By Collin Stork
Student Writer
College football is tough, grueling and high-powered but only about 8 percent of high school football players get the chance to step on the field at the collegiate level. Golf at the same level is serene, quiet and under appreciated and even less high school golfers get to experience the competition, about 7 percent.
I am part of a very small number of athletes that have chosen to be a multi-sport student-athlete in both football and golf. I was recruited to play golf at East Central University out of high school and transferred to Northwestern after my freshman year when East Central cut their golf and tennis programs because of budget cuts.
I came to Alva last year with no thought of playing football and just sticking to golf. After attending a lot of football games in the past couple years, I began to miss strapping on my helmet and going out underneath the lights. I thought I took my pads off for the last time 3 years ago in high school, like I said, I thought.
I had the opportunity to interview Matt Walter, the head football coach here at Northwestern and toyed at the idea of letting me try out for my senior year. He told me that the coaches would discuss it and he would get back to me within the week. The day before spring ball started, I got a text asking me if I still wanted to try out, which I had been waiting for, and I had my shot at being a multi-sport athlete in college.
I walked out onto Ranger Field on a rainy and overcast day with one goal in mind, to leave as the Rangers’ new long snapper. I went through my warm-up and snapped ball after ball to the special teams coach and I felt it coming back to me, my snaps were getting better and I knew I had it in the bag. After my tryout, Coach Walter came up to me with his hand out and a smile across his face. He sat me down at their table and handed me a few forms to fill out with the Northwestern Football heading and I knew at that point that I was in.
I showed up to practice the next day and a few people knew who I was but even more had no idea who I was. I went out and did my thing and I started attracting attention from the team because I was new and proficient at snapping.
Now here we are, April 21, spring football has come to an end with the final horn of the Spring Game and I am officially a Ranger long snapper. Being six-feet-four inches and weighing 240 pounds and playing golf is rough, people mistake me for playing another sport like football or baseball, but golf has been a passion of mine for the past 12 years.
I wanted to play college golf and accomplished that goal, playing football is just another brick in the wall for me.
Going into my senior year, fresh out of my second ACL reconstruction, I wanted to explore more of my athleticism, it’s a bold call on my part, but I wanted to put my size to more use.
My family has my back on this call, they saw how hard it was for me to hang up my jersey in high school and my mom encouraged me to chase something I wanted to do. I threw caution to the wind and went for it and, in my eyes, nailed it. I’m excited to add a new journey to my life, pursuing another sport while maintaining my original sport and finishing my degree will be a test, but it’s one I am willing to dominate.
I look forward to this summer and fall, being a part of the Northwestern Football Culture as well as maintaining my golf game after missing the spring with surgery. I am very proud to be a Ranger!