SAN ANTONIO — Senior center Nate Leonard is back again this season with a blog that will give fans an inside glimpse into UTSA Football.
The Roadrunners (2-6, 1-3 C-USA) are off this week and they will return to action next Saturday, Nov. 8, at Rice (4-3, 2-1 C-USA). The third all-time meeting between the intrastate rivals is scheduled to kick off at 11 a.m. at Rice Stadium in Houston.
Through the first eight games of the year, the 6-foot, 280-pounder is second among the squad’s offensive linemen with 33 knockdown blocks while grading out at 77 percent.
Leonard, a Senior CLASS Award candidate and National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete nominee, also was a member of the preseason Dave Rimington Trophy watch list (nation’s top center) and he earned preseason second-team all-conference accolades from Athlon Sports. The only player to start all 42 games in program history was a 2013 second-team Capital One Academic All-American in addition to being named the 2013-14 Conference USA Scholar-Athlete of the Year for football.
A leader on and off the field, the McKinney native was instrumental in the team's success last fall, as the Roadrunners won their last five games en route to a 7-5 overall record and 6-2 mark in league play.
He is coming off a junior season that saw him record a team-leading 70 pancakes and he also graded out at 82 percent. He was a key part of an offensive line that did not commit a holding penalty during the season while helping the offense average 25.6 points, 417.8 total yards (175.4 rush/242.4 pass), 21.9 first downs and 32:24 possession time per contest.
Below is his 10th entry of the fall.
Week 10: Fight The Sand
This bye week could not have come at a better time.
Our team not only needs to heal physically, but we need to heal mentally and emotionally, as well. This is a tough time for our program and, although we enter the bye week with a bad taste in our mouths, the bye is just what we need.
I previously have said that I dislike bye weeks because it feels like we just spin our wheels with no game on Saturday, but when it comes to this particular bye week and this particular Saturday, it's like warm soup on a frigid day. It's just what the doctor ordered.
I want you all to know that the senior class is handling this season like men. We are keeping our heads held high, showing up to practice with a winning attitude and fighting to uphold the values — commitment, confidence, character and composure — that we have instilled in this program.
We know that this season is far from over and we vow not to go out on a bad note. We have sweated too much, bled too much, run too many sprints, lifted too many weights and sacrificed way too much to let this season slip through our fingers like wandering sand. Like sand in the hourglass that is our season. Every team's hourglass has turned, but we are fighting like hell to delay the final grain.
I am not covering for our losing record, but it should be known that the attitude and outlook of the senior class still is positive. We built this program, community and fan base and we will not let it crumble beneath our feet. We are doing absolutely everything in our power to right this ship.
Our coaches open every fall camp with this same line.
"Take an assessment of your body because it won't feel this good again until the season is over."
It gets a chuckle out of the players, but it's a sick chuckle. Some players hear that line with nagging injuries from the year before or two, maybe even three, years before. It's just the nature of the sport.
Bye weeks allow for our bodies to rest. They allow us to flip that hourglass back over, if only for one week. They allow us to get closer to the way our bodies felt when fall camp began.
Bye weeks also are a time for mental rest, a time to recuperate the mind and the soul. They allow us to spend quality time with our families, which get neglected during a Division I football season.
Bye weeks allow us to reflect and ground ourselves. They give us a clear window to see the reasons we have gotten where we are. When things aren't going our way, having some time off to make corrections helps rebuild our confidence.
One of my favorite movies is "The Replacements" starring Keanu Reeves.
For those of you who haven't seen it, it involves a professional football team that goes on strike in order for the organization to increase their salaries. Instead of raising salaries and meeting the players' demands, the organization recruits replacement players to maintain the season until the original players decide to quit the strike. After a horrendous start for the replacement team, they have a "Come To Jesus" meeting in which they discuss their fears.
Keanu Reeves's character is the replacement quarterback, Shane Falco. He says that his fear is "quicksand." Although the movie is intended to be a comedy, there are some serious moments in the film, some that I have taken with me my entire career.
Falco didn't mean quicksand as in he was afraid of stepping into a pit of unrelenting muck, but rather he meant quicksand as such:
"You're playing and you think everything is going fine. Then one thing goes wrong. And then another. And another. You try to fight back, but the harder you fight, the deeper you sink. Until you can't move … you can't breathe … because you're in over your head. Like quicksand."
Every time I hear this quote in the movie, I have to fight back that lump in my throat that I talk about all too often. This quote doesn't just apply to football. It also applies to life. Anyone who has ever spent any time on this Earth has found themselves in this quicksand and the only thing you want to do, the only thing you can do, is fight to keep your head above the muck.
As a football team, we are currently in this quicksand. All we can do is come together, form an even closer bond and fight to keep our heads from going under.
Nic Johnston always has been a teammate that helps us tighten that bond and fight until the end.
Nic a good teammate and a better man. Here is what UTSA Football means to him.
"Building a program is something very few people get to experience. The relationships I've built will last a lifetime. This program has been my life for the last five years and will continue to be a huge part of who I am for the rest of my life."
I always have appreciated the way Nic plays football. Since the very first defensive play in our program history, Nic has been a force on the field. His legacy has been left on our highlight tapes and the helmets of our opponents.
I, along with my valiant teammates, approach this bye week with the right attitude. Although our record is lopsided, our determination is rock solid.
If you're going to take it from anyone, take it from a senior who has seen everything there has been to see in this program. Take it from me.
We are not going out with our heads down and tails tucked. When the final grain falls, we will go out with our heads held high for everything that we have done and leave behind a legacy that no one can touch.
Previous entries
· Oct. 20
· Oct. 13
· Oct. 6
· Sept. 29
· Sept. 22
· Sept. 15
· Sept. 8
· Aug. 31
· Aug. 25