Little Big Man

[JC QUICK]

-cont.-

"Hello Coach, how are you?"

"Good James, thanks for asking. I got your email from your coach, and your film, and I must say I'm pretty impressed. Your coach talks very highly of you. I wanted to ask you if you were still interested in trying out for our team. We would love for you to come join some of our summer workouts, and help our team out what do you say?"

"I would absolutely love to. Thank you so much!." I started shaking with excitement, and my parents started to crowd around me to figure out what was going on.

"Ok, well I let the athletic director call in a few days, to help you out with the financial situation. SO now we can only give you a partial scholarship, but if you work hard enough, improve your grades, and perform on the field, you could gain a full scholorship. How does that sound?"

"That sounds awesome coach. Again thank you so much!"

"Ok well, I'll keep in touch, and I look forward to seeing you at the workouts and when practices start."

"Ok we'll talk to ya later."

"Ok see ya later."

"Bye."

[JC QUICK]

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-August 2011-

The first day of college football practice was probably the most intense practices I have ever been apart of. First of all it was sooo HOT!! The state of Kansas made a call for all high schools to not have football practice because it was so hot, and the Kansas City Chiefs had to go inside and K-State and KU both didn't have practice, but we still had a full pad practice. It was incredible I had never practiced in such heat like that.

It was also faster then I had ever played before. The guys were so much stronger and faster then high school football normally is. It was overwhelming. We started by stretching together, and then we went to position-specific groups. I really liked our receiver coach Cole Ballard, who was the track coach at our school. But as the day went on, it seemed like he was harder on me then any other player. He was biting at every little mistake I made, even if it wasn't that effective towards the play we made.

I was sweating so much in the heat, and with coach Ballard in my ear the whole time, it was the longest practice ever. They canceled the two-a-day practice that we were supposed to have later that day, because it was so hot, but as I sat in my dorm room, more exhausted then I had ever been, I started to second-guess if I had what it took to play college football...

Photos from the first of football camp:

Here I am catching punts in the 100 degree heat.


Here I am battling against a cornerback, as you can see Coach Ballard is watching me intensely.

[JC QUICK]

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August 25, 2011 - It was another scorching hot day in Dodge City, Kansas. Coach Ballard was making us run more routes then normal, and my body was shot. I felt like I knew most of the routes, and I was doing them right, but I felt I wasn't making enough of an impression, and we had two more days until we had a scrimmage vs. Nebraska-Wesleyan, in Lincoln, Neb.

"OK, time for one-on-ones!!," said Coach Ballard. Our head coach, Coach Majesky, called the cornerback's over for some one-on-ones. This was my last opportunity to prove to the coach's that I can play at the college level. After about three guys in front of me when, I was slated against Dedric Roberts. He was a pretty strong corner, but he was 5-6, and I was 5-7, so there wasn't really a big advantage. It was all about who wanted it more.

I lined up, and I looked in his eyes. The sophomore corner from Wichita wanted to win just as badly as I did. I was told to run a stop-and-go route, which is probably my best route. "Hike!" I took off running. I had about a step on him when I decided to act like I was running a curl. I planted my feet hard for the fake. QB Aaron Hanson pumped faked to me. When I saw Roberts turn to go for the underneath curl, I turned back up-field. When I went to plant to go up-field, my ankle caught the grass, and I heard a pop. It sent me straight to the turf.

I layed there holding my ankle. It was numb all over. I tried to get up and walk if off so that the coaches wouldn't think I was a pus**, but I couldn't. The trainer helped me off the field. It was the same ankle I had problems with about a year ago, when I sprained it playing basketball with some friends.

I sat out the rest of the practice, in the trainer's room. It was a nice and relaxing room. It looked so professional. I saw a few soccer players in there, and I think another football player. The trainer had a weird demeanor to him. He didn't quite look like a trainer.

"Ok, you sprained your ankle," he said. "It'll take about a week to recover from, so it's nothing serious. I'll tell coach you won't be able to play in the scrimmage on Saturday."

That hurt. It was good news that it was nothing serious, but the scrimmage was the only way, I was going to prove myself against guys other than on the team. I sat there disappointing, and hating college away from home.

[JC QUICK]

Click on the banner below to find rosters, schedules and info about Conquistador Athletics.



Pre-Season Scrimmage: Dodge City at Nebraska-Wesleyan

So there I stood. On the sidelines, in a Dodge City Conq t-shirt, and shorts. I stood there in silence, with my arms crossed as I watched my teammates battle it out in the scrimmage. Coach Majesky told me that I didn't have to go with them on the flight to Lincoln, Nebraska, but I wanted to be with them. I mean, what else am I going to do in Dodge City? The most boring place in the United States.

I wanted to be out there so bad. I wanted to prove to everyone that I can play. I watched as other freshman and sophomores took the spot's on the team that I wanted. I couldn't do anything about it.

The scrimmage started with special teams, where both teams punted to each other. I was supposed to be one of the punt returners, but instead I got replaced. Then they worked on kickoffs, where I too, was also supposed to be a kick returner.

The scrimmage was a pretty boring one. Our offense couldn't really do anything, neither could Nebraska-Wesleyan's. The final score was 6-0, Nebraska. The Prairie Wolves scored a touchdown but the extra point was missed.

We all had dinner at Golden Corral afterwards. People were looking at us like we were a NFL team or something. The only problem was, I probably looked like I was supposed to be the waterboy or the kicker.

I wasn't really talking to anyone as I ate my dinner. I wasn't really hungry either. I just really wanted to sleep, because I was feeling depressed about my future with the team. As I got back to the hotel room, I watched a the Chiefs pre-season game before I headed to bed. The future was uncertain.

---

Conqs shut out in scrimmage

Dodge City Daily Globe
Posted Aug 20, 2011

DODGE CITY —
The Dodge City Community College defense gave up 7.5 yards per carry in a scrimmage against Nebraska-Wesleyan, and they only gave up six points.
The Conquistadors offense, however, could not put anything together, producing 45 yards of offense and getting shutout, losing 6-0 in Lincoln, Nebraska Friday night.
“It is important for our kids to play against other people,” DCCC head coach Bob Majesky said. “During the course of training camp, you are used to playing against the same guys every single day, and realistically you know who you can beat, you know who is tougher, you know who is better than you are and you play to that ability.
“I think it was important to play against new faces across the ball from us.”
The Prairie Wolves started the scrimmage by marching down the field in four plays and Kelvin Jackson topped off the 70-yard drive with an 42-yard touchdown.
On their third possession, the Prairie Wolves got to the Conquistadors 5-yard line, but could not get the ball in the end zone.
When they tried an extra point, Dodge City’s Daron Smith blocked it.
The Conquistadors one big play on offense was a diving catch by Coltin Ghumm for a 42-yard gain. Bryan Parnes completed the pass.
Dodge City could only pick one more yard for the remainder of the drive.
Majesky said he thinks the scrimmage helped the younger kids.
“Our young kids came a long way tonight,” he said. “Now they are used to the speed of some stuff. We just need to improve our execution. We made our first scrimmage errors, which are expected, but they can’t be tolerated tomorrow.”
Heading into the game, Nebraska-Wesleyan, a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics’ team, was ranked No. 14 in the preseason coaches’ poll.
The Conquistadors were ranked No. 8 out of eight teams in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference preseason coaches’ poll.
To start the scrimmage, the teams started with special teams. Each team had an opportunity to punt the ball four times.
On Dodge City’s first two punts, the snap flew over the head of the punter, and the other one the punter dropped, and the Prairie Wolves recovered the ball.
Shortly after, the teams worked on kickoffs.
Between the special teams and the full scrimmage, the teams did one-on-one passing drills and seven-on-seven.
The Conquistadors start their season on Saturday, Aug. 27 against Cisco, Texas at Memorial Stadium.

[JC QUICK]

The next week of practice, after the scrimmage, I didn't know exactly where I was on the depth chart. It was the first game week preparation for Cisco College. The trainer still told me I couldn't practice for the next two days, so I wasn't sure id I could even play in the game on Saturday. I was in shorts and a t-shirt for the practice again.

"When are you gonna be 100%," said our tackle Andrew Vaughn as he was taking a water break.

"I don't know yet man, hopefully soon."

"Good, we need everything we can get out here."

It was a pretty bad day of practice. The coaches were screaming in frustration, at the mistakes some players were making. Coach was so mad, he kinda took his anger on me.

"CARNES!!! Take this clipboard and write down all the plays we run. And don't screw them up, I need them for our gameplan. Oh and go get me a soda quickly!"

At least I got to go inside the school, where it was air conditioned, but I felt like coach thought I was a nobody now that I can't play. I bought him root beer. He didn't even say what kind he wanted.

After practice was over, I called my parents. I missed Colorado a lot. A few of my friends went off to college, but most of them stayed close to home. Sometimes I had wished I went to Pikes Peak College and got to party with my friends, but football meant more to me then anything.

When I talked to my parents I made plans to come home around November. I was planning on going to one of my high school's football games. I heard they doing alright. I still had some friends on that team.

I needed to get real with myself and think if football was my future. Can a kid whose 5-7, 142 lbs. make it in college football? I had a lot of thinking to do.

[JC QUICK]

Let's Get It Started
Conqs set to conquer season opener against Cisco College

By Staff reports
GateHouse News Service
Posted Aug 26, 2011

DODGE CITY — Aug. 27.
That date has been circled on Dodge City Community College Conquistadors head football coach Bob Majeski's calendar for quite some time, and it is finally here.
Saturday at 4 p.m. the lights at Memorial Stadium will come on and the ball will go up as Majeski and the Conqs open the 2011 season against the Wranglers of Cisco College (Texas).
"I know that they're looking forward to it," Majeski said of his team. "I know that they're excited about it, as we all are. It's been a long process. But the thing is, the process started during recruiting last year. I think we had a really good recruiting class in not only quantity and quality."
The Conqs opened with a 56-21 lopsided defeat on the road at Cisco in 2010, but Majeski said this team is not the same as last year's bunch that finished 0-9.
"We're a year older, more mature," Majeski said. "The guys that are here have been held accountable. They're accountable for their actions and the things they do, and I think that in the end that will show a big time result."
Cisco returns 13 starters from last year's 6-4 team, including nine on the offensive side of the ball, and currently sits at No. 12 on the NJCAA/JC Football.com Preseason Top-25 poll.
Dodge will look to contain San Antonio, Texas-native Chad Johnson, the 6-foot-1-inch, 200-pound running back for the Wranglers, who earned a spot on the NJCAA's First-Team All-American list.
Majeski, who also serves as Dodge's defensive coordinator, said the Conqs have the talent on defense this season to stack up against Johnson and the other returning skill players on the Wranglers roster.
"The talent level is up from what it was," Majeski said. "No offense to the players we had in the past, I still love them and all that, but I just think that some of the talent level is a little higher all the way around."
Majeski said in order for the Conqs to start 2011 off with a win, they must play mistake-free football and not give up the big play. But most importantly, the fourth-year coach stressed that each and every player must go out and do one simple thing — have fun.
"They need to go have fun during the game," Majeski said. "And that's one thing people leave out and that's one thing we try to stress during game time. Let's go have fun. Well how do you have fun? Do what you’re supposed to do, be in the right spot and go make plays."
Dodge will kickoff the new season against Cisco Saturday at 4 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.

[JC QUICK]

Week 1: Cisco College Wranglers vs Dodge City Conquistadors
Aug 27, 2011

Dodge City, KS - I was really disappointing that I was going to miss the first home game of the season. I felt like I wasn't even a part of the team when they got together and were getting each other pumped up. I sat on the sidelines in shorts and my #85 jersey, but I wanted to put the pads on.

I tried not to zone off during the game, but I couldn't help but daydream about one day being able to play on this field. Memorial Stadium, was a high school stadium for Dodge City High School. DCHS, was more publicized then DCCC. They had a tradition of winning, and DCCC could never land a Red Demon football player, because most of them went on to play Division I. You were pretty much going a step backwards if you went from DCHS to DCCC.

The first drive of the game, we went right down the field and scored on a 31 yard touchdown pass from Bryan Parnes to Coltin Ghumm to make it 7-0 DCCC. I couldn't believe it, our offense looked like it rolling on all cylinders, but the defense struggled a little bit. Cisco cut right through the defense en route to a 3 yard TD pass from Tyler Merritt to Stephen Harris to tie the game up 7-7.



In the second quarter, the crowd went crazy once agin, when Parnes found Ghumm for a 65 yard TD pass. The Conqs were up 14-7, and I couldn't believe it. Then the defense stiffened up, and forced a Cisco Wrangler, 3-and-out. We drove down the field and scored on a 6 yard pass from Parnes to Kraig Siruta, just before halftime to make the score 21-7, Conquistadors.



The players walked into the locker room, with their heads up and their confidence going through the room. I mean, the Conquistadors, haven't won a game in over two years, and here we are beating a team from a different conference by two touchdowns, but I knew it was too early to tell.


Cisco, came right out and scored on a 67 yard drive to make it 21-14. But on the ensuing drive, quarterback Bryan Parnes darted off to a 65 yard TD run, to make it 28-14. We had the momentum, and after a Wrangler 3-and-out, and finally started thinking we might win this game. But I spoke too soon.


Conquistador running back Larry Walls fumbled the ball, and gave it up to the Wranglers on the ensuing drive. Then Wrangler quarterback Tyler Merritt found Anthony Reyes, on a 24 yard TD pass to make it 28-21, silencing the Memorial Stadium faithful. After the Conqs went three-and-out, the Wranglers tied the game, when Merritt found Stephen Harris for an 11 yard TD pass to tie it at 28-28. It seemed like everybody on our sideline, put their heads down and were giving up. I didn't like that. It gave me the feel of my high school team, everytime, we gave up the lead....we gave up.


And it showed, especially on defense. Guys were missing tackles, and Cisco ended up scoring two more times, one field and one touchdown to win the game 38-28, and keep DCCC losing streak going.


I walked off the field and headed back to the locker rooms when I heard one Conquistador fan say, "Dude, Im seriously gonna stop going to football games. They suck too much." I didn't like playing for fans that had that kind of attitude. Maybe it was just that one guy, but I could feel fans were not interested in watching our games anymore...

[JC QUICK]

A Moral Victory?
Conqs look better, lose season opener to Cisco College



By HEATH LOGGINS
DODGE CITY DAILY GLOBE
Posted Aug 28, 2011

DODGE CITY — If there was such a thing as a moral victory, the Dodge City Community College Conquistadors football team got one Saturday.
The Conqs opened the 2011 season with a 38-28 loss to the No. 24-ranked Wranglers of Cisco College Saturday, an improvement from the 53-21 lopsided defeat Dodge suffered to those same Wranglers in last season's opener.
"I think we improved a ton," DCCC head coach Bob Majeski said. "The main goal of the game was to win, but the second one was to be better at the end of the game than we were at the beginning and I think we did that."
The Conquistadors went into halftime with an impressive 21-7 lead, after two touchdown catches by Coltin Ghumm, and a third to Kraig Siruta. Quarterback Bryan Parnes, was 8-of-9 for 190 yards in the first half, and was sacked only once. Even the rushing game looked good, as sophomore back Larry Walls rushed for 45 yards in the first half.
The second half was a different story for the Conquistadors. The Wranglers fired back with an early touchdown pass in the third quarter, and after a 68 yard scramble to the end zone by Bryan Parnes, who ended the day with 100 yards rushing, the Wranglers fired the wagon, and tied the game with 14:09 left in the game.
In the fourth quarter, the depth of the Wranglers and the youth of the Conqs began to show as Cisco pulled away and went on to hand DCCC its first loss of the season 38-28 and its 12th straight loss dating back to 2009.
Sophomore all-purpose back Larry Walls led Dodge in rushing with 53 yards on 13 attempts, while Ghumm paced the DCCC receivers tallying 100 yards on three catches and two touchdowns, one of them being a 63 yard score.
Sophomore linebacker, and Middle Tennessee State commit CJ Overton, led the Conqs with ten total tackles and an interception.
Xavier Johnson and Stephen Harris combined for 212 rushing yards for Cisco, while Johnson recorded 111 of them on 16 carries.
Saturday, Dodge will travel to Garden City, Kansas to play against the Garden City BroncBusters.