Brave Williams is gentle, kind, thoughtful – and someone you don't want to mess with.

That's because this high school senior from a small New York town near Buffalo is 7-foot-1 inches tall and weighs 400 pounds.

Oh, and he plays football.

Observers of high school football have seen this young man - who is as big as Shaquille O'Neal – impress on the field, and there is a good chance he will be doing the same in the college ranks.

Brave Williams is a senior at Lake Shore High School in Angola, New York, a small town just outside of Buffalo

'I've been bigger than everybody my entire life,' he told high school sports online journal Maxpreps. 'In kindergarten, I was already 5'3' and towered over everyone.'

Williams, a senior at Lake Shore High School in Angola, New York, has become a local celebrity because he is impossible to miss.

'Whenever we leave the reservation we live on (Cattaraugus in the Seneca Nation of Indians), he's a walking celebrity,' his mother, Angela, said. 'People just want to touch him and strangers always stop him for pictures.'

Angela says that her son's size could be deceiving. In reality, he's just a big softy, a clumsy teen who accidentally breaks furniture in the home.

More importantly, though, his personality is one that earns him respect.

He drives his sister to school every day, enrolls in honor classes, and is team manager for a semi-pro lacrosse team – quite an amount of responsibility for such a young man.

'He's that guy you can depend on,' Angela said. 'He commands your respect. Though he's the sweetest guy ever, people still know better than to mess with him.'

Though he only began playing football three years ago, Williams says he expects to be recruited to a big college that will offer him a scholarship

Though he only began playing football three years ago, Williams says he expects to be recruited to a big college that will offer him a scholarship. He is also open to a basketball career.

'I attended a football camp at the University of Buffalo last year and coach Jeff Quinn (now an offensive analyst for Notre Dame), said he'd like to have me on the team,' Williams said.