Sitting here in Missoula pondering the end of my sons football career after a tough Furman loss to Montana. In this day of NIL, portal etc we tend to lose site of the good still in college sports or sports in general. FCS football takes you back to an earlier time where guys just play for the love of the game. The Furman team was a team whose sum was better than the individual pieces. When never had the talent of many teams in the SOCON much less the Montanas of the world. But those guys were a group of young men who cared about each other and just worked their butts off to make up for a little less talent. Back to back 10 win seasons and a SOCON title
But mostly they are just a group of great young men who will now head out into this world and be lawyers, doctors, business owners, coaches and just better citizens for the lessons of toughness, commitment, team, sacrifice and all the other traits sports can build in the growth of young adults
My son with tears in his eyes looked at me after game and said what do I do now. Football has been his life ….. he left for Furman 7 days after high school graduation and it has been summer workouts, weight room grinding, spring practice on top of the season for five years. His knees are shot.
I just hugged him and said …. I love you and am so proud of you and I know the lessons of football will help him in the ups and downs of life. Go paladins !!