05-09-2021, 08:34 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-12-2021, 02:24 AM by Asked Madden.)
Ioe Torrent- Chapter 2
And my first media here in the ISFL I was giving the story of Ioe Torrent. it ended with entering college at the University of Missouri but there is actually a little bit more to tell before we enter the college years so here is a continuation of Ioe Torrent’s story from the original article titled “the beginning."
High School- so as mentioned before Ioe grew to be quite large during high school. as a sophomore he reached Heights of 6’5 250 lbs. he played varsity his sophomore year where he played pretty darn well on both the offense and defensive lines as well as a little bit of stint at Tight End due to his size and athleticism. moving into the junior years where he really started to come into his own. finally reaching almost 6 foot 8, 290 pounds, Ioe became a monster on the field. During his junior year he started to receive several college recruitments letters in the Mail. to name a few there were several division two universities here in Missouri and Kansas. including northwest Missouri State which was a division two powerhouse here in the state of Missouri. Missouri western, University of Central Missouri, Lindenwood, and on the Kansas side, there were Pittsburgh state and Fort Hays. this was exciting because colleges were starting to work and come to games and communicate regularly. but none of the big dogs were really banging on his door quite yet. Missouri did send a few representatives and there were some phone numbers exchanged in emails but nothing too definitive and not the eagerness that the division two universities were showing. moving into senior year much of that junior year flub that even though there was a lot of size was turned into muscle. and if you thought there was dominance at the junior year senior year was a whole new monster. entering senior year Ioe racked up 29 Sacks, 97 Tackles, and even 2 interceptions. Torrent Helped lead his high school team to a state championship in the class 5A in Missouri. during that season there were some more universities sending letters and sending representatives to talk to him at school. Kansas, Missouri, Kansas State, Arkansas, Wisconsin, and even Nebraska. there were a little bit of interest coming from Texas, which to be 100% honest was a big contender at that time as they were strong consideration to go there. Austin being an awesome city, and an awesome program. Missouri kept showing the most interest. the defensive coordinator recalls almost daily to check in talk and gauge interest.
next came the recruiting phase: the first visit was to Missouri obviously. Where Torrent I was showing around the city of Columbia the University itself visiting many of the facilities weight room dorms the whole shebang. Torrent spent the weekend with the players where they took him out to the bars of course it being a college town underage drinking was pretty much a nonstarter an overall It was a fantastic time. during the course of the season Torrent I would go on several more of these types of visits with Kansas Wisconsin Kansas State Arkansas, but Texas never came calling. again, Missouri was at that time defensive end University. With players like Justin Smith Shane Ray Aldon Smith Charles Harris Michael Sam Marcus Golden Kony Ealy. that was quite the plethora of defensive ends coming from the University and Ioe knew that if he went there, he might get the most out of his skill set. Torrent was big and strong, but he needed to work on his hands and his feet and overall play recognition ability if he was going to do anything in college. so the coaches kept calling every single day, while working at a local mall, Ioe would routinely step outside on his break to speak with defensive coordinators from all these different schools gauging interests. he was quite the experience as they all made him feel very good and wanted. they were creating process was pretty stressful and it was time to sit down and ask what he really wanted to do. having a high school girlfriend and family and friends he knew that he would want to come home on a regular basis. there was the unknown adventure of traveling to a new state to a new school several hours away that though intriguing was also slightly scary. But when it came down to it and really breaking down the teams you organizations the coaching the travel the location the players. I had to just sit down and ask myself where I would actually regret not going to if I went someplace else. so after months and months of discussion with friends family and coaches the tough decision was made. Ioe Torrent would be going to the University of Missouri to be a Tiger. now I will say that during this entire process calling those other coaches at the other universities was tough. specially since many of those teams would be playing on Saturdays for the next four years. Ioe never really liked disappointing people so it was really tough to tell him that he wasn't going to go into those universities. So after a very successful senior on the gridiron and a successful year in the classroom it was time for out to take that next leap and head to Columbia Mo where he would start the next phase of his football career.
The College years:
man what a rush. stepping on that campus for the first time alone, it was quite the experience. most college campuses around this country are quite beautiful endeavors. there's nothing like walking around the quad or the University dorms. seeing all these new faces from all walks of life and all corners of the world it's a lot for an 18 year old to take in. nervous excited everything you could think of in terms of adjectives could describe the way I was feeling. but I was there earlier than many of the other students because the football team had offseason workouts to get to so we were actually on campus two weeks earlier than the rest of the student body. there were still some students that were there mostly employees that worked for the University as advisors or tour guides for these students that were getting trained. so we did have a quick orientation with some of those folks where they talked about where to go for books for food, he talked about jobs on the campus, peer support and all kinds of other activities. moving day in itself was quite the adventure. this was the first time that I really left home by myself and so care with my old beat up truck I traveled down Missouri 350 and I70 the almost three hours away from Kansas City to Columbia. I have my Xbox close TV now it's pretty much it. So Lathrop will be my home for at least the next year, that being the dorm and myself with several other football players started unpacking getting ready. there wasn't much time because that evening we would be getting together with the team to go over some things. reflecting on it now it's really hard to remember everything that happened during that first week on campus. we had three a day practices for the football team. we would get up at 4:00 AM to go to the indoor track to get in our hour and a half conditioning before film studies with their individual position groups. after that we would go to breakfast and have a weight training regiment in the afternoon. with the weight room being my second home I felt the most happy and comfortable during that time but even that was quite the challenge. here I was a freshman at a big time University at a big time program with all these big time players trying to lift and show myself. even though I was6’8 I was sometimes trying to avoid being center of attention and just kind of fade into the background and get my workouts in. after workouts we would then have lunch and have a little personal time to ourselves before we had to get back for evening walkthroughs and practices. so let's start with that story right there. in college the very first practice apparently is somewhat of a hazing phase for the newer players. we go out under the football field in what we called shells, which was basically small little pads and a helmet not your typical football gear. and even sometimes would just be a helmet. on this particular practice the devans flying went through some drills with just helmets got to know each other did some conditioning and it was pretty much a pretty laid back walkthrough. and then they called the offensive line over and they wanted us to do some line drills. so I lined up against a junior right tackle, who happened to be one of the biggest guys on the team and a returning all conference player. I thought in my brain since we were just wearing helmets and nothing else that this was just going to be sort of a soft walkthrough. boy was I wrong. that oftens alignment grab me lifted me off my feet and threw me into the dirt like I was nothing. and that's when I knew that shells meant nothing, every single day was going to be hitting regardless of pads or not, especially for us younger guys. so for the next couple of weeks we had conditioning workout film practicing line drills going over the playbook. and let me tell you something about college. that playbook is ridiculous. in high school we had our basic 4-3 scheme, and a few other packages. we had some stunts and some bullets packages and some turns and some twists but nothing too extreme. here in Missouri we ran a similar 43 scheme, with about 1000 more packages 1000 more bullet schemes 1000 more stunts. there is even plays that call for me to drop back into coverage which is something I wasn't used to. never my entire career in high school was I asked to drop back into coverage because I was just there to dominate the offensive line and make sacks. so here is a whole new training curve that I had to prepare my body for and learn the footwork learn the play no one to get back know which part of the field to cover. this was nerve wracking to say the least. so a little bit of lack of sleep the excitement of college and everything else it was quite the hectic time and like I said that first month pretty much went by in a blink of an eye. once classes started things got more regular we still had our early morning practices during the preseason breakfast classes lunch classes practice and then some study time. college football specially at the Division One level was basically a job. sometimes you didn't have enough time to study and then you were yelled at by the coaches for not studying. if you got behind in your classes you had to stay with the coaches and the tutors after practice and after dinner to get caught up. so freshman year was pretty tough for me. the adage of leaving high school and being the big fish in the tiny pawn, and then getting to college and being the tiny fish and in freaking ocean is absolutely true. Even guys that are 6’8 290 can feel small. that being said I made a bunch of new friends got to know a lot of people in the dorm and had overall general good time my freshman year. but that's what it was freshman year was basically an adaption. Where I got used to the new life. I got used to the team I got used to the practices I got used to the playbook. I didn't see a single snap my freshman year.
Sophomore year,
software was a little bit different I came into the second year a little bit more experienced a little stronger a little bigger I've almost 300 pounds at this time. I got to be a rotational player on the defensive line. so let's start with that my first game as a collegiate athlete. it was the first game of sophomore year we were home against New Mexico. the lobos were coming in pretty low they weren't expected to be very good that year and we were pretty heavy favorite. that really wasn't what I was on my mind at the time. what was on my mind was that this is my first game to go out there and prove myself on a real playing field again. so the jitters we're real. but I did my normal routine I do before every football game. when we get to the field I go out and I just walk around, getting another grass laying down and just kind of getting into a meditative state preparing myself mentally. this is the calming phase, I checked the field for any issues places to look out for later on. but for the most part I just sort of get in my own body in experience the moment of the field. next I'm going to the locker room and start preparing my hands and my ankles getting wrapped up by the trainer. listening to my music of choice again mentale focusing and preparing remembering the schemes and the playbook and what we were going to try to do that day. and then do something that's kind of strange and unorthodox to some. I get prepared with the uniforms the exception of my pads and Jersey and helmet. with just the lower part of my uniform on I go into the locker room into the showers. turn the shower on cold and I let the water hit me. this is the phase where start mentally preparing myself for war. I shock my body with the cold water to wake myself up. after three hours of mental preparation and meditation and calming it's time to spike the adrenaline. take a shot of an energy drink and I get the eye black on my face. and just before it's time to walk out to the crowd I get the rest of my uniform on soaking wet. well I shouldn't really say soaking wet as I don't just sit in the shower basically just have my head under there so it's basically my heads wet it would be kind of weird to go out there with a wet shirt on plus that would just slow me down. but now it's time to go out there and do something. running out of the tunnel for the first time in Colombia was quite the experience Farout Field like many other collegiate universities had an experience all its own. the roar the crowd and everything was why I was there. running out of the field circling around on the sideline and just maintaining that state of mind of war. to say my first game was uneventful was probably not telling the whole truth. I played about 45% of the snaps on defense and made a few plays. I didn't get pushed around at all and I held my own pretty well. it was kind of a blowout that game and so in the fourth quarter, pretty much in garbage time we had a blitz package lined up on 3rd and long. how would be standing to the outside and basically just speed rushing to get to the quarterback. and even though it was in the fourth quarter the crowd has already started to go home and there was zero interest because it was relatively blowout I was able to achieve my first sack as a college football player. boy did that feel good. beating the right tackle with a simple rip maneuver to the outside and then cutting inside I basically had a straight line shot at the quarterback. I'm I got a little caught up in the moment so I didn't get a clean shot on because he did see me it was started to retreat at the time that I was lounging but I was able to grab his lower half of his body and at least drag him to the ground. that would be the first sack of my collegiate career that I would never forget. my sophmore would go on to be relatively exciting. by the second half of the season I'd work my way up to a more reoccurring role in getting about 60% to 70% snaps in the rotation. I wouldn't say I ever got to the starting role but the way Missouri kind of ran their scheme was there was quite a bit of rotational movement on the front 4. they like to keep everybody as fresh as possible. but software I ended the year with 8 sacks and about 19 tackles.
Not to necessarily skip the junior year because it was a relatively important steppingstone to my senior year, but for the sake of time of this article I won't speak too much about it. I will say that by the 4th game of the season against Arkansas was the starting strongside defensive end. I was able to rack up quite a few more sacks again with 11. and let all the defensive line and tackles with 29. I should also make mention that my junior year I did get into a little bit of trouble off the field. mountain drinking with some friends I made the bonehead decision of doing some property damage. I didn't get in significant trouble since the owner of said property didn't wish to pursue charges against me but boy did I get ravaged by the coaching staff. for moving on from that senior year was the year. Even though junior year was really good senior year was a leap in all its own. racking up 22.5 sacks, and 44 tackles. Was it consensus all conference, and won the most outstanding defensive lineman award for the conference that year. help lead Missouri to a conference championship appearance or ended up losing. that was a relatively tough loss. but during the course of that season I felt like things were just clicking. I felt healthy I felt strong I felt like my mind was right I feel like the game had gotten easy. long ways from that first day freshman year. I was a team leader and team captain and I found another niche. during the course of this entire adventure I didn't really speak much about academics so I'll speak on it here. I majored in several different things during the course of college including communication personal fitness criminal justice. but then I hit something but I think and had I not found a career in football would be where I would be going. I always knew I wanted to coach maybe Little League or high school but education was something that I didn't realize I enjoyed so much. entering the education majoring field I got to study up on how to become a teacher how to become a leader how to become a communicator how to become all these things that I've been wanting to be. during the course of my junior year we got to do some student teaching at the local high school where I really enjoyed myself. I really enjoyed engaging with the students especially in a feel that isn't too typically popular, and that's history, world history to be more exact. having the size that I had in the reputation and somewhat celebrity status that I had in the town of Columbia with being a member of the Missouri football team the classroom was always pretty good for me. the students stay typically engaged when asked questions typically sometimes off topic into football but I usually would steer them back to the topic at hand and they would indulge me. so I was really enjoying myself as an educator and felt that if the football thing didn't workout I might go be a high school football coach and a high school teacher. or maybe come back to college and be a professor. it's weird thinking about it now that I did so many different things because I didn't know what I wanted to do I knew I wanted to do something that helped people but I just couldn't really quite put my finger on it. I do have some fun memories of being part of the communication classes where we did a mock radio show and actually went on the student radio and entertained the listeners or whoever was actually listening. personal training was fun just because of my affinity for the weight room and working out and staying in shape. criminal justice was interesting just because I considered for a little bit about becoming a law enforcement officer. could you imagine some 6’8 300 lbs guy chasing people around Columbia Mo? lol. so education was where really things clicked for me. Well that will do it for this episode, join me next time as lookback at my journey from being a ISFL prospect to maybe, just maybe being drafted.
And my first media here in the ISFL I was giving the story of Ioe Torrent. it ended with entering college at the University of Missouri but there is actually a little bit more to tell before we enter the college years so here is a continuation of Ioe Torrent’s story from the original article titled “the beginning."
High School- so as mentioned before Ioe grew to be quite large during high school. as a sophomore he reached Heights of 6’5 250 lbs. he played varsity his sophomore year where he played pretty darn well on both the offense and defensive lines as well as a little bit of stint at Tight End due to his size and athleticism. moving into the junior years where he really started to come into his own. finally reaching almost 6 foot 8, 290 pounds, Ioe became a monster on the field. During his junior year he started to receive several college recruitments letters in the Mail. to name a few there were several division two universities here in Missouri and Kansas. including northwest Missouri State which was a division two powerhouse here in the state of Missouri. Missouri western, University of Central Missouri, Lindenwood, and on the Kansas side, there were Pittsburgh state and Fort Hays. this was exciting because colleges were starting to work and come to games and communicate regularly. but none of the big dogs were really banging on his door quite yet. Missouri did send a few representatives and there were some phone numbers exchanged in emails but nothing too definitive and not the eagerness that the division two universities were showing. moving into senior year much of that junior year flub that even though there was a lot of size was turned into muscle. and if you thought there was dominance at the junior year senior year was a whole new monster. entering senior year Ioe racked up 29 Sacks, 97 Tackles, and even 2 interceptions. Torrent Helped lead his high school team to a state championship in the class 5A in Missouri. during that season there were some more universities sending letters and sending representatives to talk to him at school. Kansas, Missouri, Kansas State, Arkansas, Wisconsin, and even Nebraska. there were a little bit of interest coming from Texas, which to be 100% honest was a big contender at that time as they were strong consideration to go there. Austin being an awesome city, and an awesome program. Missouri kept showing the most interest. the defensive coordinator recalls almost daily to check in talk and gauge interest.
next came the recruiting phase: the first visit was to Missouri obviously. Where Torrent I was showing around the city of Columbia the University itself visiting many of the facilities weight room dorms the whole shebang. Torrent spent the weekend with the players where they took him out to the bars of course it being a college town underage drinking was pretty much a nonstarter an overall It was a fantastic time. during the course of the season Torrent I would go on several more of these types of visits with Kansas Wisconsin Kansas State Arkansas, but Texas never came calling. again, Missouri was at that time defensive end University. With players like Justin Smith Shane Ray Aldon Smith Charles Harris Michael Sam Marcus Golden Kony Ealy. that was quite the plethora of defensive ends coming from the University and Ioe knew that if he went there, he might get the most out of his skill set. Torrent was big and strong, but he needed to work on his hands and his feet and overall play recognition ability if he was going to do anything in college. so the coaches kept calling every single day, while working at a local mall, Ioe would routinely step outside on his break to speak with defensive coordinators from all these different schools gauging interests. he was quite the experience as they all made him feel very good and wanted. they were creating process was pretty stressful and it was time to sit down and ask what he really wanted to do. having a high school girlfriend and family and friends he knew that he would want to come home on a regular basis. there was the unknown adventure of traveling to a new state to a new school several hours away that though intriguing was also slightly scary. But when it came down to it and really breaking down the teams you organizations the coaching the travel the location the players. I had to just sit down and ask myself where I would actually regret not going to if I went someplace else. so after months and months of discussion with friends family and coaches the tough decision was made. Ioe Torrent would be going to the University of Missouri to be a Tiger. now I will say that during this entire process calling those other coaches at the other universities was tough. specially since many of those teams would be playing on Saturdays for the next four years. Ioe never really liked disappointing people so it was really tough to tell him that he wasn't going to go into those universities. So after a very successful senior on the gridiron and a successful year in the classroom it was time for out to take that next leap and head to Columbia Mo where he would start the next phase of his football career.
The College years:
man what a rush. stepping on that campus for the first time alone, it was quite the experience. most college campuses around this country are quite beautiful endeavors. there's nothing like walking around the quad or the University dorms. seeing all these new faces from all walks of life and all corners of the world it's a lot for an 18 year old to take in. nervous excited everything you could think of in terms of adjectives could describe the way I was feeling. but I was there earlier than many of the other students because the football team had offseason workouts to get to so we were actually on campus two weeks earlier than the rest of the student body. there were still some students that were there mostly employees that worked for the University as advisors or tour guides for these students that were getting trained. so we did have a quick orientation with some of those folks where they talked about where to go for books for food, he talked about jobs on the campus, peer support and all kinds of other activities. moving day in itself was quite the adventure. this was the first time that I really left home by myself and so care with my old beat up truck I traveled down Missouri 350 and I70 the almost three hours away from Kansas City to Columbia. I have my Xbox close TV now it's pretty much it. So Lathrop will be my home for at least the next year, that being the dorm and myself with several other football players started unpacking getting ready. there wasn't much time because that evening we would be getting together with the team to go over some things. reflecting on it now it's really hard to remember everything that happened during that first week on campus. we had three a day practices for the football team. we would get up at 4:00 AM to go to the indoor track to get in our hour and a half conditioning before film studies with their individual position groups. after that we would go to breakfast and have a weight training regiment in the afternoon. with the weight room being my second home I felt the most happy and comfortable during that time but even that was quite the challenge. here I was a freshman at a big time University at a big time program with all these big time players trying to lift and show myself. even though I was6’8 I was sometimes trying to avoid being center of attention and just kind of fade into the background and get my workouts in. after workouts we would then have lunch and have a little personal time to ourselves before we had to get back for evening walkthroughs and practices. so let's start with that story right there. in college the very first practice apparently is somewhat of a hazing phase for the newer players. we go out under the football field in what we called shells, which was basically small little pads and a helmet not your typical football gear. and even sometimes would just be a helmet. on this particular practice the devans flying went through some drills with just helmets got to know each other did some conditioning and it was pretty much a pretty laid back walkthrough. and then they called the offensive line over and they wanted us to do some line drills. so I lined up against a junior right tackle, who happened to be one of the biggest guys on the team and a returning all conference player. I thought in my brain since we were just wearing helmets and nothing else that this was just going to be sort of a soft walkthrough. boy was I wrong. that oftens alignment grab me lifted me off my feet and threw me into the dirt like I was nothing. and that's when I knew that shells meant nothing, every single day was going to be hitting regardless of pads or not, especially for us younger guys. so for the next couple of weeks we had conditioning workout film practicing line drills going over the playbook. and let me tell you something about college. that playbook is ridiculous. in high school we had our basic 4-3 scheme, and a few other packages. we had some stunts and some bullets packages and some turns and some twists but nothing too extreme. here in Missouri we ran a similar 43 scheme, with about 1000 more packages 1000 more bullet schemes 1000 more stunts. there is even plays that call for me to drop back into coverage which is something I wasn't used to. never my entire career in high school was I asked to drop back into coverage because I was just there to dominate the offensive line and make sacks. so here is a whole new training curve that I had to prepare my body for and learn the footwork learn the play no one to get back know which part of the field to cover. this was nerve wracking to say the least. so a little bit of lack of sleep the excitement of college and everything else it was quite the hectic time and like I said that first month pretty much went by in a blink of an eye. once classes started things got more regular we still had our early morning practices during the preseason breakfast classes lunch classes practice and then some study time. college football specially at the Division One level was basically a job. sometimes you didn't have enough time to study and then you were yelled at by the coaches for not studying. if you got behind in your classes you had to stay with the coaches and the tutors after practice and after dinner to get caught up. so freshman year was pretty tough for me. the adage of leaving high school and being the big fish in the tiny pawn, and then getting to college and being the tiny fish and in freaking ocean is absolutely true. Even guys that are 6’8 290 can feel small. that being said I made a bunch of new friends got to know a lot of people in the dorm and had overall general good time my freshman year. but that's what it was freshman year was basically an adaption. Where I got used to the new life. I got used to the team I got used to the practices I got used to the playbook. I didn't see a single snap my freshman year.
Sophomore year,
software was a little bit different I came into the second year a little bit more experienced a little stronger a little bigger I've almost 300 pounds at this time. I got to be a rotational player on the defensive line. so let's start with that my first game as a collegiate athlete. it was the first game of sophomore year we were home against New Mexico. the lobos were coming in pretty low they weren't expected to be very good that year and we were pretty heavy favorite. that really wasn't what I was on my mind at the time. what was on my mind was that this is my first game to go out there and prove myself on a real playing field again. so the jitters we're real. but I did my normal routine I do before every football game. when we get to the field I go out and I just walk around, getting another grass laying down and just kind of getting into a meditative state preparing myself mentally. this is the calming phase, I checked the field for any issues places to look out for later on. but for the most part I just sort of get in my own body in experience the moment of the field. next I'm going to the locker room and start preparing my hands and my ankles getting wrapped up by the trainer. listening to my music of choice again mentale focusing and preparing remembering the schemes and the playbook and what we were going to try to do that day. and then do something that's kind of strange and unorthodox to some. I get prepared with the uniforms the exception of my pads and Jersey and helmet. with just the lower part of my uniform on I go into the locker room into the showers. turn the shower on cold and I let the water hit me. this is the phase where start mentally preparing myself for war. I shock my body with the cold water to wake myself up. after three hours of mental preparation and meditation and calming it's time to spike the adrenaline. take a shot of an energy drink and I get the eye black on my face. and just before it's time to walk out to the crowd I get the rest of my uniform on soaking wet. well I shouldn't really say soaking wet as I don't just sit in the shower basically just have my head under there so it's basically my heads wet it would be kind of weird to go out there with a wet shirt on plus that would just slow me down. but now it's time to go out there and do something. running out of the tunnel for the first time in Colombia was quite the experience Farout Field like many other collegiate universities had an experience all its own. the roar the crowd and everything was why I was there. running out of the field circling around on the sideline and just maintaining that state of mind of war. to say my first game was uneventful was probably not telling the whole truth. I played about 45% of the snaps on defense and made a few plays. I didn't get pushed around at all and I held my own pretty well. it was kind of a blowout that game and so in the fourth quarter, pretty much in garbage time we had a blitz package lined up on 3rd and long. how would be standing to the outside and basically just speed rushing to get to the quarterback. and even though it was in the fourth quarter the crowd has already started to go home and there was zero interest because it was relatively blowout I was able to achieve my first sack as a college football player. boy did that feel good. beating the right tackle with a simple rip maneuver to the outside and then cutting inside I basically had a straight line shot at the quarterback. I'm I got a little caught up in the moment so I didn't get a clean shot on because he did see me it was started to retreat at the time that I was lounging but I was able to grab his lower half of his body and at least drag him to the ground. that would be the first sack of my collegiate career that I would never forget. my sophmore would go on to be relatively exciting. by the second half of the season I'd work my way up to a more reoccurring role in getting about 60% to 70% snaps in the rotation. I wouldn't say I ever got to the starting role but the way Missouri kind of ran their scheme was there was quite a bit of rotational movement on the front 4. they like to keep everybody as fresh as possible. but software I ended the year with 8 sacks and about 19 tackles.
Not to necessarily skip the junior year because it was a relatively important steppingstone to my senior year, but for the sake of time of this article I won't speak too much about it. I will say that by the 4th game of the season against Arkansas was the starting strongside defensive end. I was able to rack up quite a few more sacks again with 11. and let all the defensive line and tackles with 29. I should also make mention that my junior year I did get into a little bit of trouble off the field. mountain drinking with some friends I made the bonehead decision of doing some property damage. I didn't get in significant trouble since the owner of said property didn't wish to pursue charges against me but boy did I get ravaged by the coaching staff. for moving on from that senior year was the year. Even though junior year was really good senior year was a leap in all its own. racking up 22.5 sacks, and 44 tackles. Was it consensus all conference, and won the most outstanding defensive lineman award for the conference that year. help lead Missouri to a conference championship appearance or ended up losing. that was a relatively tough loss. but during the course of that season I felt like things were just clicking. I felt healthy I felt strong I felt like my mind was right I feel like the game had gotten easy. long ways from that first day freshman year. I was a team leader and team captain and I found another niche. during the course of this entire adventure I didn't really speak much about academics so I'll speak on it here. I majored in several different things during the course of college including communication personal fitness criminal justice. but then I hit something but I think and had I not found a career in football would be where I would be going. I always knew I wanted to coach maybe Little League or high school but education was something that I didn't realize I enjoyed so much. entering the education majoring field I got to study up on how to become a teacher how to become a leader how to become a communicator how to become all these things that I've been wanting to be. during the course of my junior year we got to do some student teaching at the local high school where I really enjoyed myself. I really enjoyed engaging with the students especially in a feel that isn't too typically popular, and that's history, world history to be more exact. having the size that I had in the reputation and somewhat celebrity status that I had in the town of Columbia with being a member of the Missouri football team the classroom was always pretty good for me. the students stay typically engaged when asked questions typically sometimes off topic into football but I usually would steer them back to the topic at hand and they would indulge me. so I was really enjoying myself as an educator and felt that if the football thing didn't workout I might go be a high school football coach and a high school teacher. or maybe come back to college and be a professor. it's weird thinking about it now that I did so many different things because I didn't know what I wanted to do I knew I wanted to do something that helped people but I just couldn't really quite put my finger on it. I do have some fun memories of being part of the communication classes where we did a mock radio show and actually went on the student radio and entertained the listeners or whoever was actually listening. personal training was fun just because of my affinity for the weight room and working out and staying in shape. criminal justice was interesting just because I considered for a little bit about becoming a law enforcement officer. could you imagine some 6’8 300 lbs guy chasing people around Columbia Mo? lol. so education was where really things clicked for me. Well that will do it for this episode, join me next time as lookback at my journey from being a ISFL prospect to maybe, just maybe being drafted.
Code:
3579 words