JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Colin Hurley has a state championship under his belt and is being recruited by some of the top colleges in the nation.
And he’s only been a starter one season of high school football.
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Last December, Hurley led Trinity Christian to the Class 2A state championship, making him the youngest African-American quarterback in Duval County to win it all. But Hurley is more than just a freshman phenom with the Conquerors. His success is a result of years of hard work.
“I started taking football seriously at 6 years old. I wanted to first try out for flag football and I knew I had something special in me,” he said.
Special is a good way to put it.
Tom Gormely, who works with professional athletes from the NFL to Major League Baseball, said that Hurley’s work ethic is what sets him apart.
“Yes, he is an elite athlete at whatever age whether it is, 14, 15, 16,” Gormely said. “Yes, he is ahead of the game because he started at a younger age, but it is more about who he is as a person, who he is as a competitor, how seriously he takes himself. He takes sports and trying to be good at what he is trying to do. That is why he is a good athlete. He is definitely gifted, but he is maximizing his potential as well.”
That potential has wowed college coaches and landed Hurley offers from schools like Georgia, Florida and Florida State but he says that isn’t his focus right now.
“I want to get better in the classroom,” Hurley said. “I have a 4.0 in the classroom right now and I want to get that up.”
In his pursuit of excellence does come pressure and expectations but Hurley said that doesn’t bother him.
“I know the pressure is there, but I don’t feel it that much,” he said. “I just come in day in and day out and work hard.”
Hurley plans to one day be in the NFL, and said the quarterback he relates to the most is Buffalo’s Josh Allen.
Hurley will have a lot of work to do to live up to those NFL dreams, but he hasn’t missed a workout in the last four years and has no plans of missing a workout anytime soon as he works to reach his goals.