They're Here!!!!!!
Yesterday afternoon 121 Little Giant football players picked up room keys, equipment, and prepared for the opening day of Wabash football camp Monday.
I guess you could say the weekend really started Saturday. Fourteen Wabash players participated in the annual Indiana Special Olympics Fedex Plane Pull. The Little Giants finished eighth overall, but the smiles were every bit as big as the past two years when they won the event, because the real winners are the individuals who participate in Special Olympics events. The players raised over $1,100 for the program and were one of 34 teams participating in the event. Steve Charles covered the plane pull Saturday and has photos and story on the Wabash web site.
Sunday check-in is the same sort of routine every year, but there's always a newness to it, as well. I had a chance to finally meet Keith and Ryan Kerney. I spoke to Keith, Ryan's father on the phone when Ryan made his decision to attend Wabash. It was nice to put a face with a name and get to officially meet another face that we'll see at Wabash games over the next four seasons.
Barrington Hodges, a freshman linebacker from Cathedral High School in Indianapolis, and I had an unplanned meeting. With so many activities going on that afternoon, his family completed the move into his living unit while Barrington prepared to go through his physical and final paperwork to make certain he ready for Monday's testing program. His mother came back over with his room key. I found Barrington and he smiled as he took the key. "There are a lot of new things to get used to today," he said.
He's right. But you can already see the freshmen players make friends and becoming part of this team. Standing in line while receiving equipment, the freshmen have already started to ask questions. They've started developing friendships that will last for the rest of their lives. It may not seem that way today, but hopefully they'll take a quick moment to look around at any event on campus when alumni return. Those bonds forged in those first few moments today continue to become stronger with each and every day spent together in the classroom, on the football field, and in every endeavor these young men undertake.
They are now Little Giants. Their Wabash journey has begun.
Photo — Freshman running back Evan Sobecki checks in with trainers Mark Colston and Mark Elizondo Sunday afternoon. David Haggard (in the background) watches as the next freshman player is announced and greeted by his teammates.