Varsity Football Starting Quarterback, Brian Tognolini, aspires to be a Civil Engineer, and with his top academics, SAT and ACT scores as well as great athleticism (he’s a three-sport athlete that includes baseball and basketball) he is definitely heading to a bright future. The 6’2” 190 lbs. Student-Athlete applied to eleven colleges and has decided on UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles, a top engineering school. At this time he is focusing on his academics only but is considering an opportunity to play football as well. Brian will graduate from Castro Valley High School (CV, CA) in June 2016. He has been a Varsity Football QB for three years along with playing first base and pitching positions in baseball and power forward position in basketball. His Academics have always come first.
We talked recently about the various opportunities to play a sport in college: Being recruited with or without athletic department-based dollars involved or trying out/walking-on to a team at a college you’ve been accepted to. The MAJORITY of student-athletes playing sports in college today are on zero athletic department-based dollars. They are there on traditional funding means such as financial aid, student/parent Department of Education (or other) loans and/or academic-based awards. The reason “Signing a Letter of Intent – LOI” is so widely considered to be the only way to play a sport in college is due to college football signings being highly advertised in the media. Football signings, as any signings, can be full, half, partial or slivers of athletic department-based scholarships. While football signings begin in early February and extend to early April recruiting opportunities exist through much of the year. Also, walk-ons to a sport can have opportunities to earn athletic department-based scholarships based on athletic performance (and of course maintaining academic grades). All athletes generally put in the same amount of hard work, time and dedication. Heart and soul are huge factors as well. Great job, Brian, you have taken care of business and are on your way! Brian was introduced to SportsHopes by local advocate for student-athlete youth, Trav Gardner. Brian’s football stats and video are located on HUDL:
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/4011821/brian-tognolini
Recent Comments