Well, I think that off-season work is the best way to get ready for the next year, and playing other sports is a good way to stay competitive and keep your strength, but I’m sure if you’re a Freshman getting a lot of JV time and a little Varsity time then you probably do already play a lot of sports. I wouldn’t be completely concerned with your upper body even if you think that you need it. A good exercise for getting your upper body strong is probably a push press (like a bench press but with dumbbells and you move the weights in at the top) Dips are also a good one to strengthen your triceps (grap the end of a chair with your fingers and feet facing in front of the chair and your feet straight out in front of you with only your heels touching the ground, your butt should be a foot or two above the ground, then just let yourself move down to where your almost touching the ground, then just push yourself back up) Bench presses are good for your pecs (as long as your increase your weight every couple workouts, you shouldn’t worry about how much you can bench) Then, of course, curls are always good (try doing one hand at a time and switching back and forth between hands, this keeps you from swinging your whole body which gives you momentum, and works your arms) Ok, heres a good way that I’ve tried which my football coach gave me, do sets of 10, then 8 then 6, taking a short break (about 20 to 30 seconds) between sets.
Ok, I hope this helps you get more Varsity playing time next year, oh, and by the way, good job on getting even some Varsity time and a lot of JV time in your Freshman year

I actually started varsity my freshman year, there seems to be one per every class that stands out and gets to play and start. I am not a junior and pretty much dying without football.. i can’t wait til my senior year.

Anyways.. I also play linebacker, and i played tightend as a freshman and sophomore until my coach moved me to fullback. What you need to do, is run… RUN RUN RUN.. Run your butt off. This will increase your endurance, lung capacity, speed, build your calves, and just strengthen your legs in general. As a linebacker, you need all of these, and you need these in great quanity because you go after the all the receivers.(WRs, RBs, FBs, TEs)
You need to have smooth hips. This will help you back track and turn and just get to the person with the ball, or about to get the ball. Lift your weights, get a schedule for this and stick to it. Contradictory to what everyone says, you do NOT lift weights to build the same area EVERY DAY. This causes harm to your body. It tears too much muscles. Short health lesson, to build muscle, you work out, which tears muscles, then the muscles reattatch and are tighter. If you wook non stop, you will tear them too much, which causes pain to you, and it doesn’t allow the muscles to heal right. So get a set schedule, maybe do upper body one day, lower body the next, etc etc, and set aside a day for speed training.

All of this will help greatly with tightend spot as well, that’s the best part. Linebacker on defense, tightend or fullback on offense, you need the same stuff. Now.. You need to learn your patterns well, practice with friends, teammates. Maybe dad? While doing this, get passes going and get used to catching more. Find someone that can throw bullets and throw touch. Also, you need to build up your hand strength so you can get a great grip on the ball. That helps greatly, as tightend and for linebacker. as a linebacker, you can get a grip for an interception, and get ahold of the ball carrier. ALSO.. get ankle weights and JUMP. a good vertical helps in both positions.

Also.. HAVE FUN.. that is greatly required.. Linebacker and tightend are 2 of the better positions. You get to nail people in both of them.. fun fun.. So work hard, which coaches will see, and like, causing you to move on the depth chart.

Have fun and good luck next season.

First of all, lift more. 2-3 times a week is not enough for athletics. Most successfull athletes are working out everyday. Don’t get me wrong, you need time off, but not 4 days a week. When you do take time off make sure you still stretch or do light cardio, active rest is better than complete rest. Also make sure you throw cardio in to your week at least 3 times at 30 min. Interval training is good (sprint 15-20 sec and then jog 45sec-1min and then repeat for 20-30 minutes).

Also, focus on a position and learn it well, jumping around to multiple positions may look like it makes you versatile and a hot commodoty, but what it really does is hinder your progress in every position.

As far as the BP goal. It would be hard to say not knowing anything about your build, current strength, etc. Just continue to workout, eat right and practice and numbers will come automatically.

Good Luck!!