Biggest Kid on the Block : At 6-5 and 275 Pounds, Hawthorne Lineman Is a Tower of Power

When Mostafa Sobhi enrolled at Hawthorne High, the football coaching staff took a glance at his huge frame and recruited him to play for the school.

Only his parents weren’t sold on the idea.

Sobhi’s parents, who had both graduated from college, wanted their son to concentrate on his classwork.

So Hawthorne Coach Dan Robbins, who was coaching the school’s sophomore team at the time, decided to talk with Sobhi’s parents.

“They were also concerned that his grade-point average would slip,” Robbins said. “But I explained to them that by playing football, he may be able to get a full ride to go (to college) somewhere.”

As it turned out, Sobhi’s parents didn’t need to worry.

The 6-foot-5, 275-pound Sobhi is regarded as one of the premier offensive tackle prospects in Southern California. He also has a 3.94 grade-point average, including honors classes.

“It’s a wonderful example of someone who’s succeeded in every way,” Robbins said. “Here’s a kid who’s succeeded on the field and in the classroom and he’s well-respected by all of his teammates.”

The development of Sobhi as a football player is even more impressive when you consider that he hasn’t taken a traditional route to success.

Sobhi, 17, was born in Alexandria, Egypt, where his relatives competed mostly in basketball.

“My dad is 6-3 and he played basketball, and so did most of my uncles,” Sobhi said.

He said he doesn’t remember much about life in Egypt because the family immigrated to the United States when he was about 3.

“I visited Alexandria last summer and that is the only thing I remember,” Sobhi said. “A lot of my family and friends are in Alexandria, and I also have some (relatives) in Cairo.”

The family first moved to Chicago, then relocated to Inglewood about four years later before settling in Hawthorne.

Sobhi didn’t get his first taste of football until he enrolled at Hawthorne. He didn’t try out for football as a freshman because he was recuperating from a broken shoulder.

When he finally started competing on the sophomore team, primarily as a tackle and tight end, Sobhi acknowledges he wasn’t immediately enraptured with the game.

“At first I was a little timid out there,” he said. “But after I caught on a little more I started to like it.”

He said his parents objected to him playing football mostly because of his family’s educational background. Sobhi said most of his relatives are either doctors or engineers, not athletes.

“My parents have always drilled in me that you’ve got to get an education if you want to be anything,” Sobhi said. “It’s been drilled in my head all the time. With my dad, if I even get a C, I’ll really hear it. I know he means well, though. I know it’s for my own good.”

Although he didn’t feel that way at first, Sobhi says his discipline as a student has carried over to the football field.

“I think what has helped me the most as a football player has been my academics,” Sobhi said. “My family said, ‘No football if you can’t handle the academics,’ and they were serious. At first, I was regretting it and my parents were really pushing me (academically), but it’s starting to pay off.”

Sobhi acknowledges he wasn’t a very good player as a sophomore but it was mostly because of his inexperience.

“That was like a warm-up year because I didn’t know a lot about football,” he said. “I didn’t know anything about the hitting and the aggressiveness I have to have. So my junior year was really like my first year.”

Although Sobhi played well enough to earn All-Bay League honors as a junior, Robbins said his skills as a player are just starting to emerge.

“There are a lot of kids his age who have worlds of football experience and Mostafa is still green in many respects,” Robbins said. “Because of the way he’s developed since I’ve had him, I’d venture to say that by the end of the year he’ll be the best (lineman) we’ve ever had here.”

It is Sobhi’s potential that earned him national recognition in preseason scouting reports by SuperPrep magazine of Costa Mesa and Tom Lemming’s Prep Football Report of Illinois. Dick Lascola, who runs the Fallbrook, Calif.-based Scouting Evaluation Assn., ranks Sobhi among the top linemen in the Southland.

“He’s got a lot of size and moves well for a player that big,” Lascola said. “He’s still a little raw but he’s got a big frame and he tested out well at our scouting combine (after last season).”

Robbins said he is also impressed by Sobhi’s desire to improve. During the summer, he said, Sobhi would spend countless hours lifting weights with teammates.

“The linemen got together and we hit the weights and sprint a little,” Sobhi said. “I think that has helped my foot speed for this season.”

Sobhi said he has bench-pressed 370 pounds and is hoping to lift 430 pounds by next year.

“I enjoy lifting weights,” he said. “Most people don’t really get into it, but I’ve always enjoyed lifting.”

Sobhi said he applies the same dedication to lifting weights as he does with his studies.

“Repetition is all it takes,” he said. “If you have good study habits, it always comes out right. Whether it’s in the weight or the classroom, that’s what it takes.”

Sobhi’s dedication to improve is another reason he has been recruited by several NCAA Division I schools.

“I started getting letters from Texas A & M and Washington State in my sophomore year,” he said. “It stopped for awhile and then they started coming again at the end of my junior year.”

At the moment, Sobhi says his top choices are Stanford, Washington and UC Berkeley. He has a sister, Mona, who attends UCLA but says Stanford is at the head of his list.

He went to Stanford for an unofficial visit during the summer. “I met with Bill Walsh and his assistants from the (San Francisco) 49ers and I really enjoyed it,” Sobhi said.

Although he can play other positions, Sobhi is set on playing offensive tackle.

“There isn’t a lot of glamour in that position but he takes a lot of pride in it, and when people take a lot of pride in things they usually succeed,” Robbins said.

Sobhi has even won his parents over about the importance of his football career.

“They’re happy about it now,” Sobhi said. “They’ve even started coming to my games and all that. At first they thought it was barbaric and had no meaning. But now they look at it differently. The other day, my dad was actually giving me pointers and I was just laughing.”