Guts vs Glory (9 page)

My parents were excited about my
decision.  Not only was I going to college, but I would still be living at
home.  Whitaker Junior College was in the city of Whitaker, and didn’t have dorm
rooms, so living at home was my only option.  Mike’s parents didn’t take the
news as well as mine did.  They weren’t sure if either one of us would graduate
high school, so they were very excited to learn that Mike would be going to a
top university at no cost to them.  What they didn’t like was the fact that the
University of Southern Michigan was near the Indiana state boarder, five hours
away from their home.  Because they wouldn’t have to pay for his college, Mike’s
parents bought him a car.  However, the car wouldn’t be dependable enough for
him to make the 10 hour round-trip drive every weekend, so he would only be
able to come home during longer school breaks.

With time winding down, we
continued to make the most of our spring.  Rather than worrying about the two
years we would be off on our own, we decided to enjoy the next few months and
looked forward to again playing together during our junior year of college.  We
continued to run and spend time in the weight lifting room, because we didn’t want
to lose our speed or strength, and we used our free time after school to work
on our grades.  We knew that college courses would be more challenging than the
high school classes we were taking, so we wanted to prepare ourselves for the
next level.  Although Mike wouldn’t need to maintain really good grades as an
athlete at the university, I would have to as a student at junior college.  I
would especially need to continue working hard on my grades because I would be
transferring to USM as a student, not as an athlete, and would need impressive
grades to get in.  We continued to study together, though; keeping our grades
reasonably up as we finished high school.

That studying paid off when
graduation day finally came.  We ended up fulfilling our promise to our high
school coach by improving our grades.  We had both started off with a D average
but, after two years of hard work, Mike ended up with a C+ average, while I
maintained a B+ average.  We were very proud of how well our grades had turned
around, but we were also proud of the simple fact that we were graduating from
high school.  We’d been in the spotlight before, our names announced over a
public address system in front of a large crowd, but that time we couldn’t
contain our emotions.  It wasn’t just a 12 year path that we were celebrating;
we were celebrating a two year journey that turned our lives around forever,
thanks to the second chance given to us by a county judge.  That judge, by the
way, was there to watch us accept our diplomas.  With him at graduation, we
felt like we were finally able to prove to everyone that we didn’t take that
second chance for granted.

A week after graduation, it was
time to say goodbye.  Even though we had a three month break before we started
our first year of college, Mike would have to leave early to spend the summer
working on strength and conditioning with his new team.  We decided that we
would keep in touch over the phone.  I would be curious what the life of a
major college football player was like, and what I had to look forward to,
while he would be curious about my playing ability at the college level.  After
talking about our plans for the following two years, there was nothing more to
say.  Once he got in his car and took off, I was on my own to face the next
stage in my life.

It was the first day of summer
practice.  Because of my grades, I was able to receive a couple of grants from
East Whitaker High School.  Grants were basically free money that I could apply
towards my college tuition.  Junior college costs were much lower than
university costs, so the grant money was enough to pay for my two years there. 
Because they would not have to pay for my first two years of school, my parents
offered to pay for the second two years if I made it into a university. 
Because I didn’t have to worry about paying for college anymore, I was able to
quit my part-time job so that I had more time to dedicate towards football and
school.  Even though I had already saved a bit of money, I lived a few miles
from school, so taking the city bus made more sense than buying a car.  Taking
the bus also made me feel anxious, though.  While playing football in high
school, Mike and I would simply walk to the field right after school with our
friends on the team.  However, all of that changed once I got to college. 
Suddenly, I had to get to the field by myself, and I didn’t know anyone on the
field once I got there.  After a few stressful minutes, I saw a familiar face. 
The head football coach I had met during recruiting walked onto the field and
got everyone together for our first huddle as a team.  Although I had only met
the guy once, I knew he wasn’t a complete stranger.  As he was talking to the
team, I decided that I really liked the coach because he treated us like
adults, yet knew we were still fresh out of high school.

Once in the team huddle, rather
than going right to work, the coach began to explain how junior college
football operated.  He knew we were used to watching our favorite college teams
on television, but those major college football games had a different format
than what we would be a part of.  During the regular season, we would play nine
games; six of those games would be conference games.  At the end of the season,
the top four teams in our conference would take part in a conference
tournament.  After that, all conference tournament winners would be ranked
nationally and would play in a post-season game based on their overall rank,
with the top two teams playing in the National Junior College Title Game.  The
previous year, Whitaker Community College won the Michigan Junior College
Conference and made it to a post-season game.  The coach’s goal was to make it
to the title game that season.

He began to explain how the season
would run.  We would spend the summer without pads working on strength and
conditioning.  A few weeks before the regular season began, we would start
practicing with pads.  After two weeks, the coaches would decide on their
starters.  He made it clear that once starters were announced, they weren’t
permanent positions and could change at any moment.  Not only was it up to us
to use those first few weeks to make the coaches’ decision easier, but it was
also up to us to fight to keep those positions once we earned them.

He finally explained his philosophy
as a junior college football coach.  He knew that all of us were either new to
the team and felt like outsiders, or had been on the team for a year and were
just starting to form bonds with their teammates from the previous season.  He
wanted all of us to be on the same page, with no one feeling left out, so he
would treat all of us like we were new to the team.  He explained that although
we were part of a two-year program, some of us would only stay for a year,
while others would be there for two.  Since we had a short time together, we
would have to quickly bond as a brotherhood within our team.  That being said,
he wanted us to use the rest of the day to get to know each other while we did
some casual stretching on our own.

Most of the guys were laughing and
having a good time.  They were taking advantage of the free time because they
knew our practices would get much harder after the first day.  Watching those
guys, I felt like most of them were playing on that team because they had fun
playing football in high school and weren’t ready to walk away from it.  I
wasn’t going to let any one of them stop me from achieving my long-term goal. 
We wouldn’t be hitting for a while, so I decided to use my available time to
get to know my competition.  I wasn’t looking to make friends; I just wanted to
know who I was up against, and what they were bringing to the table.

I didn’t want to waste time on
players who I wouldn’t be competing with, so I immediately began talking to the
biggest guys on the team.  The more I talked to them, the more I realized how
inaccurate my initial assessment was.  Every player I talked to was using
junior college as a stepping stone to play major college football.  A handful
of players were in the same situation I was, but the rest of them were only
playing on the team because their grades were too low for major colleges.  Even
though they were some of the best players in the country, they wouldn’t be able
to play until they raised their grade point average.  That meant that I would
be competing with major college level players who all had the same motivating
factor as me.  My only chance of standing out was to be bigger, faster, and
stronger than all of them.  As easy as that had been to achieve in high school,
it would be hard to do at the junior college level because my new team was full
of some of the best high school football players in the state who simply
weren’t smart enough to get into any major college.

On my way home that night, my
anxiety came rushing back.  I knew I needed to spend my time on the bus calming
myself down.  I reminded myself of my first observation at East Whitaker, and
how intimidated I was as I watched the fast running backs.  That same day, I
felt more comfortable once I was able to compare myself to players who would be
playing my position.  Then I had to remind myself of linemen camp and how I was
so obsessed with my competitor that I forgot to accept the reality of both of
us starting.  Finally, I had to praise myself for using my competition in high
school as a motivator, rather than as a reason to run away.  That motivation
kept me in the starting lineup in high school and helped me become a team
captain. 

Although I wouldn’t be the captain
of my team that season, I would again have to use my competitors as motivation
to fight for a starting role.  It then dawned on me that I would be on the team
for two years and shouldn’t stress over my first season.  I formed a new plan
to use the first season as an opportunity to get comfortable with playing at
the college level.  Playing with guys who were bigger, faster, and stronger
than me would allow me to get used to playing with, and against, elite
players.  I would then work on starting during the next season, knowing that
half of my competition would be leaving at the end of the current season and I
would have a year of experience by then.

The next day, I came back to
practice feeling more at ease.  I felt comfortable being on the field and I no
longer felt isolated.  I had a goal in mind, and I found it easier to work with
a short-term goal, rather than obsessing over the long-term.  Once the coach
made it to the field, he called us over for a team huddle.  In the huddle, he
broke down our practice schedule for us.  He told us that we would have two
months until we started practicing for the regular season.  By then, he wanted
us to be in the best shape possible, to understand our assigned position, and
to memorize the plays that we would be running.  Every day for those first two
months, we would be working on speed and strength.  He would have drills for us
to run which would help improve our speed and allow us to make quicker
decisions in game-time situations.  Due to the heat, we would be doing those
drills in the morning.  In the afternoons, we would spend time in the weight
lifting room where we would be allowed to do our own routines.  He felt that
since we were all adults, it would be our responsibility to increase our
strength on our own.  After the first two weeks of summer practices, we would
begin trying out for positions.  The coach wanted to see what position fit us
best based on our size and agility.  Finally, we would spend the rest of the
summer in our positional groups so that we could memorize plays as they related
to our group.

After breaking from the huddle, I
quickly planned out how I wanted to use the next two months of summer practices
to the best of my advantage.  As far as the speed drills were concerned, the
only thing I could do was try my hardest, just like I did in high school,
working on not being the slowest on the team.  I also planned on using the same
weightlifting routine that helped me get strong in high school, making sure I
didn’t waste any lifting time.  Finally, I figured memorizing plays wouldn’t be
that hard as an offensive lineman because my job should be the same in college
as it was in high school; stand up once the ball was snapped, and don’t let
anyone get by me.

After practice, I decided to give
Mike a call.  I wanted to see how his practices were going, and how he was
handling the transition into college football.  After we talked, I realized
that I had it made compared to him.  His strength and conditioning routine was
similar.  They had the same practice schedule we did, but his workouts were
more intense.  He was working with the best college football players from all
over the country.  Competition was tough, so the coaches had to come up with
intense drills and practices to determine who the starters would be.  The teams
they would be playing against were full of elite players as well.  That meant
that they would have to be the strongest and fastest players in their
conference in order to win their games.  With only one post-season game, and no
conference tournaments, every win counted in major college football.

Mike was also disappointed about
his chances of starting.  When he talked to the recruiter while in high school,
it sounded like he would be starting right away.  He quickly realized that he
wouldn’t be able to start until his sophomore year because freshmen usually
didn’t start their first season.  The only way he would’ve been able to start
right away was if he was absolutely the best running back on the team.  That
wasn’t the case because the starter from the previous season was still on the
team and he had already earned the trust of the head coach.  Unlike junior
college, major colleges usually kept the same starters because they already had
the experience needed to play at the elite level.  Since their running back had
been nominated as one of the best running backs in their conference the
previous season, USM wanted Mike to use his freshman year to get used to
playing at the major college level.  After his freshman year, the current
starter would graduate and Mike would have a chance at being a starter for the
next three seasons.