Abel Joseph is going to college, a destination that wouldn’t have been possible a year ago.
This September, the Flushing High School student will be attending LIU Post with a full football scholarship. But as recently as last year, Joseph’s prospects of going to college were low.
“When I first visited [LIU Post] I saw the tuition and I was like, ‘Hell no, I can’t afford this,’” he said. “But the opportunity to play football and work endlessly on it paid off.”
At 250 pounds and 6 foot 1 inch tall, Joseph served as the foundation of the Red Devils’ defensive line. When he joins his new college team, the Pioneers, he will hold the same position, but he plans to add on another 30 pounds and hopes to grow a few more inches.
“I’m never comfortable with just being average,” Joseph said. “I want to make myself the best I can be.”
He said that his ultimate goal is to join the NFL, like his role model Jay Bromley, who plays for the NY Giants and also played for the Red Devils when he attended Flushing High School.
“He serves as a big inspiration to me,” Joseph said, looking at the number 96 Giants jersey which hangs on the wall of the athletics office. “It’s just so helpful to see someone who is under the same circumstances as you become so successful.”
Like Bromley, Joseph is from Jamaica and was raised in a low-income home. Football was a way for Joseph to do something more with his life. Without the scholarship, he doesn’t know how his single mom would’ve been able to help him pay for college.
“Seeing the way [my mom] struggles and her perseverance drives me,” he said. “I get most of my attitude from her.”
And now, all he has to worry about is staying in shape until he joins the ranks of the Pioneers.
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