HATTIESBURG — Southern Miss football pledge Tanner Welch got his first big break in the game when he was roughly 4½ years old.
A local youth football league limited entry to players aged 5 and above. But, as Welch tells it, a family friend looked the other way to allow him to strap on a pair of shoulder pads for the first time.
Even as a child, there was very little reason to worry about Welch being pushed around by older kids. Welch estimates he was around 5-foot-4 by the time he reached second grade.