It is finally beginning to hit me that all the clichés that every Senior has said since my Freshman year are actually true. It goes by fast, enjoy every minute, you’re only a Senior once, etcetera etcetera. It’s all true—as much as I would not have expected it to be so as a Freshman. Ironically, I am now the one saying these things, and I certainly hope this year’s Freshman listen better than I did.
It’s been a great beginning to my Senior year here at Wabash so far. We’re clicking as a team, blowing out our opponents in our wins, and yet we all feel that there is much room to improve. You know that you’re at a special place when people get upset after a 56-7 win at all the mistakes they feel were made. Every week we are looking to improve, to not just beat our next opponent, but to play the best we possibly can.
A highlight so far has been being voted captain by my teammates, along with Matt Kraft, Skip Tokar, and Matt Hudson. It’s been great to have another linebacker at the coin flip with me, especially one as “hard” as Matt Kraft, in the words of Coach Gilbert. I know that every time Kraft interlocks his fingers with mine at the toss, that he is only thinking “hard” thoughts, and planning how he can make the rest of the team as “tough” as him.
All joking aside, this week will be a true test for both sides of the ball. Allegheny is a good team—the best we have seen thus far. I’m excited to have the opportunity to truly test our team against one of the better teams in the conference. Trust me, we will be bringing our best to Meadville.
Just as we felt as a team while leaving the field at Chicago following our 48-10 victory last weekend, I approach my inaugural blog with mixed emotions. I find myself in a unique position. I will spend one more year at Wabash to graduate in 2011, yet this is my final season as a football player - ever. The body begins to deteriorate in the latter stages of the college football player’s career. Going up flights of stairs only means sharp knee pains and waking up to a Sunday morning is always accompanied by the popping of sternums, backs, and elbows. As I look ahead to next year, part of me eagerly wonders what college life will be like without spending my late afternoons on the field. Yet, a bigger part of me fears that day. That day also means that my fellow seniors of Wabash Football will have continued on to the dreaded “real world.” Some will be married, others will be overseas, and still more may be enrolled in additional school on the eastern coast. This season has been surreal thus far. I can only close by thanking my fellow brothers of Wabash Football for the experiences thus far. As we prepare to take the field on each of the remaining Saturdays left in the season, and for us seniors, our entire football career, I take refuge in knowing that while we all share a passion for this wonderful game we play, this desire is only surpassed by a fervor for each other. WAF!
This season has already been memorable. There is nothing like football in the fall, especially on a team like we have here at Wabash. It feel s right to be back here with these guys, these are some of my best friends. Camp was a lot of learning, but we had fun along the way. I especially enjoyed the American Gladiators competition, it was my favorite show growing up. Basically, we broke into teams and competed in several events that resembled the 90's show. Though we didn't win, everyone's a winner when we play powerball at practice.
Now that camp is over, we have really hit the ground running. I feel really honored to be named a Team Captain with some of my favorite people, especially Co-captain Gerald Watson. Everything is right in the world when I am holding his powerful, manly hands walking out to the coinflip. Playing in my first game back was like (as some people have called it) riding a bike. Though the scheme is different, football is still played with 11 players to a side and I still try to tackle the guy with the ball. As a defense, we did a good job with doing just that, but we still have plenty of room for improvement. Our Wabash Football fans are great and I love hearing their ecstatic cheers as we battle at our home games. A special thank you to all of those who have sent your congratulations to us.
The guys with the ball this week (University of Chicago) will be a true test. Luckily, we have a great coaching staff that will prepare us. Every day I pick up something new about my position(s), Coach Gilbert makes sure of that. For this coming week, I am really excited to see where we will stack up against a great running game. We will be bringing our best.
Wabash football has been excellent so far. I have realized in the past few weeks that I made the best decision of my life to attend Wabash College. Coming here a week early to play football was a great opportunity not only to improve my skills but also to get to know my teammates and coaches—the guys who comprise the family that IS Wabash football. I have never felt welcomed and accepted so quickly into a team as I did when I came to Wabash. All of the work that each of my teammates, coaches, and I put in over the past weeks lead up to what ultimately was a domination of our first opponent. I didn’t get onto the field except for a kickoff in the last few minutes of the game; however, I can definitely say the whole atmosphere of pre-game and during the game was something I will never forget. I got chills as we, the Little Giants of Wabash, swaggered out of the locker room and past the most loyal fans in the nation. It was an unbelievable feeling of decades of tradition. What goes through you as you make that walk out to the field for the first time is inexplicable. It was so fun to be out there as we went to work quickly—scoring two touchdowns before three minutes had even ticked off the clock. As exhilarating as it was, I was still extremely pumped up to play in the Red Squad game twodays later against DePauw.
Knowing I would play a bigger role in this game that was about to occur, I couldn’t help but have a smile on my face all through pre-game. One might think that since it’s not a varsity game it doesn’t mean much. Try telling that to the men who strapped it up and came ready to play on that Monday evening. It was no joke that we came to dominate our rivals from down south. It was no joke that we rocked DePauw 36-6. That experience helped me realize 100% I made the right choice in schools.
As much as I love football, the true reason that any man chooses Wabash is for the sheer fact that he is dedicated to becoming the absolute best in anything and everything he does. I realized in my first few days of classes that it wouldn’t be easy—but it would definitely be worth it. Wabash is a college that demands excellence from its students and forces its students to demand excellence from themselves. Trust me, when someone says this school is difficult they are completely correct. Yet, when they also say… it will be worth it, well, the statistics of success of those who have graduated from here speak for themselves. As I heard many times, this is an excellent, top of the line school; but it isn’t for everyone. In my mind, it is only meant for those men who wish to work the hardest to become the best. And it WILL be worth it.
When I reported to the Allen Center classroom for our Monday film session and watched Denison’s scrimmage on their home field I immediately flashed back to my freshman year. It was on that field that my college career as a Wabash football player began. It’s funny how much I can still recall about that day. That prompted me to think about my four years here and everything that my fellow seniors and I have done since then in preparation for this season. Every workout, practice, and film session that we have gone through in order to be the best we can be. It is finally time for all of those things to pay off for us this season…
With that said I can hardly put into words how excited I am for this season to get underway. For me and the rest of this senior class, this will begin the last season for us to strap it up on Saturday afternoons alongside our teammates and play the game we all love so much. I can’t wait to take the field this weekend in front of our students, faculty, parents, and fans to begin our pursuit of our fifth straight NCAC Championship in front of our home crowd at Byron P. Hollett Stadium. My experience here so far as a member of the Wabash College Football team has been incredible and I expect this year to be no different. I can't wait for all our hard work to start paying off. Our time has come... WAF!
We reported on August 17th. This was a very crazy day; we began by moving into our housing units as well as taking Impact tests to help the trainers in case we suffer a concussion. As soon as it was our turn to come in we were lined up outside the Allen Center and brought in one at a time by J-Mo, one of our Senior O-linemen. Afterwards we went to pick up our equipment and fill up our lockers. When I got to mine I found the biggest playbook I have ever seen. As soon as we were done with all of our equipment we had the rest of the night to relax. The next day was an early one with breakfast at 7:30, as I walked out into the sunrise I knew I was going to have to work harder than I ever have before. After breakfast the freshmen headed back to our rooms to study our playbooks and catch up on some sleep while the upperclassmen went out for a 9:00 practice. When lunch rolled around at noon, I was anxious for our practice to start and as soon as 2 came I was out there with my helmet and cleats on ready for football. This practice was unlike any I have ever done before, although we only had helmets to protect us we were going all out with Coach Raeburn screaming for us to all stay off the ground, a hard thing to do in the game of football. After a 3 hour practice, I was the most sore I have ever been in my life, and as I slowly made my way to dinner I knew that this was only the beginning but hey, “the first is always the hardest” right? Now originally I thought practice would be over after all of that, but not here, we still had tapes and meetings to go over along with team building exercises.
The same schedule went on for the first week with a little more being added every day. And it was during this week that the brotherhood that being a Wabash College Football player gives really came out. Throughout the week we had team building periods where we would learn about each other. We would do activities such as American Gladiator where each team would go through challenges and the winners from each would move on to the next round. I have to give a shout out to team 9 for making it to the final round where we unfortunately lost thanks to Coach House and his Tennis racket of doom.. Along with all of this freshmen would be paired up with an upperclassman in order to form the sense of a team. This was a great way to meet teammates. I was lucky to be paired up with two great guys, although on this team you can’t go wrong. The guys I got paired up with were Dan Wood and Jeremy Morris. Although this was a great way to learn who my teammates are, the best experiences came from the guys off the field. One night I was invited over by Matt Hudson and Evan Isaacs to their Manor. These guys were great in making me feel like I was part of the team even though I am just a freshman. Unfortunately though, all good things must come to an end and as the week drew to a close, reality hit and school began.
Our Freshman Orientation began with the hair raising “Ringing-In Ceremony” where as soon as President White rang the bell that has welcomed Wabash men throughout the 177 years that it has been in existence, we the Freshmen became Wabash Men and joined a prestigious brotherhood that extends to all points of the world. As soon as the ceremony ended we began our orientation process of being welcomed into Wabash, learning about the Liberal Arts, etc. After a few hours it was time to say goodbye to our parents so we could begin our journey as Men. This was a special moment where I was able to see just how proud my parents were of me. Throughout the week we spent hours on end in meetings learning the ins and outs of Wabash College. One day, we had to do community service with our Tutorial classes. My class went and I volunteered at the Vanity Theater in Crawfordsville, I personally painted the side trim of the building. As well as being busy with Orientation, Football at this time was in full swing, we were in full pads and we were going hard.
Orientation came to an end and classes began, on my first day in class I was assigned an essay one of those “Welcome to College” things. As for me, although I have an 8 O’clock class, my schedule is perfect, on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays I have 3 classes and my school day is done by noon giving me enough time to relax before Football. As for Tuesdays and Thursdays, I only have one class in the morning which is very nice.
This past Saturday was our Red and White Scrimmage which was the best part of Football to date, we were finally able to play in a game like scenario on the game field that I had only dreamed of playing on up to this point. It was also a great opportunity for my parents to come and see how I’ve been doing. The Sunday after the scrimmage was back to business, we had another scrimmage to get ready for and finally we would be hitting someone other than or own brothers. As week 3 comes to an end, I look back at the time and realize that it has been hard work but has been very rewarding. Wabash Always Fights!!!
It is finally beginning to hit me that all the clichés that every Senior has said since my Freshman year are actually true. It goes by fast, enjoy every minute, you’re only a Senior once, etcetera etcetera. It’s all true—as much as I would not have expected it to be so as a Freshman. Ironically, I am now the one saying these things, and I certainly hope this year’s Freshman listen better than I did. 
Going up flights of stairs only means sharp knee pains and waking up to a Sunday morning is always accompanied by the popping of sternums, backs, and elbows. As I look ahead to next year, part of me eagerly wonders what college life will be like without spending my late afternoons on the field. Yet, a bigger part of me fears that day. That day also means that my fellow seniors of Wabash Football will have continued on to the dreaded “real world.” Some will be married, others will be overseas, and still more may be enrolled in additional school on the eastern coast. This season has been surreal thus far. I can only close by thanking my fellow brothers of Wabash Football for the experiences thus far. As we prepare to take the field on each of the remaining Saturdays left in the season, and for us seniors, our entire football career, I take refuge in knowing that while we all share a passion for this wonderful game we play, this desire is only surpassed by a fervor for each other. WAF!
The guys with the ball this week (University of Chicago) will be a true test. Luckily, we have a great coaching staff that will prepare us. Every day I pick up something new about my position(s), Coach Gilbert makes sure of that. For this coming week, I am really excited to see where we will stack up against a great running game. We will be bringing our best.
When I reported to the Allen Center classroom for our Monday film session and watched Denison’s scrimmage on their home field I immediately flashed back to my freshman year. It was on that field that my college career as a 
We reported on August 17th. This was a very crazy day; we began by moving into our housing units as well as taking Impact tests to help the trainers in case we suffer a concussion. As soon as it was our turn to come in we were lined up outside the Allen Center and brought in one at a time by J-Mo, one of our Senior O-linemen. Afterwards we went to pick up our equipment and fill up our lockers. When I got to mine I found the biggest playbook I have ever seen. As soon as we were done with all of our equipment we had the rest of the night to relax. The next day was an early one with breakfast at 7:30, as I walked out into the sunrise I knew I was going to have to work harder than I ever have before. After breakfast the freshmen headed back to our rooms to study our playbooks and catch up on some sleep while the upperclassmen went out for a 9:00 practice. When lunch rolled around at noon, I was anxious for our practice to start and as soon as 2 came I was out there with my helmet and cleats on ready for football. This practice was unlike any I have ever done before, although we only had helmets to protect us we were going all out with Coach Raeburn screaming for us to all stay off the ground, a hard thing to do in the game of football. After a 3 hour practice, I was the most sore I have ever been in my life, and as I slowly made my way to dinner I knew that this was only the beginning but hey, “the first is always the hardest” right? Now originally I thought practice would be over after all of that, but not here, we still had tapes and meetings to go over along with team building exercises. 