National Scouting Combine Spotlight: Tom Gilson

Quick Stats

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Tom Gilson
UMass, 4 years played
Kinesiology
Pro Exp – 2013 Lehigh Valley Steelhawks (PIFL) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G-mZ6BhexY
2014 Cleveland Gladiators (AFL) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0ej9D7hUUo
2015 Currently signed with the LA Kiss (AFL)

Highlights:

About Tom

Biggest thing I’ve learned in my career is to never give up. I’ve been counted out since high school, people said I couldn’t play D1 college ball, and scouts said I couldn’t play pro ball. I’ve always just used it as motivation to prove everyone wrong. I walked on in college and became a full scholarship starter. They thought I couldn’t play pro ball and I was named PIFL rookie of the year with the Steelhawks in 2013, then I signed with the Cleveland Gladiators and played in the 2014 Arena Bowl. Now I’m with the Kiss just looking to prove to everyone I can play at the highest level.

I think my discipline whether its in my training, diet, taking care of my body, and my preparation. I’ve always been known for being a hard worker and its something I take a lot of pride in.

My Mom is a huge motivation for me she worked so hard to raise my brother, sister and myself. I see what she went through and if she didn’t quit how can I? I wanted to get a scholarship so she wouldn’t have to pay for school and I wanna be able to make a good living playing football so I can take care of her now. Again everyone who said I couldn’t do it is a huge motivation for me, I want to prove them all wrong.

I majored in Kinesiology which is exercise science, and the past 3 off seasons I’ve worked at a performance training facility training athletes of all ages.

I take my training very seriously so I’m always working out trying to get better and being able to work at a gym makes it very convenient for me so I have access to all equipment and it allows me to stay in top shape.

Coming out of high school I was very under recruited and UMass told me I could walk on there so I did and I was at the bottom of the barrel. Each year I worked as hard as possible and I slowly started to get the recognition. Scout team player of the year, then I got a partial scholarship playing mainly special teams, then I received a full scholarship and became a starting Wide Receiver. It was extremely hard though not being able to show what I could really do in the games it took me till my senior year for me to get my first catch in a game. I just had to stay positive and keep working each day.
Another obstacle coming out of college a lot of scouts had never heard of me cause I only started one season. So the draft came and went and I never got a phone call, but I kept training believing I would get a shot and the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks offered me a contract and I went there and worked hard and became the PIFL rookie of the year and set 3 franchise records for the Steelhawks.

Not 100% sure what I wanna do yet but I wanna help kids whether its coaching/training/mentoring. Coaches in my life have had a huge impact on me and I wanna have the same impact on the kids coming up.
I’ve attached a letter of recommendation from my college head coach Kevin Morris, and I copied an article from my 2013 Rookie of the year honor

http://www.proifl.com/news/569-2013-pifl-rookies-of-the-year.html

http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/274698/0/In-the-FCS-Huddle-UMass-Gilson-bring-lunch-pailNational

2024 National Scouting Combine

February 18-22 held at Grand Park Events Center in Westifled, IN. Accepting draft eligible nominations now!
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