Virginia High School Player of the Year: Tristan Leigh, James W. Robinson Jr. Secondary School

Tristan Leigh’s passion for the sport began before he ever put on football pads or made his first block. His father, Stanley, had played fullback at the University of Virginia and often regaled the older of his two boys with stories from his playing career.

“Since I was little, he would tell me stories about his playing days and what he loves about the game,” Tristan Leigh said. “That’s how I found my love for the game. It was always my goal and my dream to excel at football. I was going to put everything I had into it. I was fortunate to succeed.”

That success did not come easy for the DC Touchdown Club Virginia High School Player of the Year. When he first began playing tackle football in seventh grade, Tristan remembers that he did not start and played special teams.

But even then, Scott Vossler said, one could tell that Leigh was on the verge of something special.

Vossler, who is now the Robinson Secondary School football coach, was teaching an eighth-grade civics class. Robinson, which enrolls students in grades 7 to 12, does not sponsor middle school sports, but he noticed Leigh as the tallest in the hall and saw how Leigh stood out during a students vs. teachers basketball game.

“I would make a point to get to know the middle school students, because I felt that would help with getting them to come out for football,” Vossler said. “Usually big kids in middle school are awkward, but he was a smooth athlete at that point.”

Leigh played on Robinson’s freshman team as a ninth-grader, then became a varsity starter at offensive tackle as a sophomore. It did not hurt that he hit a growth spurt, adding four inches and becoming a 6-foot-5, 300-pound blocking machine. The college scholarship offers rolled in, first from Virginia and then from across the country. Leigh settled on playing for Clemson University.

“We knew he was going to be a big-timer,” Vossler said. “But as his notoriety has grown, his work ethic did not change. As the college recruiters came in, we told them, ‘Whatever you perceive his ceiling to be, he will reach it because he will be there doing what he’s supposed to do every single day.’ When you are talented and have that kind of work ethic, you have a chance to be real special.”