You wouldn't think that a freshman in high school standing 5 feet tall and weighing about 95 pounds would be a recruiting target, but I actually was. No, I was not being recruited by Michigan to play tailback, although I sure would've liked that. After all, football was my favorite sport. And I wasn't being recruited by UCLA to play basketball, although I sure would've liked that also. So who in the world would recruit a freshman who weighed 95 pounds for anything? I was being recruited for the high school wrestling team. You see, 95 pounders were pretty valuable guys to have on the team. Some schools didn't have a 95 pounder on the wrestling team and they would have to forfeit that weight class. Meaning, you got an automatic win in that weight class if you had a guy on your team that weighed 95. One of the most basic ways to have a competitive wrestling team is to make sure that you fill all the weight classes. Well, they had their eye on me for that 95 pound spot.
Now of course, there aren't too many guys walking the halls of high school that weigh95 pounds. So early in the fall when I was on the football team I became the target of the wrestling coach. Mr. Gross was his name and he was the line coach for the varsity football team. He was an older coach, had a big barrel chest, and always looked mad. Every time he saw me out on the practice field, or coming in or out from practice, he would always stop me and say, "NL,” in that nasal voice of his, "are you gonna come out for wrestling?" At first I ignored him because I have to admit I was a little scared of Mr. Gross. Secondly, I had never wrestled in my life. Oh ,I had wrestled in the backyard with my buddies and with my brothers, but not this kind of wrestling with rules. In fact, I didn't even know there was such a thing as a high school wrestling team. I played basketball in grade school and although I wasn't great, I started on the grade school basketball team and had a fair amount of success. We didn’t have a wrestling team. So when Mr. Gross started asking me if I was going to wrestle, my response of course, was no. Now I didn't tell HIM that, because as I said, I was a little bit afraid of Mr. Gross. So my strategy was just to pretend like I didn't hear him or duck him whenever I could. Eventually, I had to answer because he continued to ask me if I was going to wrestle. My response was a very definite, "ummm maybe." Why couldn't this guy just take a hint? There was no way I was getting talked into this.
Toward the end of the football season, one night after practice, one of the captains of the wrestling team who was not playing a fall sport, grabbed me and brought me into the wrestling room. In the room was a handful of guys practicing takedowns. At least that's what they said they were doing. I believed them because I didn't know what a takedown was. Well, Mr. Wrestling Captain paired me up with another little freshman and said, "You guys are going to go takedowns for a little bit. Mr. Gross said you were interested in wrestling." "What do I do?" I asked. “Well”, the captain replied, “You just try to get a hold of him and take him down to the mat.” He looked at my opponent and winked. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, so I just figured I'd try to tackle him just like I did on the football field. The captain blew his whistle, and I charged in low and hard, grabbed both legs and took the guy to the mat. The captain was in disbelief! He had been working with this other little guy for the last two weeks and I walked in to the room and took him down in about 5 seconds. After chastising my opponent, he told us to try again. Again I tackled my opponent to the mat in about five or 10 seconds. Now the captain was really chastising my opponent. His protégé had just gone down twice in 30 seconds. He told me that was enough, and sent me to the locker room.
Mr. Gross must've gotten wind of what happened, because the next day he told me that I was definitely going to wrestle. I finally said, "Mr. Gross I've never wrestled in my life, I don't think I can do it." Well, he had a good answer for me. The old coach said, "Are you tough?" "Yeah, I'm tough." I said. "Are you a good athlete?" “Yeah, I'm a good athlete.” “ Then you can wrestle!” growled the old coach, and that was that. He sure knew how to appeal to my cockiness.
When the football season got over, I figured I'd give wrestling a try. So on the first day of practice I reported to the team. I walked in to see about 30 other guys in the practice room. Most of them were football players so I felt right at home. I didn't know the rules, I didn't know any moves, and I had no clue what was going on. The one thing that I can remember about my first wrestling practice, is that about 20 minutes into it I threw up. I thought I was in good shape. After all, I had been playing sports my entire life. But I wasn't ready for this. It took only a few minutes and I was so tired I could barely get off the mat. After barely making it to the bathroom I threw up in the toilet, wiped my mouth with my t-shirt and headed back into the room. What had I gotten myself into?
Thanks again to http://www.chiefpigskin.com for letting me share.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
My Heisman Vote
I don't have a Heisman vote and it’s probably a good thing that I don't. My vote would be much different than everyone else's. I was watching the Orange bowl the other night between Virginia Tech and Stanford and one player stood out to me all night long. He played for Stanford and I was very impressed. No, that player was not Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck. As good as he is, and I was impressed with him, the player that stood out to me was not Luck. The player I was impressed with was playing inside linebacker for Stanford and he was making plays all over the place. He was standing running backs up in the hole, sacking the quarterback, and knocking down passes. Oh, wait a minute, it wasn't the inside linebacker I was watching, it was the fullback. On power running plays he was colliding with linebackers and standing them up. He also ran the football on the goal line and scored a touchdown. Was this two different guys? Nope, it was the same guy. His name was Owen Marecic and he went both ways for Stanford. This guy not only played both ways, but he did it very well. It was one of the most impressive performances I've seen from a college football player in a long time. I mean, guys just don't play both ways anymore. It was like watching Bronco Nagurski from the 30s.
Of course, I realize that most Division I college football programs don't need guys to play both ways. They’ve got plenty of scholarship players that can do the job and there's really no reason one guy needs to play both ways. We all know the benefits of having one way players. It keeps your players fresh, is great for team morale, and allows guys to focus on just one position. But still, you have to be impressed with what Marecic did. I know I was, and he gets my vote for the Heisman trophy. He is a FOOTBALL PLAYER.
My question is, why doesn't this guy get more publicity? A few guys got all the publicity this year and he was not one of them. I think that's a shame because our focus is on the wrong places.
We focus on the guys with the big stats, and if players don’t have the stats they don't get much attention. I’d like to see it changed a little bit, but that's just my opinion. It seems as though if you're not on everyone's preseason Heisman list, you don't get much of a look all season. No one would ever go for this idea, but I think there should be no Heisman talk until at least halfway through the season. Let's find out who's really having a good year instead of just hyping a guy at the beginning. Having said all that, do I think Cam Newton deserved to win the Heisman Trophy award? Yes, I do. You can't argue with the season that he had, and he is a deserving winner but I sure did like the way this Marecic played.
Thoughts on the Rose Bowl
Let me begin by saying that TCU is a very good team. Let me also say that Wisconsin is a very good team. I really enjoyed this year's Rose Bowl, I thought it was a great matchup between two great teams. One of the things I like about college ball and high school ball, is that you get to look at different types of offenses go at it. On one side we had the spread offense of TCU, and on the other side the power offense for Wisconsin. Each team pretty much said, “ this is who we are and this is what we do, and you're going to have to stop us.” Last year I wrote an article about having an identity and I think these two programs fit the bill perfectly. TCU says, "We're going to spread you out and use our speed and quickness and passing attack to beat you." Wisconsin says, “We're going to line up in our power formation with tight ends and we're going to run the football with play action passes and that's how we're going to beat you.” Have an identity and stick to it.
A lot of people questioned whether or not TCU could handle Wisconsin’s size, but let's face it, all football teams are big. It's not like TCU was a bunch of small guys out there. They were big, Wisconsin was just bigger and probably bigger than most teams. But people forgot that TCU plays very good defense, and good defense is good defense whether you're playing big teams or not. The player from TCU that stood out to me was a guy named Tank Carder. He was all over the place, making tackles, sacking quarterbacks, and knocking down passes. He was the epitome of what TCU football is.
The biggest surprise of the night for me, was when Wisconsin scored a late touchdown to cut the lead to 21-19 late in the game. When they lined up to go for two, they lined up in the shotgun and I about fell off my couch. I couldn't believe that Wisconsin was lining up in the shotgun in such a crucial situation. This is not what Wisconsin does, this is not their identity. I fully expected them to line up in their power formation and either run the football, or throw a play action pass. They had just run the football right down TCU's throat on the last drive. If they had come out in their power formation, I have to believe that TCU would've been very, very worried about having to stop the run. Also, in the back of their mind, they had to know the play action pass was probably coming. But of course, in that situation you must stop the run first. That's why I believe that a play action pass on the goal line would've been the best choice. But instead, Wisconsin lined up in the shotgun and the pass was batted down. In Wisconsin's defense, they did have a man open in the end zone. And I am not about to question the Wisconsin coaches, I have a lot of respect for what they do and it's their team. They know what they're doing, and they've been with the guys in practice and games all year. But it certainly did surprise me.
Between the bowl games, and checking out what's new on www.chiefpigskin.com, I'll get plenty of football. Now it's on to that time of year when we begin preparing for next season, working the weight room, going to clinics, and encouraging our athletes to be the best they can be.
Of course, I realize that most Division I college football programs don't need guys to play both ways. They’ve got plenty of scholarship players that can do the job and there's really no reason one guy needs to play both ways. We all know the benefits of having one way players. It keeps your players fresh, is great for team morale, and allows guys to focus on just one position. But still, you have to be impressed with what Marecic did. I know I was, and he gets my vote for the Heisman trophy. He is a FOOTBALL PLAYER.
My question is, why doesn't this guy get more publicity? A few guys got all the publicity this year and he was not one of them. I think that's a shame because our focus is on the wrong places.
We focus on the guys with the big stats, and if players don’t have the stats they don't get much attention. I’d like to see it changed a little bit, but that's just my opinion. It seems as though if you're not on everyone's preseason Heisman list, you don't get much of a look all season. No one would ever go for this idea, but I think there should be no Heisman talk until at least halfway through the season. Let's find out who's really having a good year instead of just hyping a guy at the beginning. Having said all that, do I think Cam Newton deserved to win the Heisman Trophy award? Yes, I do. You can't argue with the season that he had, and he is a deserving winner but I sure did like the way this Marecic played.
Thoughts on the Rose Bowl
Let me begin by saying that TCU is a very good team. Let me also say that Wisconsin is a very good team. I really enjoyed this year's Rose Bowl, I thought it was a great matchup between two great teams. One of the things I like about college ball and high school ball, is that you get to look at different types of offenses go at it. On one side we had the spread offense of TCU, and on the other side the power offense for Wisconsin. Each team pretty much said, “ this is who we are and this is what we do, and you're going to have to stop us.” Last year I wrote an article about having an identity and I think these two programs fit the bill perfectly. TCU says, "We're going to spread you out and use our speed and quickness and passing attack to beat you." Wisconsin says, “We're going to line up in our power formation with tight ends and we're going to run the football with play action passes and that's how we're going to beat you.” Have an identity and stick to it.
A lot of people questioned whether or not TCU could handle Wisconsin’s size, but let's face it, all football teams are big. It's not like TCU was a bunch of small guys out there. They were big, Wisconsin was just bigger and probably bigger than most teams. But people forgot that TCU plays very good defense, and good defense is good defense whether you're playing big teams or not. The player from TCU that stood out to me was a guy named Tank Carder. He was all over the place, making tackles, sacking quarterbacks, and knocking down passes. He was the epitome of what TCU football is.
The biggest surprise of the night for me, was when Wisconsin scored a late touchdown to cut the lead to 21-19 late in the game. When they lined up to go for two, they lined up in the shotgun and I about fell off my couch. I couldn't believe that Wisconsin was lining up in the shotgun in such a crucial situation. This is not what Wisconsin does, this is not their identity. I fully expected them to line up in their power formation and either run the football, or throw a play action pass. They had just run the football right down TCU's throat on the last drive. If they had come out in their power formation, I have to believe that TCU would've been very, very worried about having to stop the run. Also, in the back of their mind, they had to know the play action pass was probably coming. But of course, in that situation you must stop the run first. That's why I believe that a play action pass on the goal line would've been the best choice. But instead, Wisconsin lined up in the shotgun and the pass was batted down. In Wisconsin's defense, they did have a man open in the end zone. And I am not about to question the Wisconsin coaches, I have a lot of respect for what they do and it's their team. They know what they're doing, and they've been with the guys in practice and games all year. But it certainly did surprise me.
Between the bowl games, and checking out what's new on www.chiefpigskin.com, I'll get plenty of football. Now it's on to that time of year when we begin preparing for next season, working the weight room, going to clinics, and encouraging our athletes to be the best they can be.
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