As a quarterback, you live and die by your decisions. Do I check down or take the shot? Do I hold the ball or scramble? Do I fake the handoff or tuck it and run?
Every choice you make in a three-second window on the field dictates the outcome of the drive. But here’s the crucial truth: The choices you make off the field, right now in high school, have a far greater impact on the outcome of your life.
In the grand scheme of your development, your choices today aren’t just high school moments—they are pre-snap reads for your future. The people you choose to follow, the time you choose to invest, and the advice you choose to trust are the foundations of the person you will become.
Here are the biggest life choices every high school quarterback must navigate, and why they matter so much:
1. The Huddle: Choosing Your Inner Circle
The Choice: Who are your closest friends and companions?
This might be the single most critical decision you make. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.
- The Low Road: Hanging with people who prioritize immediate pleasure, skip commitments, encourage shortcuts, or engage in risky behavior. Their “fun” becomes your distraction, pulling you away from training, sleep, and academic focus.
- The High Road: Choosing friends who are also pursuing excellence, whether in sports, academics, or art. They hold you accountable, celebrate your success without jealousy, and give you a reality check when you need it.
The QB Mindset: A great QB seeks teammates who elevate the entire offense. Your friends should be your personal offensive line, protecting your time and guiding you toward the goal line. If you are constantly pulling them up, you are wasting energy you need to lead.
2. The Playbook: Choosing Your Training & Focus
The Choice: How do you spend your free time and structured time?
High school is a juggling act: school, friends, practice, family. How you allocate your hours is a choice that compounds daily.
- The Low Road: Prioritizing social media scrolling, binge-watching, or excessive “social time” over targeted development. Training is treated as a requirement, not a passion.
- The High Road: Choosing to invest in quality over quantity. This means dedicated film study, extra agility work, strength training that targets longevity, and academic focus (because no college coach will look at an A+ arm paired with a D- GPA).
The QB Mindset: You are the CEO of your own development. Every hour you spend on the field must be balanced by an hour you spend on your mind and body. The discipline to say “No” to a party because you need a proper eight hours of sleep is a leadership choice.
3. The Coach’s Box: Choosing Your Advisors
The Choice: Whose advice do you take, and why?
Everyone has an opinion on your career: parents, coaches, friends, trainers, or even anonymous users on social media. Learning to discern genuine advice from self-serving noise is essential.
- The Low Road: Taking advice from people who have no proof of your best interest at heart. This includes trainers whose primary goal is marketing themselves, friends who want you to make the easy choice, or anyone who pushes you to violate team values for personal gain.
- The High Road: Seeking counsel from those who have a track record of integrity and success, and whose advice requires you to work harder, not less. Ask yourself: “What proof do they have that they have my best interest at heart?” Look for people who care about your character more than your QB rating.
The QB Mindset: If someone’s advice is based on pleasing you, it’s probably wrong. The best advice is often the hardest to hear, but it guides you down the right road.
4. The Jumbotron: Choosing Your Social Media Presence
The Choice: What public image are you building with every post?
Your social media profile is your public resume. College coaches, scouts, and future employers will look at it.
- The Low Road: Posting questionable content, engaging in arguments, complaining about coaches or teammates, or showing disrespect. This is an instant flag for recruiters, signaling immaturity and poor decision-making.
- The High Road: Using social media as a professional platform. Showcasing character, celebrating teammates, sharing positive training updates, and keeping personal drama private.
The QB Mindset: The moment you put on your helmet, you represent your team. The moment you post online, you represent yourself. Make sure your digital footprint reflects the leader you claim to be.
The Ultimate Choice: Integrity
Life, like football, is about making choices, and how you deal with those decisions will impact your life down the road. The pressure to please people—your friends, a coach, a recruiter—can be immense. But when you face a tough choice, your personal integrity must be the silent guide.
The most important decision you can make at this age is this:
Do I make this choice to please others, or do I make this choice to guide me down the right road, making my life easier and more successful in the long run?
Be the leader who chooses the high road, even when it’s lonely. Be the QB who makes the smart read, not the flashy one. That is how you build a life of consequence, and that is how you earn the right to lead.
