COLUMN: Winner cementing his place in Seahawks family
The funniest thing has happened in the Andersen Era of Utah State University football: The local team has in one harmonious way or another become a family.
This may be why USU fans have lately taken results to games, events and accomplishments in such a passionate way. Big wins seem momentous and tough losses come off as devastating with this squad and for a great reason.
They are not merely football players. They are big brothers and cousins – gridiron relatives. These guys have become community and family, and we like to believe we experience things just as they do.
With that in mind, the personal successes of players past and present tend to mean something to us. We spent years watching players learn and grow, becoming iconic figures in Cache Valley lore, and then they are off to the land of bigger, better and prone to a world of happiness.
We call this land professional football.
This land is a place in which we aren’t used to seeing too much of those who wore our colors, so when we do, we thrive in seeing their successes like we would a brother or sister who has gone on to serve the family well. If ever we lived one of those proud moments as Aggie fans, we certainly did this last Sunday.
His name is Bobby Wagner, a graduate of Colony High School in Ontario, Calif. A brief standout and all-state player, Wagner shockingly only received one offer for collegiate competition, from Utah State.
The rest of Wagner’s Aggie life is history to us. We remember the plays, the moments, the energy, the forced fumbles and overtime interceptions, and especially the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft.
Wagner needed a home and the Seattle Seahawks needed a linebacker, so they took our boy. It was a moment heard around the valley. Just a day before finding out our other local favorite Robert Turbin was heading to the same team and the people of Logan, Utah, had just found their resident football team.
Just like that our guy had a home, and we couldn’t be more proud of one of our big brothers. Flash forward several workouts, a curious preseason and a few eventful games to this Sunday. Nobody can quite conclude exactly what Wagner had for breakfast for that morning, or what was playing in his iPod, but something about the way he started his day sent him a good sign.
A very good sign.
A flooring 14 tackles worth of a good sign.
That wasn’t an exaggeration – 14 tackles. That’s more than three per quarter against an offense that was supposed to be the Ivy League of professional football, led by a quarterback in Tom Brady who was considered a godsend.
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Wagner helped quiet the godsend, at least enough for the Seahawks to squeak out a close victory against a team most analysts claim had no business lacing up against them. It was a glorious Sunday in the Wagner home indeed.
You have to know Wagner was ecstatic, and you can be sure the Seahawks were as well. But along with them were thousands of Aggie hopefuls in Cache Valley who saw a hope and a future in what was once a waning program thanks to a believing coach, a rhinoceros of a running back and a southern California standout who made huge noise at Romney Stadium and – for hopefully not the last time – a smorgasbord of tackles against the NFL’s self-proclaimed Goliath.
Perhaps he won’t play on the same level in the next weeks, or maybe he goes off like we know he can. Whatever the means, we know we’ll be there hoping and waiting. Family just works that way.
– Steve Schwartzman is a senior studying communication studies. He has had just about every job in sports writing, including blogs, analysis, statistics and fantasy football tips, but he especially loves making bold picks. Got any comments? Let him know: steve.schwartzman@aggiemail.usu.edu.