A Mississippi high school football player is showing how passion and determination can help power outsized competition on the field.Defensive end Tripp Van Fossen and kicker Kruz McKee are teammates on the West Jones High School Mustangs football team in Laurel, Mississippi.A photo from the season shows the two friends and players, with Van Fossen hoisting McKee over his head."Well, we were trying to think of a celebration. We decided on Simba, you can see in 'Lion King' where the animal holds up the little lion," McKee said of the photo.Van Fossen stands at 6'3" while McKee is only 5'3". He said sometimes people think he isn't an actual football player or may be someone's younger brother."I just don't pay much attention to it," he said.McKee carries his small frame with determination and confidence, qualities that his mom said come naturally."I think it's born in him," Kelley McKee said. "He has always been determined and, you know, had a drive about him and people describe him as having grit and I really think that that's the grit that drives him."Making the teamMcKee made the varsity football team as a sophomore but wasn't always sure he belonged there."I was too scared, I thought I was too small. I was going to wait for next year," he explained.His coach, Corey Reynolds, helped McKee instill confidence in himself. Reynolds saw McKee, then a freshman, with his dad practice kicking when they thought no one else was watching.I asked him, 'Hey, what grade are you in?' When he said he's in the 9th, you know, just a smaller kid, I said, 'Oh, wow,'" Reynolds said about their interaction. "I said, 'Why didn't you come out and play football?' He said, 'I'm too small.' I said, 'Says who?'"McKee ended up making the varsity team the following year as the backup kicker."I knew that it was gonna happen. He's a very hard worker. He's never really missed any practice and just perseveres," Van Fossen said about his friend and teammate.An injury to the starting kicker earlier in the season gave the small sophomore the chance to show what he could do.McKee admitted that, initially, he was intimidated on the football field. In his first game, he missed his first kick."He misses, keep your head down and kick it. You're gonna have to kick another here soon, so don't worry about it," Reynolds said he told his young player.Persevering through the seasonMcKee knew he couldn't let one miss affect him. He went on to nail 23 of the next 24 kicks during the regular season and then two more in the Mustangs' lone playoff game.For Reynolds, he's glad McKee had the opportunity to showcase his talent."It's one of the great things about this country. It's about chances. You have opportunities to do something. Nothing is going to be given to you for free. You got to go and earn it," Reynolds said.It proved to not only the people watching, but to McKee as well, that he belonged."I just hope that people see that there's no size too small and just showing that, I mean, God has done all this for me, that he just gave me everything that I've got," he said.