Colony Class of 2018 Star Defensive Lineman and Fresno State commit writes about his hard work on the football field and in the classroom. Matt has a 3.8 GPA while taking several AP classes.

     Coming out of middle school I wasn’t really a stud in the classroom. I came out of middle school with 3 A’s & 3 F’s, the bare minimum to move on. I decided that my freshman year of high school that raising my grades would be my number one priority. After cutting time out of other activities I managed to get straight A’s that first semester. This was around the time a lot of students, parents, & teachers told me I should try out for football. I reluctantly caved in and tried out, making the team.

     The Colony football team had just come off a CIF title & still had a lot of guys coming back so I was originally nervous at first. However once I applied the work ethic I had in the classroom to the field, I left a good impression on the coaches. After a couple months of practicing with the team I was informed by the coaches that I would be starting for the scrimmage at La Puente. I completely got destroyed on the line. When we did our first film study I got chewed out heavily for not getting off the ball quick enough & or aggressively. In my mind it wasnt that I couldn’t do it, but I wasn’t willing to sacrifice for it. This was similar to what previously happened in the classroom. It wasn’t that I couldn’t get good grades. It was just that I didn’t want to sacrifice anything to get them.

     Going forward into my first varsity game, I was nervous again. Was I going to be flop or a stud? Am I going to let my coaches down? First snap goes & I get held up at the line. The same thing happens the second play. I don’t know what took over my the third play but I bursted off the line, dove at the QB, & caused a sack/strip fumble. At the end of my that game I recorded 3 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, & 8 tackles. After that the rest was history. That sophomore season I made sure to let people know who I am.

     Playing college football wasn’t really on my mind until the end of my Junior season after I received my first offer. After that everything changed. It wasn’t just my coaches expecting greatness out of me, it was everyone around me. My senior year rolls around and by this time I have about 10 offers. I’m not going to lie, I was a little cocky at this point. Luckily I had good high school coaches because they broke me down & built me back up. We also changed the defense to three down linemen so I was the only big guy in the middle. It didn’t really bother me & I had somewhat of a good season. Once it came around to choose a college I had a hard time. Luckily after my official visit to Fresno State I realized this was my home & became a bulldog. I don’t know how well I’ll do in college but if I apply myself like I did in the classroom I can say these next four years are going to really fun!

– Matt Lawson