TAMPA, Fla. - Few football players had a season quite like Junior Vandeross. 

The Jesuit High senior who rarely came off the field played a big role in the Tigers first state championship since 1968. And he capped off his final year of high school football by winning one of the most prestigious awards in Hillsborough County. Can it get any better?

“It would be great if it could,” Junior said. “It’s been good so far. States were amazing. This event was amazing. Hope God just keeps blessing me with more amazing things in life.”

That’s the thing about Junior. He counts his blessings.

And he has been blessed this year. First with a state championship and then with the Bill Minahan Award, an honor bestowed upon a football player that exhibits a commitment to excellence on and off the field.

Someone who just takes a big bite out of life. And that’s Junior.

Life’s bitten him hard, but he bites back. He’s lost count of the amount of pancakes he’s eaten over the years at the IHOP where his mom, Nina, works. As a young boy, Junior used to fall asleep on the counter after doing homework while his mom finished a shift.

“I watched her work hard day in and day out a lot,” Junior said. “So, I mean I get it from her. She’s just a hard working person.”

Junior’s mom has been the one constant in his life.  His dad died from a heart attack when Junior was only 3 and his older brother has been in and out of jail. But these two have always had each other.

“We made a pact,” Nina said. “We all we got, so we kind of stuck with that. We was always honest with each other and when we need each other, we talk to each other. We let each other know we just love each other all the time.”

Nina’s customers and co-workers have heard all about her baby boy and his accomplishments on the football field. There’s been plenty to brag about.

“He just loves football,” she said. “He doesn’t really care about nothing else really but football.”

Because the football field is Junior’s home. It’s where nothing else matters. It’s where Junior gets to do what he does best. And where he shines. 

It’s been one meaningful moment after another for this Jesuit senior. One photo op after another. But the Minahan award, that moment, meant so much more.

“It shows the way that I’ve been raised, the character I’ve built for myself, my accomplishments that I have, it pays off,” he said,  “and it shows others like Bill Minahan, they appreciate the ones who do that.”