A.J. Price

What it Feels Like...
To play high school basketball while being recruited by top Division I college football programs
Monday, January 14, 2008; E02

After his mother convinced the basketball-crazed senior to play football this fall, South Lakes' A.J. Price hauled in 32 catches for 816 yards and 11 TDs, most of which have surfaced on a highlight reel on YouTube and helped the previously unknown 6-foot-4 second team All-Met wide receiver draw late offers from U-Va., Penn State and Michigan. That however, did not stop him from playing basketball this winter.

Youtube.com link

I just go out and play and I don't really worry about getting hurt. If I get hurt, I was meant to get hurt, that's just what God had planned. I play for my teammates. They are my friends. I'm not going to sit out just because I have football scholarships on the line.

I talk to [teammate Thomas Mayo] about this all the time because he's got some Division I-AA recruiting going on. We talk all the time and if we go out there thinking that we are going to get hurt, then we are going to get hurt.

I sprained my ankle in a game three weeks ago, but the football aspect didn't cross my mind until after the game. I just try to keep football off the basketball court. It just happens. I just don't think about it at all ...

It was the day before football practice started, my mom and [South Lakes Coach John Ellenberger] talked me into [playing football], so I went out and played. I wasn't expecting football to happen.

Now, Michigan, Penn State and U-Va. are my top choices. Florida didn't go how I wanted it to go, but it was still nice enough to know that I was considered good enough to play on that stage. It's a confidence-booster, football-wise...

Our offensive coach put the [highlight reel on YouTube], but didn't tell me until two days after that he put it on. That's where [Florida] saw me. It's helped a lot. A lot of people have left comments. I think it's funny. In one of my classes, one of my teachers put it up and we had to do a worksheet on it. I get a lot of jokes about it from my friends.

-- Interview by B.J. Koubaroulis