St. Thomas Senior Could Be Best Football Product School Has Ever Produced
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FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – You can't tell from seeing him right now, but the teenager laid up in a hospital bed is actually one of the top college football prospects in the entire country.
Nick Bosa is currently recovering from knee surgery but CBS4's Mike Cugno caught up with him before his injury for a day in the life of the big man on campus.
St. Thomas Aquinas, a small Catholic High School in Ft. Lauderdale, has produced world class athletes from Olympians to professional golfers and even a handful of NFL Hall of Famers.
But Nick, a senior football player, may be one of the best to ever walk these halls.
Athletic Director George Smith has been at Aquinas for more than 40 years, seeing the best of the best this school has to offer, and Bosa is quickly making a name for himself.
"I think he'll go down as one of the all-time player type guys and student-athlete that we've had here," said St. Thomas athletic director George Smith.
This quiet, reserved teenager is most animated on the football field, beating opposing players and gaining national attention in the process.
"The first time I actually came to this school I was an 8th grader," said Bosa. "I was just walking through here seeing the players and thinking playing here is like playing on an NFL team. Now that I'm actually here I realize I'm a really important part of keeping St. Thomas going."
Many national recruiting websites list Bosa as a top five prospect.
He's a football prodigy who will take his game to the next level at Ohio State University come 2016.
Not only will Nick be playing for the defending college football champs, but he'll be following in his brother Joey's footsteps, who also played defensive end at St. Thomas.
Another dominating Bosa on the gridiron who many experts predict will go number one in next year's NFL Draft.
"I definitely look up to him. He's a role model for me," Bosa said of his older brother. "When people ask me who my favorite college player is I say him. Just the path that he took, I want to follow his path because he's a good person and he's a great football player."
At 6-foot-5, 265 pounds, Nick Bosa can barely squeeze into his desk, let alone his t shirt.
"Do they make bigger shirts? This is a hand me down," he joked.
He may struggle fitting into his clothes but he definitely fits in in the class room.
"He's a 4.0 student. So he meets expectations with in the class room. In the weight room he has an extraordinary work ethic," said St. Thomas football coach Roger Harriot. "It's not a Jekyll and Hyde or a Clark Kent and Superman. He goes about his business by doing what is expected of him on a daily basis."
It's not all work and no play for Nick. He finds time to be a normal kid.
You can find him hanging out on the water or watching his favorite TV Show 'Game of Thrones'. He even says he resembles one of the programs favorite characters, Jon Snow.
"Someone sent me a picture of me and I was 'dang, I look exactly like Jon Snow,'" he said with a smile.