By: Krissy Hetherington
After scoring the opening touchdown in the 2020 USA Football International Bowl, receiving many honorable mentions over the past years, and signing to play football at San Jose State University, Sam Olson, ’20, still has a bright future ahead.
“Football was all I wanted to do when I was growing up…it’s my dream to go to the NFL…I put in a ton of work and it just carried throughout the years and now it’s paying off.”
Sam Olson, ’20
Senior year as a Ranger
This past fall, as a co-captain, Olson led Redwood to a 10-2 overall season picking up 35 catches for 580 yards and 11 touchdowns. The team went on to finish 4-1 in the West Yosemite League and ended their season with a 21-28 quarterfinal loss to St. Joseph’s High School.
“One thing about Sam is that he’s a great competitor. His talents are above the normal high school players…that’s why he received the scholarship. He works hard in the weight room, in the classroom, and out on the field and that showed every Friday night,” said first year Redwood Varsity Football Coach, Kevin Scharton.
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Link to Cowhide play by play story
Olson was named the Player of the Game for his performance against Tulare Western on September 13th where he had 5 catches for 117 yards.
He was also named to the WYL First Team and received honorable mention as Best tight end in Tulare County per Visalia Times Delta.
“I felt like this season helped me a lot because our offense used the tight end a lot and that’s how it’s going to be in college so it was a good stepping stone to lead into the next stage,” said Olson.
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Finding a home as a Spartan
A few months after his senior season ended, he was visited by San Jose State to discuss his plans of playing at the collegiate level.
A week later, he traveled north for his official visit at SJSU and shortly after, he signed his Letter of Intent to play DI football as a San Jose State Spartan.
“When I went there, the campus was super nice, I met the tight end coach, he was very cool, smart, and knew what he was doing. We watched some film and he told me that over the four years he’s been there, they’ve only ran two plays where the tight end wasn’t in the play so they definitely use that position a lot,” says Olson.
What pushed him towards his final decision was that San Jose State breeds stars.
Josh Oliver was a four year tight end for San Jose State who was just drafted into the NFL as a Jacksonville Jaguar for the 2019 season in the third round. During his collegiate career he had 98 receptions for 1,067 yards and seven touchdowns.
“I definitely see myself working harder, ” says Olson. “College is a totally different ball game. You’re doing football 6-8 hours a day. Your whole life turns into football so hard work and dedication are going to be important.”
Olson intends to major in environmental science and further his education as well as football career past high school.
“The best encouragement I can give Sam is that education comes first. I know he loves playing football but both demand a lot of time investment. Football is an all year long thing so just making time for the school work is a big challenge for any student athlete,” adds Scharton.
2020 International Bowl
Entering the new year, Olson then took the next step in his career and attended a try out for the USA Football International U18 team.
He attended a regional try-out here in California and stood out to coaches before even going to the second part of the try-out. Olson made the team and didn’t go the training camps in Texas.
Olson, far left, with a teammate and coach after the win against Canada in the International Bowl
“It was really fun meeting new players from all over the country and just the whole experience from scoring the first touchdown to being able to play in the Cowboys Stadium was just surreal,” said Olson.
“[I learned that] I’m not as good as I thought,” he added. “There’s a lot of super stars out there, recruits from Oregon, LSU…I would play even harder, prove I could keep up, and play as good as I think I am.”
But Olson showed no fear as he took center stage as starting tight end with some of the biggest recruits in the nation.
Olson, representing number 86, takes some time to himself before the kickoff of the 2020 International Bowl
After a powerful run in the play before, Olson was able to cap off the possession with a 7 yard catch for Team USA to take the lead early in the game.
“It was just crazy. My body went numb when I heard everyone cheering. I pointed at the Redwood logo on my tights in front of the camera to shout them out,” Olson said.
