I arrived at the stadium early as suggested by several, actually I was the first to hit the locker room. I had to find Coach Brohm to unlock the door and let me inside. Rumor had it that over 100 recruits and their families were on hand to watch teh scrimmage. Louisville closed the scrimmage to outsiders so the stands mostly empty.
My fellow officials began to arrive shortly after I did. It was rather chilly that day so we agreed to wear long sleeve shirts. Knickers had already been called earlier in the week. I had already shined my shoes the night before (a pregame ritual with me) so my uniform was in order. I also packed about 1000 butterflies in my stomach as well!
I hit the field with 8 other officials from the Big East (2), Sunbelt (1), Ohio Valley (2), Mid South (1) and two rookies (me included). Kavin McGrath, Big East HL and brother to John McGrath (NFL), was the organizer of the officials and had asked me where I wanted to work. My preference is the line of scrimmage but I also wanted to get a few snaps in at SJ/FJ too. Tommy Walsh made it almost to the field before he realized he was missing a hat! Too funny.
One thing that concerned me was my lack of experience with NCAA mechanics. See that’s not something that’s easy to find, or to read up on. I did however, have a chance to review the rulebook and we covered the proposed 2009 rule changes prior to taking the field. So I followed John McGrath’s advice: Get behind on of the veterans and ask questions. So I parked myself on the sideline behind Tommy Walsh from the Big East and did exactly that. Soaked it up.
Before I knew it, Tommy turned towards me and motioned me to the side line. Fortunately I had the Defense on my side so most of the coaching staff were located opposite of me. I still remember Tommy’s advice: “remember…they might be a little bit bigger, a little bit faster, but its still just football.” That helped calm my nerves…a little bit.
The first couple of plays were runs and relatively easy. The mechanics here are basically the same as high school. Then the Offense came out and lined up in the shotgun. Pass play. Something didn’t look right on my side. Now Tommy had explaining how he counts players on his side of the ball. This was a little new to me so it took some time to process. I had been working on repeating my “SNAP, TACKLE, BACK” chant in my head while I counted the players. Trying to gain some form of brain repetition with regards to football officiating. I also was learning my keys during this time. But as I said before, something on this play didn’t look right but I must admit, the snap happened before I figured it out. Bad move.
You see, rookie officials are not the only people on the field battling the butterflies. Seems WR’s have similar issues as well especially with regards to formations. The WR on my side was covering up the TE and upon the snap, guess what happened? You got it, they both released downfield. I missed it. No yellow flag on the ground to enunciate the penalty. But the defensive coaching staff didn’t miss it!!! I then got my first taste of Big East ear-chewing, but you can bet I didn’t miss that again the rest of the day!
So I alternated with Tommy a few more series then Kavin McGrath came over from the LJ side to work with me. Tommy moved back to Side Judge and I had the chance to brush up on the finer points of working the Line of Scrimmage from not one but two outstanding Big East officials. it was great just to be in an environment where I could immediately ask another official about a play, situation, possible penalty or otherwise.
So three hours later, the scrimmage came to a close. After the first few series, the butterflies subsided and I found I was really enjoying myself. It was a great experience, one filled with many learnings, some good laughs and a few mistakes from which I will not soon forget. When you are passionate about the game of football, surrounded by the comraderie of fellow officials and sharing the field with the best of the best, I couldn’t help but feel very fortunate for the chance to don the knickers in March.
August can’t come soon enough.
