HINGHAM – A 13-year-old football player from Massachusetts is already attracting attention from colleges with his skills on the field.
Undefeated season
Every night something special happens at a sports complex on the South Shore. Among the tempo and agility exercises you will find a teenager with the mentality of a professional athlete.
Hudson Garrity is an eighth-grader at Derby Academy in Hingham, where he is honing his tools as a quarterback. He’s starting to get national attention.
“I just left it out of the equation,” Garrity said. “I know what I have to do here and that’s all I have to focus on. So no matter who else is watching or who is here, I just have to do my job.”
This fall alone, Garrity helped lead his Hingham city team to an undefeated season. He was responsible for 52 touchdowns, only two interceptions, 110 for 129 passing yards with an 86% completion percentage. He finished his season with 3,014 passing yards.
D1 bids on 13
Garrity plays for a few leagues in the area, he’s been selected as one of four eighth-grade quarterbacks across the country to play in January’s All-American Bowl, and at age 13 he already has an offer been offered to play football from a D1 university: UMass Amherst, as first reported in The Patriot Ledger.
“It’s great to get D1 offers and stuff, but I want to play in the NFL, so you gotta keep working,” Garrity said. “Just because you achieve an achievement like that doesn’t mean the job is done. You know that Kobe Bryant quote about working when no one else is looking and it shows when everyone is watching? Just putting in those extra hours that other people do have it and you ultimately see that when you are actually playing.”
There’s no doubt that Garrity is determined. He spends at least 20 hours a week strengthening his skills. He has a great support system from some of the best trainers in the region. But even they admit that his value ethic is special.
“He knows exactly what he wants, and he’s willing to do anything to get it,” says Prime Performance’s Dana Barry. “He blocks out all the noise and stays focused.”
Alex McLaughlan of the M2 Quarterback Academy has worked with Garrity for four years and said: “He’s obviously super talented, but not everyone with talent wants to work hard. And he does.”
Garrity’s father, Michael, said he first realized his son had the composure and talent to go the distance in a game when Hudson was in fourth grade. “He throws like a 45-yard seam route up the middle on the money for a touchdown and a lot of coaches started looking at each other in disbelief and saying, ‘Wow, did he really just do that?’ And he came off the field the way he expected,” Michael Garrity said.
Garrity said his mindset is less about the destination and more about the journey. The teenager tries to keep a cool head and enjoy the game he loves. “Oh, football is everything, but football is a tool. And academics are really important to me too,” Garrity said. “My dream university is Notre Dame just because of their great academics, but their athletics are great too.”
We will look…
Brandon Truit
