Alumnus Andrew Zeller rises to the challenge of pro football.Larissa Joines Staff Writer Red Lion graduate Andrew Zeller has recently excelled to the next level of his athletic career. In early May, Zeller posted on his Facebook page that he would become a Detroit Lion, signing a free agent deal the weekend of the NFL draft. An offensive lineman for the University of Maryland, Zeller is 6-foot-5 and 315 pounds. Zeller went undrafted in the 2016 NFL draft but was happy to receive the call that he was waiting for: the call from his agent telling him he has been picked up by an NFL team. “I anticipate a once in a lifetime opportunity that will require a strenuous challenge both mentally and physically,” said Zeller “but it is a challenge that I have dreamed of and one that I am willing to embrace.” Coming this far was not just a walk in the park as any athlete or fan would know. Zeller was put to the test several times to prove his worth in the game. He’s had many ups and downs during his journey, especially with playing time.
“Some people measure ups and downs by wins and losses, and unfortunately, I didn’t win as many games as I would have liked to at Maryland. But that doesn’t mean that I would trade the experience for anything else,” Zeller said. He had the opportunity to start his redshirt freshmen year but ended up losing his spot after several games because he became “complacent.” After not gaining his starting position back until later his sophomore year, he pushed himself and once he got it back he started every game the rest of his career. “From this I learned that nothing in life is handed to you, and it encouraged me to work that much harder on and off the field.” Zeller said. “I attribute my success at Maryland to my hard work ethic in the weight room and my desire to get better. “You can never expect to get better with time, YOU are the only one who can control whether or not you will better yourself, it must come from within.” Andrew claims that the hardest part during his journey was “Believing that I have the ability to make my dreams a reality.” I have come a very long way and there have been points where I questioned whether or not I have what it takes, but I never wanted to say “what if” down the road,” said Zeller “To prevent that from happening I gave it my all to make sure that I could be the best I could be while training for my pro day and I ended up performing unbelievably well.”
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
SportsAll the latest right here! Archives
August 2018
Categories
All
|