Guts vs Glory (11 page)

We gave each other a day to take in
our first college football experience.  For Mike, he needed time to celebrate. 
For me, I needed time to get over it.  The next day, enough time had passed and
we were ready to talk about our experiences.  Although they were nearly
opposite, we definitely had stories worth telling.

Mike loved every minute of his big
day.  The locker rooms were gorgeous, and the stadium was enormous.  The
attendance was nearly 70,000, and they were all wearing Dragon red and black. 
Rather than being nervous, he was excited for the game.  He knew what he was
doing, and he was one of the best at it.  Mike was very comfortable with his
position, and knew it wouldn’t matter how much stronger the opponent was as
long as they couldn’t catch him.  When he scored his first touchdown, it wasn’t
as challenging as he thought; all he had to do was run the ball in 10 yards. 
When he got a chance to play more, he took advantage of how tired the other
team was.  He even liked the fact that he wasn’t returning punts or kickoffs
because it allowed him more energy as a running back.  Finally, he accepted
that he wouldn’t be a starter that season, but he was no longer anxious about
playing college ball.

After I shared my depressing story,
he told me he was already aware of my disappointment.  Even though our games
weren’t televised, they were still broadcasted over the radio.  He was upset
when he heard what happened, but he knew that I would use the experience as
more fuel for the fire.  Mike knew I couldn’t let it get me down, and I would
instead use it as motivation to keep it from happening again.  After we talked,
I felt better about my game and was ready for the next week.

That next day, the dread came
rushing back.  After getting through my first game of college ball, I was faced
with my first day of college courses.  My grades had gotten better over the
years, but I knew college would be a bigger challenge for me.  I was expecting
rooms of 300 students trying to keep up with the professor, as they quickly
went through their lecture.  As soon as I walked into the room, my anxiety
disappeared.

The math room looked just like a
high school classroom.  There were 15 tables that comfortably sat two students
each.  I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I grew up, so my plan at junior
college was to take basic classes.  I would then pick a major once I got to the
University.  That meant I had a semester full of introductory courses.  After
skimming through the syllabus, I had a feeling that the homework load would be
a lot less than it was in high school.  I developed good study habits in high
school, so it seemed like college could possibly be less challenging.

I was more relieved as the professor
introduced himself.  As it turned out, the guy was teaching the class as a
hobby.  He was an accountant, so teaching math was more of a way to keep his
brain challenged.  He encouraged the 25 of us to take good notes because we
would be allowed to use our notes during the three course exams.  Then, after
meeting with us for an hour, the class was dismissed.  My next two classes were
also scheduled to last an hour, but we were dismissed even earlier than that. 
After less than three hours of lecture, my first day as a college student was
over.  Why couldn’t my first game have gone that well?

As expected, my screw up during the
game didn’t get swept under the rug; nor did it get a private meeting with the
coach.  Instead, I was used as an example of how easily our roles could be
taken away from us.  After one bad play, I was replaced by another player.  I
wasn’t given a second opportunity, rather I gave someone else a first chance. 
That person ended up making the most of his opportunity because our starting
tackle wouldn’t be playing that week due to his injury.  I did get my role
reinstated as lead backup, but I would’ve been starting that week if it weren’t
for my fatal error during the game.

As Mike predicted, I used that
embarrassment to improve myself as a player.  I got a taste of what it felt
like to be taken out of a game.  I also got a taste of what it felt like to
play college football.  Even though it had the feel of a scrimmage, I liked
playing much better.  Once I got that taste, I would do whatever it took to get
more of it.  I made sure I wouldn’t lose my spot again, and I worked even
harder against our defenders.  Just like the previous week, I was not able to
stop them every time.  I did, however, hold them back more times than they got
past me.

My work didn’t just improve on the
practice field, either; it also improved in the weight room.  I knew I would
have to be stronger if I wanted to stay on the offensive line, but I knew I
would also have to be faster.  The guy that got by me during the game took
advantage of our difference in speed.  I knew I would have to improve my speed
if I didn’t want that to happen again.  I actually extended my weight room time
to spend more time on the treadmill, even though I was already doing the speed
drills during practice.  I was willing to put my body through torture if it
meant more playing time on Saturdays.

I also used that week to get
adjusted to the new challenge of balancing school and practice.  Even though
the days were shorter, and the work was easier, I would have to work harder on
my grades than I did in high school if I wanted to transfer to a University.  I
would need at least a 2.0 grade point average, on a scale of 1-4, to be able to
transfer, but I wanted to better my chances by maintaining at least a 3.0
average.  I would have to spend even more time studying, in addition to the
extra time on the treadmill.  Slowly, college was becoming overwhelming again.

The following game was our second
non-conference game, but our first away game.  I hoped that at least our away
games would be a little more luxurious than high school (after all, we were
representing an entire college).  I realized how wrong I was when the bus
arrived. Only one bus was used to take our team of 55 to the game.  I would not
have been surprised to learn that my parents had used the same bus when they
went to college many years ago.  The once-white bus was no longer white, and the
step leading into the bus had been rusted through.  I feared that we would
start the season on a losing streak because we wouldn’t be able to make it to
the game.  To my relief, we arrived in one piece.

As the game went on, the new
offensive tackle continued to secure his role.  I knew eventually he would have
to mess up, though.  As the 2nd quarter began, he proved me right.  The play he
ran called for him to stand and quickly run to the other side of the line to
block for the running back.  It was one of those tricky plays, but it was a
play that we had worked on numerous times during practice.  When the ball was
snapped, the guy quickly stood up, ran to the other side of the line, then
stood there and looked for someone to block.  He ran the play flawlessly, but
unfortunately, he ran the wrong play.  Once he left his spot, their defender
met our running back and took him down hard.  Our running back didn’t expect
the lineman to leave, so he was surprised when he met the defender early.  In
fact, he was so surprised that he fumbled the ball.

The next time our offense went out
there, our team would be using a different offensive tackle.  I knew I would
only have one chance to prove my worth.  I guess my extra time on the treadmill
paid off because no one got past me during that drive.  I was expecting some
praise from our line coach after the drive was over, but I guess that kind of
performance was more of an expectation in college.  At least it was good enough
for me to finish the game on the field.

After the game was over, I was
again more concerned with my performance than the result of the game.  We won
the game, but more importantly, I didn’t let anyone past me.  I tried using the
bus ride back home to enjoy the feeling I had after my redeeming performance,
but I couldn’t even hear myself think.  On that trip, I learned the impact a
bad muffler had on a moving vehicle.

I was so excited about my
performance that I couldn’t wait to tell my buddy Mike about it.  After getting
his answering machine, I decided not to leave a message and instead, planned on
just calling him again later.  As it turned out, he had produced another great
game.  Even though he was a backup, he was quickly gaining popularity after
only playing in two games.  He was known to all the students, and even the
professors would talk about his game performance during class.  He was invited
to the best parties, and became popular there, too.  As much fun as he was
having during his first season, he knew he would only get better and the parties
would only get bigger.

After another good day of school
began the week, I was really looking forward to practice.  With our tackle
still injured, and a great personal performance during the game, there was no
way I wouldn’t be a starter in our third game.  After the daily huddle, we went
to work with our small groups.  As more time went by, the more nervous I
became.  I knew the news would come, I just didn’t know when.  A few minutes
into group practice, I got some news, but it wasn’t the news I was looking for.

The coach announced that I would
remain the number one backup for the offensive line.  He also announced that
our injured tackle simply sprained his ankle and he would be good to go at the
end of the week.  I was crushed.  I finally earned a spot on the starting line,
just to have it taken away again.  At least I had a good spot amongst the
backups.  It would still be up to me to earn more playing time during the
upcoming games.

As the season went on, I retained
that number one backup spot.  I didn’t see much playing time, but when I did
get in to play, I made the most of it.  In the next six games that followed, I
didn’t let a single defender by me.  Unfortunately, the starting offense
remained flawless as well, so I remained the top backup.  A big help in
retaining that spot came from my improved speed and strength.  I continued my
intense workout routines throughout the season, and spent more and more time on
the treadmill.

Mike continued to improve his
season as well.  He was still considered a backup running back, but he played
almost as much as the starting running back.  The coach was really impressed
with his speed and his knack for finding the end zone.  He didn’t want his new
running back to waste his talent sitting on the bench, so he decided to
alternate running backs in an effort to throw off the opponent’s defense.  And
even though they pretty much split playing time, he still led his team in both
rushing yards and touchdowns.

Another surprise during my first
season of playing college football was the possibility of not making it to the
playoffs.  In high school, your team simply had to have more wins than loses to
make the cut.  In junior college, we would have to be one of the top four in
our conference just to advance to the conference playoffs.  We had more wins
than losses, but we were only tied for 4th place going into the last game of
the regular season.  We would need a victory in order for Whitaker Junior
College to avoid being kept out of the playoffs for the first time in five
seasons.

As with the rest of the games that
season, I hardly got a chance to play in the last regular season game.  Even
though I was only a part of a few plays during that game, I was still a part of
a team that was going to fight their way into the playoffs.  Finally, with the
game over, we walked off the field as victors.

Actually, we didn’t walk off the
field, we ran off.  We had been tied for 4th place.  We didn’t just need to
win; the team we were tied with had to lose.  That team was Faith Community
College, a team that beat us on our home field during week five.  It was
explained to me that for us to make it to the playoffs, we would have to have a
better record than Faith at the end of the season.  If we had the same record as
they did, Faith would make it to the playoffs because they had already beaten
us.  As luck would have it, FCC played their game right after ours finished. 
As a team, we ran into the locker room to watch their game in the hopes that
they would lose and give us the better record.

Faith Community College was playing
Byron Junior College.  Byron was the best team in our conference, and had
already secured their spot in the conference playoffs.  Even though they would
be number one in the playoffs, no matter what the outcome of the game was, they
would still be trying their hardest to win so that they would have a better
national rank while trying to make it into the National Junior College Title
Game.  We looked forward to watching the game, knowing that there was no way
FCC would take the victory from Byron Junior College.

The game started out as a blowout. 
Going into halftime, Byron was up by 21 points, and we were on the verge of
securing our place in the conference playoffs.  During the 2nd half, Byron decided
to play their backup players to save their starters for the following week. 
That would prove to be a major mistake.  Faith Community College was able to
fight their way back into the game.  Going into the 4th quarter, Byron was only
up by one touchdown.  But after their punt returner fumbled the ball near the
goal line, FCC was able to take advantage and tie the game up.

Our chances of making it to the
conference playoffs came down to the last few minutes of that game.  With
possession of the ball, a score from Byron would open the way for us to play in
the play-offs.  If, however, FCC stopped them and came up with a score of their
own, Whitaker Junior College would be out of the playoffs, breaking their
5-year streak.  The next play was one of the most painful plays to watch as a
spectator.  Bryon’s running back got the ball with time running out and nothing
in front of him but the end zone.  We were guaranteed to play the following
week - until a line judge declared that the running back had stepped out of
bounds as time had expired.

That day, I learned about college
football overtime rules.  Junior college used the same rules as major college
football.  Each team was given the ball at the opponent’s 25-yard line.  After
each team had a chance to score, the team with the most points in that period
won.  If both teams scored the same amount of points, they would move on to
another period until one team was able to score more than the other at the end
of a round.  After two periods, Faith Community College came up with the most
impressive, and most heartbreaking, comeback I had ever seen, both as an
athlete and as a spectator.