he represents. He’s a strong leader with strong
right now, as a new member of this team, my job is
principles so I have faith in the decisions he makes.
to follow our senior leaders and to help the team in any way I can to achieve another championship.
WHAT WAS THE MOST CHALLENGING EXPERIENCE YOU HAD IN IRAQ?
WHAT ARE YOUR FUTURE GOALS?
Probably the boredom. Even in the infantry, it’s
I’d like to work in the NFL one day. I love business
not like you walk outside everyday and step into
and I love football, so I can think of no better
a “Rambo” movie. A vast majority of the time on
combination. It is a hard business to get into but I
patrol or on post, you are just bored out of your
have no doubt that I can succeed.
mind. So you just had to do your best to stay focused on your mission and on your down time, keep yourself entertained.
WOULD YOU EVER GO BACK TO IRAQ? WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO ATTEND JU?
WITHOUT A DOUBT.
After being away for eight years, I wanted to move back somewhere close to my family in Gainesville and I wanted to play football. JU offered that combination of a small-school environment with a quality football program. The fact that Coach Bell was here also let me know this was the right place for me.
TEAMMATES CALL YOU SARGE (SHORT FOR SERGEANT) ON THE JU FOOTBALL TEAM. DO YOU THINK OTHER STUDENTS LOOK UP TO YOU KNOWING HOW MUCH YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED? I just try to carry myself with confidence and conduct my business like a professional and if that rubs off on my teammates then that’s great. Good leadership is not to tell people you’re a leader, it’s to show them. While in the Marine Corps, I tried to give my Marines a good example to follow and if they ever made a mistake or needed a correction then I was there to make sure that mistake didn’t happen again, and that’s no different than on a football team. I have been the “new guy” enough to know that you don’t just barge your way onto a new team and start demanding respect. In order to be a great leader you have to be a good follower and
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