Insider: Introducing Treavor Smith

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Dear reader:

We’ve asked a few Division III players and coaches to join our blog and give us an inside look into life in Division III football. Introducing Fitchburg State senior kicker/quarterback Treavor Smith:

Treavor SmithWell, it’s that time again … For the next three or so months, it is college football season at the Division III level. It’s time for students and fans to come out on Saturday afternoons and root for their favorite team. Fall is also the time of year that many student athletes and college football players enjoy the most, time for all the hard work put into the off season to come out, and to finally enjoy the reward — that is, every Saturday afternoon when we get to go out and perform in front of family, friends, and classmates.

I will be writing every week to give an inside look into what goes on during the season of a Division III football player. I am a senior placekicker at Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts. I handle all of the kicking duties. I am also on the depth chart as a quarterback. I’m 24 years old and my hometown is Putnam, Conn. Fitchburg State College is a school of about 2,500 students and is located in north central Massachusetts, about 20 minutes north of Worcester, 45 minutes west of Boston.

We are members of the New England Football Conference and play in the Bogan Division. We start this season with targets on our backs as we are the defending Bogan division champs.

We also start the season with some additional adversity. The new sports complex featuring the new sprint turf that will be home to our football, field hockey, and both men’s and women’s soccer teams is not finished yet and we are not sure when it will be completed. Right now we our practicing on the outfield of our softball field. Overall, it’s not that bad. We still get out there and get some good work in, but it will definitely be nice to get off the softball field and onto the new field.

School started on Thursday and it is nice to not have to worry about class. It is almost like the Matt Leinart situation where I can just show up for football and that is it. This is my final semester of school and I am doing my internship with the city of Worcester police department, which starts next Wednesday for me, so right now my only focus has been football.

Good luck to everyone and see you next week.

Immediate thoughts on Week 1

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photoWe’ve got one week in the books. Some thoughts, a few random ones at that.

How did Rowan gain 609 yards and score just 21 points? Three turnovers and three missed field goals would be a start. Looks like Ulysses Encarnacion is going to fill in pretty well at running back with 143 yards on 24 carries.

The Centennial found a little offense: Muhlenberg 30, TCNJ 13; McDaniel 36, Bridgewater 35; Johns Hopkins … uhm, well, it’s not a perfect comparison. And then there’s F&M, 16-for-42 passing with five interceptions won’t cut it. Hardly a dominating passing performance.

Think Wittenberg is reconsidering the four-year contract with Capital? And to think they wanted to sign a deal for six.

Hard to tell who had the better year-to-year turnaround, Denison or Central. Sure, Denison turned a 64-0 loss at Waynesburg into a 21-17 win. But Central did it against a stronger opponent and got the win on the road. The Dutch lost at home to Augustana 38-7 and won 25-24 in overtime this year.

Nice job defensively by St. John Fisher today. Steven Stepnick broke up this pass in the end zone (pictured) to snuff a scoring threat.

Congrats to: Manchester and North Park. Nice start to the season for both. And where did today’s Millikin performance come from?

If Endicott can’t handle Hartwick at home they are going to struggled to compete in the NEFC.

We got a press release today from a school touting its Lindy’s preseason ranking. Guess that school didn’t look at what Lindy’s No. 10 did today (St. Norbert, lost 45-7 to a team Lindy’s apparently hadn’t heard of, UW-Whitewater).

Insider: Preseason ends, classes start

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The Wildcats’ final scrimmage today unofficially marked the end of the preseason. No one was seriously injured which means it was a great day. The team warmed up like it was a game which got everyone’s adrenaline flowing. We did everything full speed minus hits on the quarterbacks. No matter how hard you try, you can never recreate the speed of a real game but its the best we can do until next weekend. Overall the offense looked good. There’s still a lot of work to be done but we’re feeling good about what we’ve got so far. The defense has looked crisp, even with backups stepping in for some veterans during the scrimmage.

On the school side of things, classes started on wednesday. And since it seems to be a hot topic thanks to Matt Twinkletoes Leinart, I’ll put in my two cents on the matter of 5th year seniors and their class loads. First, I am taking only one credit myself for my thesis which is required for physics majors at Linfield. There’s no class to attend, I just have to finish my research and write the paper. We have some other seniors who are taking a two or three credit class and others that are still full time. 5th years do just as much work as everyone else, if not more. It’s not always a cakewalk. We’ve still had to meet graduation requirements, still had to make grades. Most of us work cause we don’t qualify for financial aid for housing and the credits we have to pay for.

Some guys use their 5th year to take a class they’ve wanted to take but have never had the time. Some need to make up for time lost when switching majors or studying abroad. And some guys take a class to learn valuable life-long social skills…like ballroom dancing.