As they announced his name, he came on stage and stood with the team’s general manager. The general manager was the one who made all of the important decisions for the Michigan Knights. Having made his best decision ever, they were now both facing a crowd of nearly 200 athletes, also waiting to be called, and twice as many reporters. Mike was handed a team hat and jersey to wear while pictures were taken of him shaking the hand of the general manager. Because Mike was the first player picked during the Selection Showcase, he was guaranteed to be the highest paid rookie that next season.
Chapter 72
As Mike was becoming a millionaire, I was getting ready for my final season of college football. I knew I wouldn’t be one of the first ones picked during my Selection Showcase Week, but I also knew that I wouldn’t be picked at all if I didn’t have an impressive season. Much of that success would be contingent upon becoming a starter on an elite team. Luckily, the center that I backed up the previous season would no longer be on the team as he was graduating at the end of the school year. In fact, he was one of 14 starters not coming back after winning the title.
In our title run the previous season, 11 seniors were marking their fourth season of playing at USM together. During their sophomore year, those 11 athletes were all starting and had made it to a New Year’s Day game. After losing that game, they blamed their loss on inexperience. The following year, that same group would be returning with a year of experience playing at the major college level. The additional experience attributed to their victory the following New Year’s Day. During their senior year, that group would return for yet a third season together as starters, that time adding a running back who would end up being voted as the best football player in the country. Even though he made a big difference in the game, the national championship was in large part due to the three years of experience by the group of 11 starters who were able to form a strong team bond over their four seasons playing together. Unfortunately, with them graduating, and an additional three juniors declaring for the pros, our team was left with only eight experienced starters from our national championship team.
On one hand, our team was inexperienced, which dropped our pre-season rank to the lower half of the top-25 major college football teams. On the other hand, our coach would need players with experience to step up and fill the numerous vacant spots. Even though we may have had an inexperienced team, I had a great chance to step up and prove myself. The bonus was, as a returning championship team, most of our games would be televised around the country as more fans would be interested in our team. That meant my performance, if selected as a starter, would be witnessed by people outside of our conference, including scouts and general managers from professional teams.
At the spring scrimmage game, I got my first chance at starting. Because of my experience, I was placed on the first-string offense. The coach informed me that just because I was starting on the scrimmage team, didn’t mean I would be a guaranteed starter and I would have to use the summer to earn my spot. During the spring game, I continued my streak of not letting anyone by me. The guard next to me had a similar record. He was the guard that played at Byron Junior College while I was at Whitaker. He would later become my new roommate.
During the summer, it was clear why Tony and I were roommates. During junior college, we were competitors. Two seasons later, we were clearly the best offensive linemen on the team with starting potential. If given the opportunity to start, we would make great dorm mates as we would be able to study plays together while forming a strong bond off the field.
While the walk-ons were trying out, I took advantage of the one week break by going home. Because Mike would be making enough money in the pros to buy whatever car he wanted, he let me keep the car that we had purchased together. Tony had nowhere else to go, so he ended up going back home with me. The long car ride to Whitaker flew by as we were able to talk football for most of the time. When we weren’t talking, we were jamming out our new favorite band ‘Mike Mains and the Branches’. When we arrived home, my parents were excited to meet a player from a national championship team. As the week went on, the excitement began to dissolve as they saw how much food Tony and I went through. When it was time to leave, my dad’s wallet was able to breathe a sigh of relief.
Chapter 73
When we returned to campus, we got right back into summer practices. Those practices had a different feel as a player on the regular roster than it did as a player on the scout team the previous season. Even with a different feel, though, the practices were still something I was very comfortable with. During those practices, I continued to become stronger and faster. When I wasn’t practicing, I was studying for summer school or spending time with Christine on an almost daily basis. Finally, after a long and hot summer, it was time to get ready for my final season as a college football player.
The first week of regular-season practice was completely different than it had been the previous season. Just like with the scout team, the regular team didn’t waste any time at practice. Rather than spending the first two days studying the opponent, my new team used that time to hit hard and hit often. As a starting center, I got a lot of practice time to work on my snaps, standing up as soon as I snapped the ball and blocking hard the person standing in front of me.
At our practices, the coaches wanted more intensity out of us. They wanted us to be the biggest and fastest team in college football. Anytime we slowed down, our opponent could gain an advantage. Not only were we expected to work fast; there was also no concern for injury during practice. The only one who couldn’t be hit during practice was the quarterback. Even though our offensive line was doing a great job at blocking for him, the quarterback was still protected by wearing a red jersey indicating that he couldn’t be touched. Everyone else, however, was expendable. If a player was injured during practice, there were other players ready to take his place. That meant that the defender coming at me wasn’t allowed to slow down at any point and wouldn’t worry about injuring me. The fear of death made me that much quicker with my snaps.
After using the first two days to work on lots of plays and lots of hitting, the next two days were spent scrimmaging against the scout team. We walked through our plays on the third day, while the fourth day of practice was a full blown scrimmage. Scrimmage for me was the same being starter, as it had been on the scout team. The speed, intensity, and hitting were identical in both situations. The only difference was that even though the scrimmage felt like a real game, our team of starters always won.
By the end of the week, taking a day off made more sense. While on the scout team, we spent the first three days going at a slow pace with an intense weight room session afterwards. The scrimmage on the fourth day was intense, but that only lasted a few hours. As a backup, the first two days were intense, but the second two were almost relaxing as I stood on the sidelines for more than half of the scrimmage. During my senior year, however, all four days were intense, and there was no way my body would’ve been able to handle a full game without some time off. During that day off, most of us never left our dorm rooms and rarely got out of our beds. Fortunately, I didn’t have any Friday classes scheduled during the upcoming school year.
Chapter 74
On my last play as a major college football player the previous season, I scored a game winning touchdown in the Major College Championship Game. I knew, though, that most of the plays that followed that game wouldn’t have the same outcome. In fact, all of the plays during the first game of my senior season were all pretty similar in that I snapped the ball perfectly, I stood up quickly, and I stopped the defender from getting in the way of our offense. After winning that first game, our team of young starters had the confidence needed to push on through the rest of the games that season.
We took that confidence and won the next three games. After four weeks, we had won all four non-conference games and were getting ready for the Midwestern Conference schedule to begin. In major college football, a team
was guaranteed to play in the post-season as long as they had more wins than they had losses. In a 12 game season, we only needed three more wins that season to make it to the post-season.
In that four-week time span, my relationship with Christine continued to get more and more serious and we rarely spent time apart. Both of our grade point averages remained high. We were both closing in on a 3.9 average, and were still making a competition out of it. Unfortunately, Mike wasn’t having a very successful first couple of weeks in the pros.
Even though the Knights had only won one game the previous season, they still decided to stick with their same game plan. They were known as a pass-heavy team and passed the ball twice as much as they ran. They weren’t ready to use Mike as an all-star because they wanted him to adjust to life as a professional football player. He had the desired speed, but at the professional level, defenders were still able to catch him. They wanted him to work on not getting tackled once he got caught. That meant he had to spend more time in the weight room and less time on the practice field. He was still their starting running back; he just wasn’t getting the ball as often as he had been in college.
Sadly, during the conference season, we were only able to add two more victories to our overall record. With six wins for the season, we were one game short of going to the post-season. For the first time in three seasons, the University of Southern Michigan football team ended their year early and didn’t make it into the rankings of the top-25 major college football teams in the league.
Mike, meanwhile, was finally able to find success in the pros. The team started balancing out their play selection once they could depend on him more. Not only was he fast, but he was finally a challenge to take down. With more chances at carrying the ball, his stats increased exponentially. As he got the ball more, the team got better. They didn’t make it to the playoffs, nor did he receive any awards, but they did tell him that because of his performance in the second half of the season, he would get the ball more often the following season.
Chapter 75
Of course our team was disappointed in the outcome of our season. I was, however, able to make the most of it. During my time as a starting center, I stopped the defender every time I was given the chance; a feat that was nearly impossible to accomplish by most offensive linemen at any level. I knew that my success during my senior year would increase my chances of becoming a professional football player. That motivation, plus my experience as a lineman, pushed me to a higher level. My performance allowed me to stand out on my team as one of the best linemen.
For my successful season, I was nominated by conference officials as one of the best linemen in the Midwestern Conference. Those officials selected the two best players from each position playing in our conference. They placed the better of the two athletes on the first hypothetical team, while the other athlete was placed on the second hypothetical team. Those two teams never played in any actual games; it was simply an acknowledgement of their hard work during the season and an honor to be selected. I was selected for the first-team, meaning that I was chosen as the best center in the Midwestern Conference.
The Major College Football Committee did the same thing, but their candidate pool consisted of all major college football players. By making that team, one wasn’t simply the best football player at their position in the conference; they were the best athlete at that position in all of major college football. For that vote, I made it to the second-team. Although I didn’t make the first-team, I was greatly honored to be voted as the second best center in all of major college football that season.
Fall semester drew to a close and surprisingly, I was able to achieve my 3.9 grade point average. With only one semester of school left, I was almost done with studying, homework, and quizzes. I knew that even if I didn’t turn in another paper, or test, during my spring semester, my grade point average would still be high enough for me to graduate. Even though I was proud of Christine for achieving the same grade as me, she was even more proud of me because I was able to do it while concentrating on football. She wasn’t the only one who noticed, though.
At the end of the fall semester, Midwestern Conference officials gathered together to discuss who the best male and female student-athletes were. They took into consideration only two factors: grades, and athletic performance. One male and one female athlete were rewarded for achieving highest academic honors, while contributing the most to their teams. My awards as a lineman displayed my contribution to the team, while my grades were high enough for me to be declared as the Midwestern Conference Male Student-Athlete of the Fall Semester – an honor I hadn’t expected.
Chapter 76
As my awards and honors were piling up, my chances of getting selected by a professional football team in April were increasing. In February, I went to the same try-out that Mike attended the previous season. As a center, I was compared to other offensive linemen from around the country. My numbers had improved significantly from my try-outs with USM a few years before, but they were only average compared to the rest of the group. While trying out for USM, I was competing against athletes who weren’t talented enough to earn a scholarship. While trying out for the pros, however, I was competing against the best linemen from the best college football teams.
Once March came around, I got another chance to show off my skills to the professional recruiters. When they visited our school, I was able to go over game tapes with them and show them what I could bring to their team. I then showed them how strong I was in the weight room. Finally, I showed them how talented I was by snapping the ball perfectly to a quarterback, who was positioned 20 yards away from me.
Selection Showcase Week had finally arrived. I watched the program from my house because I wasn’t quite good enough to be flown out to the show like Mike had been. I watched anxiously with my parents, my girlfriend, and my offensive line coach, who were all there to support me. The event lasted three days. The first day was dedicated to the first two rounds, the second day was the second two rounds, and the last day would be the last three rounds of the draft.
The first day seemed to take forever as each team slowly made their first pick. The Knights didn’t pick until halfway through the first round because they ended the previous season with a better record than half of the teams in the league. After not being picked by any of those teams, I was anxiously waiting for the Knights’ decision. They desperately needed a talented lineman because they wanted to run the ball more often. They got their lineman but, sadly, it wasn’t me. I went the rest of the day not being picked.
As the second day arrived, I figured I had a better chance of being picked because five linemen had already filled slots. The second day went a little faster, but my anxiety continued to increase. During the Knights’ two picks that day, my anxiety turned into disappointment; and for a second day, they weren’t the only team that didn’t have a use for me.
By the third day, my last and only chance at being selected by a professional football team had come. The three rounds that day would give me an additional chance to be picked. After the first six rounds, I was the last lineman still available from the group of athletes selected by the Major College Football Committee. That made me the best available lineman from the major college level. All I needed was for one team to have a need on the offensive line. By the end of the day, not another lineman was selected.
I tried to get some clarity from my offensive line coach. Why didn’t they pick me after making it to the first-team in the conference, the second-team in the league, and the best student-athlete in the conference? He told me that I had nothing to be disappointed about because I earned every award I received. I worked hard, and played a key role in the success of our team. He then gave me an answer that I was already familiar with; my success was too late. The reason I wasn’t recruited by any major colleges after high school was that my success only came towards the end of my season. If my entire high school career was as successful as my senior year playo
ff run was, I would’ve been a scholarship athlete for all four years of college. The line coach said something along the same lines. Even though I had more accolades than an Olympic swimmer, I only received them during one season. All of the linemen that went ahead of me during the Selection Showcase had the same awards I had, but had earned them over the course of multiple seasons.
Chapter 77
Even though my life as a football player was over, my life outside of football still went on. Christine and I both maintained our good grades, and both graduated with bachelor’s degrees from the University of Southern Michigan. Her degree was in education, while mine was in business. Our joke was that we would be able to start our own teaching business after college.
As much as it was a joke, we really did have to think about life outside of college. Once college was over, what would we do? My parents were in northern Michigan, while hers were in Indiana. Without school, we lost the only place that we could call ours. Clearly, going back to our own families was not an option. Our relationship had gotten very serious and there would be no splitting us up. The only question was where did we want to go? We were both family types. Neither of us wanted to be far from our families, so neither one of us wanted to move to the other’s home town.
Guts vs Glory Page 14