Two years ago, Michael Hughes had just begun playing football, a sixth-grader receiving fifth-quarter minutes on the Winding Waters K-8 junior varsity squad.
Now he’s performing well enough to earn accolades on a national level. The 14-year-old eighth-grader from Spring Hill attended an Offense-Defense Football Camp in Tampa over the summer. It went extremely well.
Competing at his primary positions of running back and middle linebacker, Hughes graded out well enough to be named an Offense-Defense All-American and garner an invite to the 11th annual Offense-Defense All-American Bowl.
“I’m definitely looking forward to it. I’m kind of nervous to go play, but I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Hughes said. “I think I did well because I put in a lot of work ever since I started playing and I’ve always wanted to be the best at what I do. I have a lot of heart to play football and it’s something I want to do when I’m older.”
Hughes will travel to Atlanta for festivities beginning Dec. 26 and culminating with the bowl game on Dec. 31.
“I expect I’m going to win,” Hughes said. “I think it’s going to be a really good experience to be with my team. There’s a lot of players from around the country. I think it’ll be really cool.”
He has started at both his regular positions at Winding Waters the past two years, quickly taking to the game.
“The feeling you get on the field, under the lights, hearing the crowd. It just feels really good,” Hughes said. “I feel football teaches a lot of life skills that come in handy. The stuff I’ve learned from football will help in real life.”
The summer camp featured three days of drills designed to evaluate players at specific positions. Technically, Hughes was named All-American at running back even though he graded out higher at linebacker.
Good grades aren’t unusual for Hughes. His father, Winding Waters assistant coach Kiff Hughes, noted that his son sports a 4.0 GPA.
According to the elder Hughes, his son has had to overcome significant adversity. Not only does he compete in football, basketball and track and field, he has endured his mother battling breast cancer in recent years.
“He puts in a lot of hard work, a lot of determination,” Coach Hughes said. “He gives it 100 percent when he’s out there on the football field.”
The younger Hughes said he has already been invited back to the camp next year. He’d like to take advantage of the exposure the bowl game will provide, considering his long-term goal of playing in college.
“I thought it was a pretty amazing thing to advance (to the bowl game) because there were so many kids down there competing for the same thing as I was. I wasn’t sure that I’d get at that level,” Hughes said. “I thought it was an awesome opportunity to go up to Atlanta and do this.”
Follow Chris Bernhardt Jr. on Twitter @cpbernhardtjr.