can use them to become a promising player in the DSFL. There is a lot more to the game than being a big and heavy person but having the tools to work with should help make things a bit easier. He knows that there is a lot of hard work still to be done to make sure that he can use them in the best way possible too so that’s going to be a focus of his training in the offseason before he plays his first games in the league. The biggest hope for James is that he can continue to improve in the way that we have seen from him already during his career. He has shown that he can grow and change in the way that he needs to which I think teams will like about him. He is a player who always listens to his coaches and will go out of his way to get extra help so that he can improve as much as possible and become the best player that he has the potential to be. The team that gets to have James on their team will be getting someone who always puts the team before himself and will do whatever he can do to help out and make the team better. He enjoys being a part of a good environment with people around him who are motivated to work hard to improve and learn and he can help out and contribute a lot to a positive team mood. It should be an easy change for him to go from the locker rooms that he was in as a college player to the professional locker rooms because he is so focused on helping those around him and doesn’t think of himself when it comes to success.
James Wilkinson should be the kind of young player that most teams would want to add as he will bring a lot to the table for the team that he joins. He is far from perfect and there is a lot left to learn but he will do whatever he can to make things work and will always spend the time that is needed to learn and improve. There is a long road ahead of him but he is ready for the challenges he will face along the way and is looking forward to the day coming where he can contribute to a team and help them achieve success. Playing football has been all that James has wanted for his whole life and now that he has the chance to keep doing that by entering the ISFL, it’s something that he is very excited about and can’t wait to get started with. He is looking forward to working toward the draft whenever that will happen, and he is going to do what he can to make the teams in the league take notice of him by the time the day comes. He has a lot to prove but he knows what it is he needs to do to get there so I hope that you will join me on the journey that James takes into the ISFL!
Article length: 2,532 words!
The road to greatness started for James Wilkinson when as a child, him and his father would spend every week going to watch college football games. His father loved to watch Clemson play and the two of them would always make time to go and spend at the stadium every weekend. It gave James a love for the sport and it made him know what it was he wanted to do from a very young age and that was to do exactly what his heroes were doing on the football field. Making it to be a football player for Clemson would be a very tough task due to the level of competition that he would face but this did not put James off, and from a young age he would tell anyone who would listen that he was going to be a football player in college! Getting to achieve this would mean a lot of sacrifices would have to be made and this was something that James was not afraid of, as he put football ahead of everything else in his life from as soon as he could remember. Every day would be spent practicing and trying to get better and this meant that a lot less time was spent on working hard in school than there should have been. Over time there was a lot of concern from James family and teachers who wished that he spent more time working on his studies and less time in the gym or on the football field, but there was nothing that they could say to James that would change his mind. It was impressive that even from a young age he was able to be so determined and focused on one thing in his life, and he began to feel very comfortable with not getting distracted from his goals. When his friends would go out to party James would focus only on getting better at the game, choosing to go to the weight room or watch game tape for the week ahead. James was a popular player for his coaches who respected the commitment to the game that he showed and although he was not the biggest or most talented player, they valued his work ethic a lot and began to use James as a consistent piece in their offense. James had decided from a young age that the position that he wanted to play in football was tight end. He had grown up watching the NFL and his favorite player was Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots. James would spend hours watching videos of Gronk playing and he thought of him as his hero. He would spend a lot of time sat dreaming of himself one day getting to make the kind of catches that Gronk did and he would try and add things to his own game that he saw his hero do. Over time the amount of hard work and dedication to the game that he showed started to pay off and before too long he was offered the chance to go and play college football at NC State. It was not the dream of his that playing at Clemson was but James recognised that playing in his home state would be a big opportunity and that if he played well he might get the chance to transfer to Clemson and play there.
A lot of time was spent at NC State working on his game and it was soon showing. James was getting better and quickly, and it wasn’t long before people began to take notice. He had a great season with the team in his freshman year and worked very hard the whole time, determined to achieve his lifelong dream of playing football for Clemson. He didn’t have to wait long for that to come around and before long, James was offered a place at the university as a transfer to start his second season in the NCAA. It was a dream come true to be able to make the trip across and suit up for the Tigers and James was determined not to waste the chance that he had been given to fulfil his lifelong dream. Before long he was one of the main pieces on the offense and earned a lot of attention from various professional scouts which made him think that he could take things further than he had dreamed and be able to make a career out of the game he loved! It was all going perfectly for James and he was continuing to grow in confidence and ability until one day something that he never saw coming happened and changed everything. During a game where he was blocking on a running play, another player fell on James and he landed awkwardly. It didn’t feel too bad for James at first but when he started to to walk he could tell that there was something wrong straight away. James was taken off the field and examined but the medics could not tell what the problem was at first. He was sent for a scan and got the bad news that he had been dreading. He had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee and would have to miss the rest of the games in the season. It was a heartbreaking day for James and he had to spend the rest of the season sat watching his friends play after he had surgery to try and fix the problem. Instead of a successful season James instead was having to try and be able to walk again. It was a difficult time for the young player and he wasn’t able to deal with the pain very well. After a few months things were not improving quick enough and James began to worry that he might not be able to play for another season. This was something that was very scary because he had worked so hard to make an impact and get himself drafted in the following season but it looked as if it would all be for nothing. James decided that he had to get rid of the doubt and worry and instead just focus on getting recovered and being able to play again in the league. He spent all his energy and time on learning what he needed to do to get back to where he was. It wasn’t long before he was starting to improve fast, and it shows how valuable the work ethic that he has is because before you know it he was able to train. In his senior year he was able to play the first game of the season in a very emotional day where the long road to recovery had finally paid off! All of James’ family came to watch his big comeback game and he even caught a touchdown pass in the game. James couldn’t hold back tears and let it all out when he scored, and it felt like the end of a long road for him and his family. He spent the rest of the season playing some great football and Clemson had a very good season which he was a big part of. James learned a lot about the way that he needed to play in order to be successful and in some ways the injury was a blessing for him because it showed him just how much pain he could take and bounce back from. Recovering from the injury made him feel unstoppable and before you know it he was back working hard in order to cross the next bridge in his career, becoming a professional.
The next stop on his journey is becoming a player in the ISFL. If he is going to make it that far then there is a lot of work that he needs to do in order to improve and learn. Being a great college football player is one thing but there’s a different world of talent waiting for him, but he isn’t scared of what he needs to do next. If he wants to make it to this next level then there needs to be a lot of time spent working on everything that he does. To reach the ISFL he knows that he will need to spend some time playing in the development league. If he can show what he is capable of there and use it to grow and work on the areas of his play that aren’t as strong, he will be in a good position to succeed when the time comes to play in the ISFL. There is a lot of challenges that he is going to face along the way but he is confident that he has what it takes to beat them. It won’t be easy for James to leave his home behind and make a home in a new city; he didn’t live far away from Clemson and so he was able to keep his support network close to him all the time, but things are different now that he will need to move further away to play in the pro leagues. He will have to be able to rely on himself for support and make new friends in the team who he can use to help make himself feel more at home. Playing at such a big and popular school means that James is used to being in the focus of the media but that is nothing compared to what it is like as a pro. There will be a lot of attention given to James and what he does on the field and so he will need to be able to ignore that and focus on doing his job instead. James is a naturally quiet person who doesn’t like being the center of attention, but he can’t let things get to him and should make sure that it doesn’t become a problem for him and for his career. If he can focus only on what’s important then his career will be off to the best start possible!
Something that James will be confident in his size and height make him a natural fit to play in his position in the ISFL. He isn’t the most naturally talented player in the world but he is big and strong and that is very important when it comes to playing the position of tight end. He is the type of player who loves to catch the ball, but he also enjoys being involved as a blocker and is always happy to help his team out in that area too. He is hopeful that teams will like his height and strength as positive attributes and that he can use them to become a promising player in the DSFL. There is a lot more to the game than being a big and heavy person but having the tools to work with should help make things a bit easier. He knows that there is a lot of hard work still to be done to make sure that he can use them in the best way possible too so that’s going to be a focus of his training in the offseason before he plays his first games in the league. The biggest hope for James is that he can continue to improve in the way that we have seen from him already during his career. He has shown that he can grow and change in the way that he needs to which I think teams will like about him. He is a player who always listens to his coaches and will go out of his way to get extra help so that he can improve as much as possible and become the best player that he has the potential to be. The team that gets to have James on their team will be getting someone who always puts the team before himself and will do whatever he can do to help out and make the team better. He enjoys being a part of a good environment with people around him who are motivated to work hard to improve and learn and he can help out and contribute a lot to a positive team mood. It should be an easy change for him to go from the locker rooms that he was in as a college player to the professional locker rooms because he is so focused on helping those around him and doesn’t think of himself when it comes to success.
James Wilkinson should be the kind of young player that most teams would want to add as he will bring a lot to the table for the team that he joins. He is far from perfect and there is a lot left to learn but he will do whatever he can to make things work and will always spend the time that is needed to learn and improve. There is a long road ahead of him but he is ready for the challenges he will face along the way and is looking forward to the day coming where he can contribute to a team and help them achieve success. Playing football has been all that James has wanted for his whole life and now that he has the chance to keep doing that by entering the ISFL, it’s something that he is very excited about and can’t wait to get started with. He is looking forward to working toward the draft whenever that will happen, and he is going to do what he can to make the teams in the league take notice of him by the time the day comes. He has a lot to prove but he knows what it is he needs to do to get there so I hope that you will join me on the journey that James takes into the ISFL!
Article length: 2,532 words!
![[Image: wilkinson.png]](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/653372971460853786/773350517790605352/wilkinson.png)
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