ADAMS — Watch Tyler Kressin play football and you can see his drive.

He’s not the biggest guy on the field at 5-foot, nine-inches, but he usually packs the most punch and he’s usually the first one to get up after contact.

Kressin, who had 863 yards of offense and nine touchdowns for the Southland football team his senior season, has run hard since he’s started playing football and now he’s set to take on his next challenge on the gridiron.

Kressin will be red-shirting with an athletic scholarship at Division II Briar Cliff, Iowa this fall and he’s ready to put it all out there.

“You get this scholarship and they’re going to see if you worked hard enough to earn it,” Kressin, who will be a running back at the next level, said. “My reckless attitude will be a little more higher when I’m out there. I’m fresh meat and I need to prove something. I want to be that eye candy for the coach’s so to speak.”

It wasn’t long ago that Kressin didn’t think he’d ever be big enough to have a chance to play college football at any level. Growing up, he played a lot of backyard football with his three older brothers, who are now 19, 20 and 21, and he was usually the one on the bottom of the pile.

“They’re still bigger and taller than me and I was the one to be picked on (back then),” Kressin said. “I was never the biggest kid. But I always tried to put my effort in the weight room to get to the size I want. My goal is always higher and my expectations are always higher.”

Kressin has spent about two hours per day lifting this summer to prepare for the stress his body will take against his teammates in practice this fall and now he’s focusing on speed and agility training.

Kressin already has an inside look at what it’s like to practice every day without playing as he has gotten some advice from Alan May, a 2010 Southland grad, red-shirted at Division II Winona State last season.

May is set to make Winona State’s lineup as a wide receiver and return man this fall and he told Kressin to keep his head up.

“He told me I’m going to want to get out there so bad, but practice is where it’s at. I can make my noise there,” Kressin said.

May has been a big motivator for Kressin since they began playing together, but Kressin’s original inspiration came when he was in middle school. He recalls watching Jake Chapek run for the Rebels team that went undefeated in the regular season and won the Three Rivers Title in 2007.

“Jake Chapek was a really big role model for me and I wanted to be just like him,” Kressin said. “He really helped me out with lifting and working on football things. He’s a big part of my dream to go on play college ball.”

Once Kressin got to the high school level, he received plenty of encouragement from his coaches about trying to play at the next level. Now, he hopes he’s ready to make the jump.

“I always had a dream of playing college football, but I always thought I was too small,” Kressin said. “I look at (Southland) coach (Shawn) Kennedy and he’s the same size as me. He tells me he dominated college football, but I haven’t seen any videos of him.”

Besides Kressin and May, Southland grad David Schotanus will be with a Division II football team this fall as he will play fullback at Southwest Minnesota State in Marshall, Minn. Schotanus transferred to SMS after two seasons at Rochester Community and Technical College.

BCU’s football team is coming off a season where it went 2-9 overall.