Midland Dow OL Brandon Veihl Surprises At Camp Pride

By: Kyle Mills

Camp Pride was held Saturday, March 15^th at Northwood University and hosted many top high school football prospects. Brandon Veihl claims that Camp Pride was the first camp he has ever attended, but you wouldn’t believe it from watching him perform. Although small in stature compared to the hulking defensive ends he was going up against, Veihl was able to hold his ground due to his strength and impressive quickness. I was fortunate enough to catch up with the surprising prospect afterwards.

Midland Dow finished with an 8-3 record last season, but they are still not satisfied. Two of their three losses were to their archrivals the Midland Chemics, who also knocked them out of the playoffs. Veihl vows that this will not be the case again this year, “Our two losses against Midland really struck kids hard at home. We are returning a lot of kids that were there to feel that pain together and we are working harder everyday to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Having a full off-season to adjust to the offense that Coach Jason Watkins runs will help the Chargers go even farther next year into the playoffs. “This year we will be more used to the offense and also more explosive. We only lost a few starting seniors which will help us build on our veteran starters,” said Veihl.

Although last season was his first on varsity, Veihl started on the offensive line. He loves the physicality of the line and wants to play smash mouth football. This season he will be looking to build upon a good season last year by starting at Right Guard for the Chargers. Last season he received the “Lineman of the Year” trophy for Midland Dow, an award given to the best overall offensive or defensive lineman in the program. Veihl also won the O-Line shovel multiple times, which is a green and gold shovel that is given to the lineman with the fewest mistakes and most buries in that game.

Veihl only stands at 5 feet 10 inches, which he used to believe, would hinder him from ever being successful on the line. “I always get told that I’m too small to play anywhere and honestly I believed it for a while. Now I work twice as hard to show those people that they are wrong,” he said. Instead he uses his strength and quickness to slow down defenders. Coming in at 280 pounds, Veihl adds, “I am just as strong as the defensive lineman and very quick. I also played travel hockey for many years and I feel like it has really helped me with my footwork compared to other lineman.”

Midland Dow has stepped up its offseason workout program as a team and Veihl can’t get enough of all of the hard work. “Our team meets 4 times a week after school for weight lifting and speed training,” says Veihl, “On top of that, lineman meet with the o-line coach to work on knowing the plays and technique drills. I’ve also been watching old film and seeing what I can improve on as a player.” Although he knows he needs to become more explosive and raise his football IQ, Veihl just wants to prove everyone wrong. “No one takes a second look at me just because I’m short from first glance and it really frustrates me.”

As long as Brandon Veihl is playing football he will be happy. He hopes that a strong senior season can translate into more attention from local colleges including: Saginaw Valley State, Grand Valley State, and Northern Michigan. So far he has been invited to Hope College’s junior day and is looking forward to that. “I’ve had this dream to play college football ever since I was a kid and have never given up on it. Finally seeing that dream come true for me would just be amazing,” said Veihl when asked about playing football at the next level.

Brandon Veihl has both individual and team goals for this upcoming season. “I’m looking forward to making a deep run in the playoffs with all of my teammates. I’m also really working to make first team All Valley along with making one of the newspaper’s Dream Teams.”

“I just love the feeling of looking at a kid on his back after I’ve just knocked him on his butt,” said the Dow lineman. If Brandon Veihl keeps up his hard work and impressive play, this is something that he and his Midland Dow teammates could be feeling all season long.

HUDL HIGHLIGHTS

You can find Brandon's profile here: Brandon Veihl

Follow Brandon on Twitter at: @Brandon Veihl

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