POTTSBORO, Texas (KXII) – Former NFL player and Pottsboro-native Justin Lawler is again hosting summer workouts for local youth.

“To have what I would like to think is a friendly face and a positive impact on their life is really what we’re out here for,” Lawler said.

For the second summer in a row, Pottsboro defensive coordinator Lawler is helping get kids off the couch and back on the field.

“I was approached by our Be a Friend Youth Organization here in Pottsboro,” he said. “We just kind of decided to put together a little bit of workout program to get them out and get them moving.”

Local kids like Emerson Stewart and Hayden Thornton say that the workouts have been great for improving speed and agility and making them better at the sport they play.

The sport that Lawler played was football, graduating from SMU before being drafted to play in the NFL by the Los Angeles Rams.

“I’m still using the stuff that I used from Coach Poe in high school as our head football coach and I’m still using the stuff I learned at SMU,” Lawler said. “When I went on to play in the NFL from all those coaches that impacted me.”

Now, the former Super Bowl champion is using those lessons to help shape the next generation of young athletes.

“I just try to give them a little bit of pieces every day,” Lawler said. “We’ve talked about anything from being a great teammate, being positive, mental and physical toughness.”

While this summer’s workouts are ending this week, the lessons learned and the experience gained from somebody like Lawler will likely last a lifetime.

“Hopefully just over the course of one summer, if each kid can take one thing away from it, I think that’s that’s well worth our time,” Lawler said.

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