Gallery • 3 Photos

Gabe Salomons

Pierce Newman at football practice.

For generations, the stereotype of high school football players is that they are a bunch of “dumb jocks” or “meatheads.”  For the most part, this has been true, but this generation of high school football players are starting to break this mold and plan for a future outside the white lines. 

Pierce Newman, a 17 year old senior at Hall High School is a prime example of the new generation of high school football players.  With an outstanding GPA of 4.40 and maybe even a more impressive SAT score of 1560, Pierce exemplifies the true meaning of being a student athlete.  Pierce isn’t just a team GPA booster either, he has played both varsity football and lacrosse since his sophomore year. Not to mention, he is the varsity football captain, voted on by his teammates at the end of the 2018 season.  To most outsiders his accomplishments on the field sound like that of a high school sports star who hasn’t planned for the rest of his life and “peaks in high school,” but not for Pierce. He has his eyes set on attending either the University of California Los Angeles, University of California San Diego, Columbia University or Princeton University over the next four years.  These are some of the nations top universities and would be a long shot for most, but with Pierce’s outstanding accomplishments and work ethic in the classroom it is a very realistic possibility that he will attend one of those schools.

Many will say this is just one example of a high school football player who has excelled on the field and in the classroom, but our generation is slowly invalidating the “meathead” stereotype.  With kids just like Pierce all over the country who are getting it done both on the field and in the classroom this stereotype will be a thing of the past in no time.