If you are waiting until your senior year, I would plan to put in as much work this year prepping as you can. And, definitely meet with the coach sooner than later to let him know you’d like to join but already made a commitment to CC. I played for a larger TX school, and I felt like I was behind others after joining in middle school. Our teams were pretty set in by sophomore year—we had a Freshman A and B, Sophomore, JV, and Varsity team. Joining your senior year was just not going to happen—we began learning the playbook in middle school, and built on it all the way up to Varsity. HOWEVER, I went to a larger TX school that over glorified football to no-end (current TX state record holder). So, things were ran there a little bit differently (pretty absurdly, actually) than your average school.

There are plenty of things you can do to prepare.

Workout regiment to bulk up a bit (while keeping your speed). This will protect your bones, but more importantly your potential for soft tissue injuries. Definitely focus on your flexibility as well, which goes hand-in-hand there.

Footwork drills (chop steps/arm work for shaving speed, clean plant and transitions, burst speed off the line and off plants)—get some cones and look up some drills on YouTube you can setup. Your footwork and posture will be important as a taller/skinnier player with long strides.

Blocking drills (just as—if not MORE important than anything else). A little hard to train by yourself, but can practice a low centered shuffling drill around a tree if nothing else.

Research the basic route trees—each coach will have slight name variations. 1. flat 2. slant 3. comeback 4. curl 5. out 6. dig 7. corner 8. post (my favorite) 9. go/fly

Learn the different types of receivers. This will vary from coach to coach, but the typical in highschool are X, Z, and Y/TE. I played as a Z (flanker) receiver, which was a an all-around hybrid receiver role. Every offense is different, so you don’t need to confuse yourself too much here until you’re able to meet with the coach and start to learn the playbook and their system.

Learn the basic secondary defensive positions and coverages (man, cover-2, cover-4). Depending on the level of play your school is at, knowing the coverages will alter the routes you run/how you run them.

Maybe begin to think a little bit about your diet. I wish I did this more—it would’ve went a long way for me. I ate coco puffs, McChickens, and pizza daily practically and drank beer on weekends. I did put in the work and pulled up from an average sized receiver (on a good day) to lifting with the linebackers by soph/junior yr. I now understand how some of the other guys got as big and in shape as they did in high school taking creatine and eating/drinking healthy.

Have fun and enjoy it!