I can answer one way you can do it ... being young , bored by classes and distracted by bright shiny objects around you . I attended high school in Florida , played football , ran track
and was in the gifted program for students with exceptional talent .
In spite of the fact I had the ability to pass every class I took I failed so many in my junior and senior years the fat Star Trek nerd who only had academics to console him made a sacarstic quip in class one day about me not even belonging in the gifted program . The teacher in the class informed him I tested out having the highest IQ of anyone in the program which promptly shut him up :biggrin:
My point is this young man may have slacked a little on his schoolwork and it is easy to do if you are having your head turned by more "fun" pursuits . I absolutely loved reading and studying arcane subject matter but run of the mill turn in your paper classes bored the **** out of me . At that age I saw no reason to care what sort of mark a teacher put on a paper or report card .
I don't know this kid but from what little I have read he has made tremendous efforts to make up for his lost academic work . If he succeeds it will hopefully give him a different path in life than the one I had to take to get somewhere . I actually attended college after high school but found the bad habits I developed in high school followed me into college . I showed up for an English Lit class 3 times during the semester ... once for the fun of it and the other two times to take the mid term and final . My professor put on my mid term I had excellent insights and should try attending class more often . I CLEPed Western Civ and Psychology to avoid taking those classes but the damage was already done as far as my attitudes towards schoolwork went .
Having brought the bad habits I developed in high school into college with me , I ended up never taking another class after two semesters . It irked me to do what I felt was just busy work to kowtow to some professor who knew I understood the subject matter just fine . Little did I know how much busy work I would be forced to do later for people with fewer credentials than a college professor because of that attitude
I hope he sticks with it even if there are temporary setbacks because I think he will find the mental discipline he is developing working on his classwork will also serve him on the football field and in life as well . You can make it without college but it stacks the deck against you and like everything in life there are no shortcuts for most of us . Ignore your schoolwork and you usually end up paying for it somewhere else down the line ...