Aidan Edwards knew he could contribute on the football field, but before he tackled the sport he needed something very important — his mom’s permission.
Neither his older nor younger sister was as into sports as he was, and it took time to sell his mother on football.
“I did wrestling in middle school,” Edwards said. “Wrestling was kind of my main sport up until sophomore year when I tore my knee, but I never personally got dangerously injured from any sport up to that point. “
So I’m like, ‘let me try out football.’ And then my mom got involved with it. And then once she got involved, she likes this, she likes the people, she liked Coach. So I convinced her. I told her, ‘you got to let me play all four years,’ and she let me.”
Now a senior at South High, Edwards is gearing up for his final season with the West Windsor-Plainsboro United team, a co-op program that combines students from North and South.
“It’s crazy,” Edwards said. “I feel like I was just a freshman or I was just in eighth grade meeting my coach for the first time. Now that I’m a senior, trying to help out with leading the team, trying to get guys to learn the position and stuff. So it’s just crazy how life flashed before my eyes.”
At 6-foot-5 and 330 pounds, Edwards has been an anchor on the offensive line at tackle or guard and on the defensive line at nose guard. He made an impression right away.
“I showed up the first day and I got the nickname ‘Big A,’” Edwards said. “I kind of played some varsity games on defense (first year). I didn’t really start, but I was kind of like they were using me saying, OK, let’s get this guy acclimated for next year and that sophomore year I started defensive line, and I was a swing for offensive tackle and then last year I fully started offense and defense.”
The United team will need him on both lines when they open their season against Monroe on Aug. 29, then play Sept. 4 at Cherry Hill East. WW-P won two games last year after going 6-4 the year before.
“We’re settling back into the groove that we had last year,” Edwards said. “We did lose some seniors, but different guys just had to step up and fill those positions. So that’s kind of what we’ve been working on.”
Senior Vahin Goyal is the front-runner at quarterback, with junior Jack Crawford also in the mix. The backfield will take a committee approach, though WW-P expects to run the ball often.
“That is a lineman’s dream,” Edwards said. “We have some plays where we have to pull the guard or have to pull the tackle, or the center might have to pull depending on which front they’re in. I personally like pull and I like running the ball. I like to just get physical or just run somebody over.”
Edwards had to catch up quickly after joining football later than many teammates. He studied older players, watched film, and spent long hours training and lifting.
“I’m a big guy so automatically I have the weight advantage over guys but since last year and even my sophomore year, the culture really been focusing on techniques for a lot of the bigger kids,” Edwards said. “Like staying low and having a good stance and the good technique, is going to win the game. Not just off weight, and we’ve seen that.”
Now he preaches what he has learned to younger teammates. The coaching staff hopes he can continue to start on both sides.
“He does move well so he can pull as an offensive lineman, and defensively he’s a guy that has a lot of body mass and should clog up and make it tough to run,” said WW-P coach Bill Furlong. “It’s more an issue of we don’t want to get him too tired.”
Furlong said Edwards’ influence extends off the field as well.
“Aidan, his energy is really contagious,” Furlong said. “He’s such a positive kid. Even in the school building, every teacher in that building loves the energy he brings. He doesn’t yell at his teammates, but he’s just like a ball of positive energy. He’s a rah-rah guy and he just brings a lot of energy.”
Edwards said he is eager to help wherever he can.
“The D line was kind of my first opportunity on the team, so that will always be my heart,” he said. “But I do like blocking guys because at the end of the day for defense, we just got to stop the touchdown. But for offense, my job is to let nobody touch my quarterback, my running back, my wide receivers.”
Edwards and Alex Lovett lead the defensive line. Behind them are new starters looking to prove themselves.
“We had a good summer,” Furlong said. “They’ve been working hard. They’ve been coming to all the summer workouts. They come to practice, they work hard. So I think they want to prove themselves. It’s just a matter of getting tested in the fire to see if they’re quite ready.”
The United squad will lean on veterans like Edwards while younger players grow. He also shines in track and field, where he placed fourth in the shot put in the Colonial Valley Conference last year.
“It’s all technique – the spin, everything, legs,” Edwards said. “Shot put people think it’s all upper body strength. It’s really mostly legs. You got to have good technique in every sport you play, but shot put is more technique work than football.”
Edwards could be recruited in either sport for college. He hopes to study psychology and become a therapist, but first he has one last season to give WW-P a lift.
“We really need everybody to contribute this year,” Furlong said.
