When it comes to high school football, fans often pay attention to players in the spotlight and typically overshadow specialist players such as long snappers, punters and kickers.

But for Tomball, they do not overshadow or forget about their specialist, kicker Carlos Alvarado.

“Carlos is one of the most committed players I have been fortunate to be around,” Head Coach Kevin Flanigan said.

Alvarado, a junior, is the starting kicker for the Cougars but his story did not always begin in a football setting.

“I started playing football in 7th grade at Creekside Park Junior High and became the kicker,” Alvarado said.

Being the kicker is not always the first choice when it comes to picking a position early on but Alvarado embraces it due to previous experience revolving around kicking due to prior experience.

“I had been playing soccer for 11 years prior to picking up football, it seemed pretty natural for me to kick,” Alvarado said.

For being so new to football, Alvarado has already seen an immense amount of success locally as he was selected to the All-District 15-6A First-Team Specialist list as a sophomore as well as nationally. Alvarado is currently a four and a half star recruit and has been ranked as high as the 36th best kicker in the Nation according to Chris Sailer Kicking.

“It is great seeing your hard work pay off and other people taking notice,” Alvarado said.

Being ranked so highly can bring about various interests from college recruiters, thus beginning the recruiting process for recruits.

“Over the summer I had a few division one schools follow me or message me to invite me to their specialist camp,” Alvarado said.

Currently, Carlos has no division one offers but does have multiple Division 1 interests, some including Ivy-League, Dartmouth.

“Recently Dartmouth invited me to go watch one of their home games with other recruits,” Alvarado said.

With all these new opportunities coming so fast, many recruits struggle with juggling all the factors that play into it when choosing to play their next four years while still being a high school student. Oftentimes this affects their play on the field but Alvarado continues to work on and off the field to stay calm, cool, and collected while under pressure.

“I’m still learning about it every day and my coaches in and outside of school are helping me with that process,” Alvarado said.

Some ways Alvarado continues to stay on top of his game and to keep that high ranking is to work during both the off season and in-season.

“Not only has he made a commitment to be with the football team in the weightroom in the off-season, he has spent relentless hours improving his kicking throughout the summer,” Flanigan said.

“During the off season I’ll be trying to put on weight, [so] it will be a lot of lifting and eating as well as continuing to kick and run. During the season I have to be really conscious of how I’m feeling and how much I’m training every week.” Alvarado said.

To make sure Alvarado stays fresh in-season, recovery is a huge factor as it reflects onto the field.

“I make sure to take ice baths to recover after leg days or when I have any muscle pains, and I spread out the amount of kicks I do per day so that I’m not overtraining on one day,” Alvarado said.

Despite these troubles that many recruits face, Alvarado has and will continue to strive for greatness through staying positive and humble.

“I want to thank all my teammates, the entire Tomball Coaching staff, as well as my trainer Coach Nick Gatto for all the support and trust they have in me,” Alvarado said.