When I got the acceptance letter from the University or Arizona I was ecstatic. I had been a fan of the Wildcats ever since I had done a football camp there when I was 6 years old. It's part of what got me into football and I was pumped to go help out their program. They allowed me to start as a true freshman and I performed pretty well. I managed to win Pac-12 defensive freshman of the year, which was a surprise to a lot people, seeing as I was just a 3 star recruit and many teams had gotten some freshmen ranked in the ESPN 300. Going into my sophomore year, expectations were high for me and the Arizona defense, but in week 2 disaster struck. I intercepted a pass and an awkward tackle on my return caused me to tear my meniscus and damage my MCL. I was out for the rest of the season doing PT and recovering. My teammates voted me captain as a Junior, citing my perseverance with the injury as the main reason. I think I did this decision justice, as I was named first team all Pac-12. We missed out on the Conference championship to a good UCLA team but were selected to play in the Alamo Bowl. In that game I had 8 tackles, a strip sack, and an interception that I returned for the game sealing touchdown in out 31-20 win over Texas. I graduated college with my degree in communications, which I thought would help me deal with the media.
Man what was college like? I remember my first visit to Georgia, the girls in daisy dukes and the atmosphere on campus. I’d wanted to go to UT, being from Dickson, Tn, but I got a couple calls but they didn’t seem to interested in me even though I was Mr. Tn my junior and senior year of high school. Anyway I get off the plane in Athens and coaches and cheerleaders are waiting for me. We walk into the airport and fans are snapping pictures and asking for autographs. A few paid me to sign so I did.
I decided that’s where I wanted to be. Close to home, great program and most of all they wanted me. I signed that afternoon before I left. Well verbal anyway, couldn’t sign yet. Anyway on signing day I hold the conference with cameras and such and make my decision on espn. People was shocked I chose Georgia over Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State. I was excited about starting practice in spring. Spring arrives and I’m told I’m suspended for the first 4 games for receiving money at the airport. My heart sank and I was pissed and confused. We went 2-1 until I returned and we went undefeated rest of the season and made championship game vs Alabama. We beat them in conference game but they got their key players back and we lost 28-21. I caught the ball and got to the 2 but time ran out. My best game in college was against UT my junior year. Man I had 12 catches, 178 yds but 5tds. We routed them and I got sweet revenge on my childhood team. That’s some of my memories from college. Of course the parties and those sweet peaches walking around campus.
Retired Players: Action Jackson-442 Catches 6199 yds 34 tds 14 ypc 8 seasons 1xChamp 3x pro bowler
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Sandy Bakshi's road through college football was a difficult and winding one. Although Sandy stood out on his high school team he was not heavily recruited by college programs, but was determined to play at the Division I level and walked onto the Syracuse team anyway. Bakshi's experience with the team was one of constantly proving himself. He was near the top of the team academically but struggled to stand out in practices, despite his athleticism and physicality he simply didn't have refined technique or seem to "fit in" at any one position. Syracuse's Head Coach during his freshman season wanted to try him out at Tight End, but it was a miserable failure and Bakshi spent most of the year on Special Teams with occasional rotation on the D-Line. This only made Sandy even more determined the next year, and he practiced extensively to improve his pass rush moves and tackling form. After all his work to polish his D-Line play, when he came back the new Head Coach wanted him to move to Linebacker, and while he played pretty well he showed some real flaws at his new position. This only further motivated Sandy, and by his Junior year he was clearly the best player on an otherwise unimpressive Syracuse defense.
"By the time I left college," Sandy told a reporter from the Tijuana Times after being drafted by the Luchadores, "I feel like I had learned how to play every position on defense. Honestly, I feel like if I dropped a little weight I could play Cornerback right now." His former teammate LB Jerome Baxter, now with the BC Lions of the CFL, also commended Sandy as a player, "There are certain guys you look at and just know in 20 or 30 years they're going to be a head coach somewhere. That's Sandy. He couldn't always do it but he could sure tell you how to do it, that kid had the whole game going on in his head before he stepped on the field." Outside of football, Sandy's time in college is a bit of a mystery. Sandy's teammates thought of him as a very serious person, and he graduated near the top of his class in International Relations. Several of his professors told him to pursue post-graduate education but Sandy was fully committed to football as a career. Sandy went to parties with his teammates but his friends say that he was still very calm and mild even when drinking. He met his wife in his sophomore year and remained with her throughout college, later marrying her before moving to Yellowknife to begin his major league career. Code: Word Count: 443
Emondov Emoji was one of those stand out high school football players that you just knew was going to go places........and he knew it too. The kid may have been a little too cocky at times, but at the end of the day there really was no competition for him in high school. When he accepted the scholarship offer to the University of Washington, he thought it was going to be business as usual and he'd just be big man on campus at another school. Little did he realize just how good coach Jimmy Lake was at recruiting secondary players and that his hopes of being BMOC soon diminished as he saw himself stuck behind some really talented dudes. This bruised the ego a bit for Emoji and he paid because of that, getting on the bad side of some of the coaches and his teammates. He'd continue to work hard and improve, but no matter what he did the poison had already been felt. This ultimately led to a few blowups between him and the coaches that after one particular incident got him kicked off the team and his scholarship revoked. While college might have been the best time of life for some players, for Emoji it wasn't the best.
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