56 receptions. 12 touchdowns. 923 receiving yards and 16.5 yards per reception. Add one more number to that list: 8 Division 1 (D1) offers in his junior year. And with stats like these, it should be no surprise.
To say that senior wide receiver Ethan Driver has had a successful season would be an understatement. Despite the attention that his accomplishments have rightly garnered, his coaches and teammates believe Driver to be best described with one word: humble. Driver is not the type of athlete who would allow his popularity and talent to get to his head, as head football coach Brian Hinson observes.
“I think he has an amazing attitude, you know, somebody who’s generally talented,” Hinson says. “There’s no selfishness when it comes to it; he’s not all about himself trying to get the ball.”
Driver knows the game of football inside and out and takes pride in his accomplishments. He never fails to impress or exceed the expectations of those who do and don’t know him.
“I think the thing that I’ve been impressed with the most, too, a lot of times, is wide receivers—they don’t like to block, because that’s not the kind of what they’re made to do,” Hinson said. “But he takes pride in blocking and doing those things on the perimeter, and he’s done a lot of good things that have exceeded expectations.”
The process of being recruited to go to a Division 1 college is strenuous and involves many steps. As Driver remarks, “It’s different than what most people think.”
“They think it’s easy and you just go out there and play,” Driver says. “But just being at Davie makes it hard.” He believes that, as a whole, Davie County is often overlooked, particularly in athletics. “A lot of coaches count us out and don’t recruit kids from Davie as much as they should,” Driver said. “They say we are not as athletic, which is wrong.”
Despite those challenges, Driver’s hard work ultimately paid off. Next year will see him take his athletic and academic career to Boiling Springs, NC, where he will join the pack as a Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldog.
For many of his younger teammates, Driver has become a role model and inspiration to strive and work for a D1 scholarship, including sophomore Cannon Smith
“I mean, I think he’s somebody everybody on the team looks up to, just because you know, he has division one offers and he’s just a really good football player,” Smith said.
Driver knows he has young eyes on him, and because of that, he still needs to work.
“You know, overall, he’s going to get bigger and he’s going to get faster and he’s going to get stronger,” Hinson said.
His hard work and effort have been clear to those who look up to him, including his younger brother, freshman Mason Driver. Mason has learned a lot from visiting these camps and watching his brother throughout his career, and the recruiting process. “It’s been cool to experience everything he’s gone through,” Mason said. “So I can not make the mistakes that he made.”
While Driver is away at Gardner-Webb, he will be temporarily leaving behind his mom, dad, and little brother. He has left such an impact on his brother. “It will not be the same without him at home,” Mason admitted. He feels incredibly proud of his big brother. Mason has attended most of Ethan’s football camps and learned from his brother’s trial and error alone. “Ethan has taught me to never give up and have confidence.”
Throughout his football career, Driver has attained many notable accomplishments. He’s been ranked 3 out of 5 on the performance scale and overall achievements. Having these 3 stars helped him get into Gardner-Webb, along with several other schools. He has exceeded a majority of the records that have been set by other football athletes in Davie’s previous seasons. Driver, on top of all his other successes, has been selected to be on the East vs. West All-Star Game. A showcase game that gathers the top graduate football players in North Carolina. Ascension Sports Management says, “Driver is one of the best wide receivers in North Carolina.”
Driver is looking forward to his next steps as a “Dawg” at Gardner-Webb University. He has been such a role model and an inspiration for his teammates, and only time will tell how he will continue to succeed in the football world.
