Authors: Jason B. Osoff
For the first couple of weeks of
summer practice, my plan went off without a hitch. I wasn’t the most athletic
guy on the team, but I definitely wasn’t the weakest. I was able to keep up
with the rest of the team during the speed drills, and never finished last. In
the weight room, I stuck with my high school routine, and it was paying off. I
learned from the other players that a high protein diet would help me gain
muscle, so I was actually getting stronger faster than I was in high school.
After the first two weeks, it was
time to try out for our positions. When we got together for our daily huddle,
the coach explained how they were going to determine who played what position.
At the major college football level, there was a coach for every position. At
the junior college level, however, they didn’t have quite the budget, so they
simply had a coach for the running backs and receivers, a coach for all
linemen, a coach for the defensive backs and linebackers, and a coach for the
quarterbacks, who would also double as the offensive coordinator. We were to
simply work with the coach for the position that we wanted to try out for. It
would be up to that coach if we were talented enough to stay in their group or
not. If we didn’t make the group, we were asked to work with the special
teams’ coach, who was also the defensive coordinator, or find our way off the
team.
Right away, I found the line
coach. It didn’t take long to figure out who the four defensive linemen were
that the head coach referred to in our initial meeting. The line coach told us
that, unlike in high school, we were allowed to only play on the offensive
line, or defensive line, but not both. The head coach had already told me what
my chances of playing were if I chose to be a defender, so I went with those
going out for the offensive line. There were eight of us on the offensive side
and seven on the defensive side. The coach then explained that at the college
level, most of his starters would be playing the entire game, so his backups
wouldn’t see much game time. So even as a backup, I would have to stand out
amongst the other backups just to get a decent chance at some playing time.
We went through some simple
strength and conditioning drills, similar to our familiar high school drills,
and at the conclusion were told that we were all talented enough to stay in the
linemen group. After reminding us that none of us were declared starters, the
line coach told us how impressed he was with our performance, and that we were
all in for some good competition. Even though we would be on different sides
of the ball, it was important for us to remember that we would all be working
as one big linemen group, and he would be our coach for the rest of the season.
Towards the end of the day, our
head coach called us in for a quick team meeting. He told us that after the
first two weeks of summer practice, our initial group of 80 players had been
reduced to 60. Even though we lost quite a few players, the coaches weren’t
done making cuts. The team only had 55 available spots, so five more players
would have to be cut before the regular season began. In an instant, the
pressure was on.
After a few weeks of stressing, I
was able to survive the remainder of summer practices without being one of the
five players cut. As I figured, the plays for an offensive lineman were easy
to remember. Some of the plays were interesting, though. For some of them,
one of the offensive lineman would stand up as soon as the ball was snapped
and, instead of blocking, would run behind the center and block on the other
side of the line. The shift opened up a gap in our offensive line, but it
allowed more coverage for the running back as he ran up the middle of the
line. Although those plays were foreign to me, it didn’t take long to get the
hang of them.
As the head coach had promised,
once the summer practices were over, we had our assigned positions, we all had
the plays memorized, and we were all in great shape. Unlike high school, once
practice began, it was hard-as-you-can full contact. This allowed us to prove
ourselves right from the get. Personally, I didn’t waste the opportunity. In
our daily huddle, the coach told us that we would be spending the next two
weeks in our positional groups. We were to use that time to better ourselves
at our positions, and work on our plays as a unit. We wouldn’t get together as
a big group until we got ready to practice for our first game. Although we
wouldn’t be able to hit as a team, we were still going full contact in our
groups, while being able to show off our speed and our ability to retain
information.
Even though I didn’t stand out as
one of the best players, I didn’t stand out as one of the worst. I quickly
learned how different college football was once I struggled to hold back
defenders on the line of scrimmage. They made me look weak, but I felt better
when I saw that the big defenders were walking over the rest of the offensive
line as well. As it turned out, my ability to memorize plays quickly became my
biggest weapon. It was the one thing that set me apart from the others who
struggled to remember their roles.
After those two weeks, my hard work
paid off. Just like the head coach predicted, the defensive line was the same
line used the previous season. After struggling to contain them, I wasn’t
going to argue that decision. The offense had some returning starters as well,
but two of the spots went to players new to the team. I wasn’t one of those
two, but I was the next one called. The three guys who didn’t make the
starting offensive lineup were designated as a backup center, a backup tackle, and
a backup guard; I would be the backup tackle. The coach then went on to
explain that even though our backups had designated titles, we still had a
backup order, as the titles were only used for the official team roster. So
even though I was declared the backup tackle, I would be used to relieve any
starter on the offensive line. The coach felt that, of the three of us, I
worked the hardest during practice and deserved to be the primary backup
offensive lineman. That meant I would be the first one to go into a game if
any one of our guys needed a break. Suddenly, my chances of impressing the
University of Southern Michigan skyrocketed; it was up to me to keep my
position, and I was more than motivated to fight for it.
That night, I talked to Mike to see
how his summer practices had turned out. He told me that he was the number two
running back on the team. He wasn’t the starter, but he would definitely get
some good playing time. At Southern Michigan, the starting running back ran
most of the plays, while the backup running back would play if the team was
close to the goal line. He knew that I wouldn’t be able to watch the games on
television, since our games were at the same time, but he wanted to make sure I
recorded them so that I could actually watch him play on national TV. I then
told him my good news; I had become the number one backup offensive lineman on
a college football team.
It was finally time to practice as
a whole team. In our daily huddle, the coach told us that we would be spending
the week getting ready for the upcoming game. Although it would be used as a
tune-up game, it was still a game to be taken seriously because it counted
towards our overall record. He reminded us that even though starting positions
had been announced the previous week, those positions weren’t guaranteed until
game day, and we would have to spend that week fighting to retain those titles.
The team we were scheduled to play
wasn’t quite the tune-up game I was used to in high school. The way I saw at
it, it was a tune-up game for the other team. Their team didn’t make it to the
title game the previous season, but they were ranked as the number three
overall junior college football team. They lost a few players during the
off-season, but they still had the same coach who clearly knew what he was
doing. We were definitely the underdogs. But, as our coach explained, every
team had a 0-0 record in the first week of the season, so we were all tied for
first place.
Even though I wasn’t a starter, I
made it my goal that week to make the coaches feel comfortable with me as the
number one backup. I had a rough week the previous week by letting the
defensive line through me, but once I knew what to expect, it happened less and
less frequently in practice. Although I didn’t stop them every time, I held
them up more than any other backup lineman on our team.
The rest of the week went by fast.
Unlike high school, though, we had five days of practice instead of the four
that I was used to. The practice schedule was pretty much the same as what I
had done before, only we used the additional day to spend more time working
with the entire team. The biggest difference by far was the level of
intensity. Because we were all fighting for a chance to be in the spotlight,
we were treating practices like games. Everybody went full contact and
wouldn’t stop until told to do so by the coach. We all wanted to play for
major colleges, and everyone knew they only had two years to prove their
abilities at this level. Even though I was a tough blocker, I still didn’t
stand out as the best on the line. Knowing my memorization skill was my
biggest asset, I continued to focus on that and made sure that I was the only
one on the line hitting all the right blocks -
every time
.
Towards the end of the week, I
thought my chances of starting were getting much better. One of the offensive
starters messed up on a play and ended up falling to the ground. I knew that
because the game was one day away, it would be too late for the coaches to
switch starters, but they would’ve been forced to if the guy couldn’t get back
up. As it turned out, he missed the block because he hurt his right ankle, and
it was the pain that made him fall to the ground. I felt relief for him when
he got back up on his own, and yet, was discouraged when he went in for the
next play. Just like I would’ve done, he continued to play through the pain.
I wasn’t nervous about playing
time, I was nervous about the game itself. I was used to high school games,
but I didn’t know what to expect from a college football game. I had a feeling
it would be intense based on practice. And I knew the intensity of practice
was nowhere near what I would be facing during the game. I once again had that
uncomfortable feeling of not quite belonging.
That feeling went away once I
looked up at the stands on game day. I was used to playing in front of a sold
out crowd on Friday nights. After seeing massive college arenas with standing
room only on television, I was shocked when I saw that the stands were nearly
empty during our Saturday afternoon game. Apparently, junior college football
games weren’t a big draw. It didn’t help that the University of Northeastern
Michigan was playing 30 minutes away, and were also in the Midwestern
Conference with the University of Southern Michigan. Even our stadium was
unimpressive. It reminded me of our practice field at East Whitaker. There
wasn’t much to it; a one-level press box, three sections of bleachers on either
side of the field, a run-down score board, and an eight foot long table used to
sell snacks to fans.
Once the angst of playing college
football went away, I was able to concentrate on the game. I was on a team of
really tough guys, playing against another team of really tough guys, who
shared the common goal of victory. All we had to do was score more points than
they did. I had the simple goal of protecting my quarterback; it was a goal
that I had become very familiar with.
After three quarters of play, the
game remained close. In college, the quarter lengths were three minutes longer
than what they were in high school, so a lot of the new guys were starting to
get tired. I was fine with that because I figured eventually one of our guys
would tire enough to require a break. Unfortunately, those guys were so
obsessed on impressing recruiters that they were willing to play on. I did,
however, get my chance to play towards the end of the 4th quarter.
It seemed the pain became too much
for the lineman who had injured himself a few days ago during practice. After
being pushed around too many times, his ankle finally gave. I was called in to
take his place at the tackle position. Quickly, my fears came back. That
would be my first play as a college football player and it would gage if I was
ready to take on the world of college football.
Once the ball was snapped, I stood
up quickly. Waiting for the snap was no longer an issue of mine. As the
defender attacked me, I realized that he wasn’t as strong as our starting
defenders; the ones I had battled in practice. After a few seconds of
blocking, I was ready to take him on again for the next play. This time, once
the ball was snapped, he used his speed to elude me and found his way to our
quarterback. I was disappointed that I couldn’t prevent our quarterback from
getting sacked. I was devastated when the coach called me out of the game.
The guy who took my spot was able
to stand his ground against the defense for the rest of the drive. Although we
didn’t score the game winning touchdown on that drive, we would get another
chance after our defense finally shut them down. As expected, my replacement
went back in to finish the game. Even though we lost that game, I was
selfishly more upset that I lost my spot.
When I got home from the game that
night, I watched with my parents in the living room as the University of
Southern Michigan played their first game of the season. As Northeastern fans,
we wouldn’t have been caught dead rooting for USM. But that night, we weren’t
rooting for the Dragons; we were rooting for their backup running back, Michael
Upton. In the 1st half of the game, Mike was able to score his first college
touchdown. Once USM was up by four touchdowns, he was able to play out the
rest of the game. He tallied 2 more touchdowns and 100 yards of rushing. I
knew it wouldn’t be long until he became a legend there, too.