MSJ

I spent the summer getting ready for the transfer. When I got to came I wasn't nervous at all. I knew my talents, and I knew they wanted me here for a reason. After the first day of practice I had already moved up the depth chart. So I was excited to see if I would be playing a lot on defense. The first couple of weeks of the season I played special teams. I thought to myself, I didn't want to spend my whole college football career playing special teams. But, luckily, my opportunity came. I moved up to the number one spot on the depth chart at strong safety. I started the rest of the season. I played well, I wanted to make more plays than I did, but that's the competitive nature in me. As a team the season didn't go as well as I had thought it would have. We ended the season at 5-5. It was a heartbreaker of a season, and if a few things that were done different we could have a better record.

Bad Season Continued

After the bad loss we had meetings the next week, like we always did, and I was now third string free safety. I was infuriated and that's when I figured out that it was going to be a long season for me. I went back to playing special teams. At one point, after the third game and third loss, I had the urge to quit because I thought that I didn't recieve a fair opportunity. I just stuck it out for the season. The season went horrible. After going 8-3 and winning a conference championship; we went 4-7. After the season, and after I saw that I couldn't get another chance to prove myself, I asked for my transfer papers. I called my head coach from high and asked him if he could help me find a new school. Within a couple of weeks I had about four schools to choose from. During winter break I visited Mount Saint Joseph's, and that was it for me. I had knew where I wanted to transfer to. I liked the program, facilities, location, and environment.

Season

I couldn't have asked for a better environment for my first game playing defense. Playing in front of 15,000 people on the road against the #1 team in Division II football. I thought I was ready. I wasn't really nervous before the game; I was more focused than anything. Then the game started and my head was spinning. It was like I had forgot everything I practiced and got from watching film. I calmed down after I made my first tackle. Unfortunately I took a bad angle and the running back broke a long run before I made that first tackle. I came out instantly. I was put back in later in the game and I ended up not having a bad game after that first mishap. We ended up getting beat pretty bad which started a bad season all together.

Summer/Summer Camp

During the summer I stayed at the school like I had done the previous year. I worked at a fireworks store and I lifted when I could. I wasn't worried about losing my spot because I knew the position and I felt that I was able to play the upcoming season. Camp came and I was still number one on the depth chart. I had a pretty good camp. I was making plays, and really proving that I deserved to play. As camp winded down we had to prepare for the #1 team in the nation. So my first game was gonna be a big test, but I thought I was ready for it. The week leading up to the game I was preparing myself for the opponent, and I felt that I was ready.

After the Season/Spring ball

After the season we celebrated the win. Unfortunately we didn't make the playoffs. We took a couple months off and then started winter workouts after winter break. I worked hard in the off season because I wanted to play defense that next season. I made it through our winter conditioning fine. The time for spring football practice had come. The coaches told me that I would have to know the cornerback and free safety positions. I was happy about that because I knew that the free safety positon was open. During practice I was put in at free safety and never looked back. I had made it to the top of the depth chart. The spring ball game came around and I was excited to be starting defense. The game going ok, I missed a couple of opportunities to make some tackles but I felt I was having a pretty game nonetheless. Going into the last minute of the game the defense was down by 5 points. So the defense needed to come up with a turnover and score. The next play the offense ran a run play, the cornerback came up and stripped the ball from the running back. He started to get tackled so he, blindly, tossed the ball behind him. I was luckily there to catch it and run it in for a touchdown to end the game. A great ending to our spring ball game.

Conference Championship

Going into our last game our record was 7-3. The team we were playing was 10-0. They were in our conference and the game was for the conference championship. The weather was horrible. It was cold, snowy, windy, and it rained a little bit. The other team had a really good quarterback who could run and pass. They also had this other quarterback that they brought in that could really throw the ball. The wasn't really much of a game the first half. They just flat out whooped our butt the first half. We went into halftime down 20-10. The second half we started slow and really couldn't get anything rolling offensively. At the end of the third quarter it was 23-10. Then we finally started to pick it up scoring 14 unanswered points to take the lead 24-23. A interception gave us an opportunity to take the lead. After taking the lead I made the tackle on kickoff. They tried to drive the field with under a minute left. They drive down to our 36 yard line and the same cornerback, who intercepted the first ball, got another interception with :19 seconds to go. The game was over and we had won the Conference.

Season Continued

After that first win, the season continued to roll along. I continued to play special teams playing kickoff and kickoff return. It felt good that I was playing as a freshman, but my competitive spirit wanted to be out there playing the whole game. However, I understood that I wasn't ready to play on defense yet; so I was content playing special teams. There were some games where I would get in on defense if we were winning big. There was also a game where a teammate that played my position got hurt in the third quarter and I came in and played the rest of the game. Talk about nervous; but didn't do too bad. As the year went along we won a lot of games and lost a few. My freshman season I was living the dream. I was playing college football, traveling to different states, playing great teams from all over...I couldn't have dreamed a better situation.

Start of the Season

Week one had arrived and I was nervous the whole week. I found out that I would be playing mostly special teams (punt, and punt return teams). As the week ended I started to get more and more excited. Saturday finally came and I wasn't nervous anymore. I was ready to hit the field when I woke up. The team did the normal routine when we played at home. We meet for breakfast, walked to the grotto for a prayer, then walked to the locker room to get ready. Before the game I really didn't talk to anyone because I was focused on not messing up when I got on the field. We went out for pre-game warm-up and that's when I really started to get amped up for the game. The time had finally come; the game started. We stopped their offense on 3rd down, and it was time for me to go out on the field. My job on punt return was to stop the receiver/flanker from getting to the returner. I did alright on the first punt return, but the second I did horrible. I let my man run by me and put a huge hit on my teammate who was returning. I got pulled from punt return. I was angry, but at myself because I knew I should have done better. I did get into the game, toward the end, playing cornerback. We won the game.