By the time most people reach adolescence, they have already gone through the traditional cycle of playing childhood sports such as soccer, basketball and baseball or softball.

Some find they have a love and natural talent for the game while others only find love in the orange peel slices brought by mothers for halftime snacks.

Teenagers generally know whether or not they will continue playing sports in high school, and along with that, know in which sport they perform best.

For Washington & Jefferson's Tom McCafferty, however, discovering his love and talent for football wouldn't come until he reached high school.

"I didn't play football until high school, until I was 14," said McCafferty, a wide receiver who graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in 2004. "My mom didn't want me to play because she thought I might get hurt."

At first, McCafferty was put at quarterback, but eventually was converted into a wide receiver, a position this W&J junior said he wanted to play all along. Fortunately for McCafferty and his high school coaches, the move paid off.

"He had 1,000 yards receiving in a season," said Bill Cherpak, head football coach and athletic director at Thomas Jefferson. "I mean ... that's unheard of. He was so detail-oriented and great at running patterns. He was just a worker."

It comes as no surprise then that McCafferty holds nearly every receiving record at TJ.

Heavily recruited out of high school, McCafferty chose to play at Mount Union College, a perennial powerhouse in Division III football and the reigning national champion. The Purple Raiders were ranked No. 1 on D3football.com's preseason rankings. But despite Mount Union's impressive football program, McCafferty said the Alliance, Ohio, school just wasn't the right fit for him.

"I think he got caught up with the number of receivers there," Cherpak said. "You had the varsity and the underclassmen practicing separately, which made it difficult for Tom to get some real playing time."

McCafferty says it was the campus life as well, and he began talking to his parents and Cherpak about transferring.

"I had a great experience at Mount Union, but the school just didn't feel right," said McCafferty.

His parents wanted him to try to stick it out, but finally decided the decision to transfer was Tom's.

"My mom and dad have always been there for me and said the right things, so I owe them a lot, and coach Cherpak, too," McCafferty said.

Feeling out of place at Mount Union, McCafferty decided to transfer to Washington & Jefferson College, a school that had recruited him hard out of high school and whose coach, Mike Sirianni, was a former player and wide receivers coach for Mount Union.

The transition seemed to be a perfect fit for both McCafferty and the W&J football team even before the season had begun.

"I think he definitely felt more comfortable coming from a program that is similar to our own," said Sirianni. "We also had a lot of guys from Thomas Jefferson here, so it helped."

McCafferty said the familiarity with a similar system and the openness of his new teammates helped ease the transition for him.

"[Transferring] wasn't that bad," said McCafferty. "Coach Sirianni went to Mount Union so the system was kind of the same, and I met everyone on the team before the season even started, so it was great."

As it turned out, a change of scenery was just what McCafferty needed to get his collegiate career off the ground.

After having caught only one pass for 11 yards in his only season at Mount Union, McCafferty had a breakout season in his first year with the Presidents in 2005, grabbing 22 passes for 470 yards and four touchdowns, including a two reception, 109-yard game against Thomas More. His 21.4-yards-per-catch average was the highest on the team.

Despite a promising future with W&J, McCafferty still finds time to go back to his high school and help out Cherpak and the TJ football team whenever he can, imparting his knowledge of the game to younger receivers.

"There's nothing like high school football," said McCafferty. "I want to help out those kids because I want to see everyone do well. I want to be a football coach someday."

Cherpak said he has a position waiting for McCafferty after he finishes college, but for now McCafferty and his W&J teammates are looking toward the upcoming 2006 season and beyond. This junior wide receiver can expect to play an important role in the team's success this season.

"He's going to be our go-to guy this year," said Sirianni. "We need him to have a big year for us since we lost a lot of receivers from last year. He'll be the No. 1 receiver."

For a player as well-rounded as Tom McCafferty, the challenge is more than achievable.