Wku - 8 Seniors Will Red-shirt This Season

[MeanGreen61]

Miscounted - 4, not 3 were all-conference (Gateway Conference) last season.

Unselfish seniors step up

Eight Hilltoppers decide to redshirt upcoming season

By NORM HANEY, The Daily News, nhaney@bgdailynews.com

Saturday, March 24, 2007 11:01 PM CDT

There are many attributes that accompany being a leader, but none are as admirable as the ability to be unselfish.

During Thanksgiving break last year, Western Kentucky coach David Elson put eight of his seniors to the ultimate test. With the Hilltoppers transitioning from I-AA football to I-A over the next two seasons, Elson presented the players with the opportunity to finish their careers this fall or redshirt and come back for the 2008 season.

Curtis Hamilton, Greg Ryan, Marion Rumph, Dusty Bear, Bo Smith, Brandon Mason, Tanner Siewert and Zach Thuney had to decide on how they wanted to end their collegiate careers, and all returned ready to sacrifice an entire year - not only to improving themselves, but helping their teammates get ready for the upcoming season.

“First thing I told them was, how they handle this is going to be critical to our success,” Elson said. “It's a great opportunity to improve and take a step back without that pressure of preparing for a season or games.”

Coming to the decision was not immediately unanimous. For some, an entire year in the background was not an appealing thought. But before all eight headed off for some turkey and dressing, they all agreed: it's all or nothing.

In the end, after mulling it over with their families and spending time relaying phone calls, they all decided that taking a back seat for a year could benefit them individually and the team as a whole.

“It took us a while for all of us to get together and agree on it,” Ryan said. “We felt like if one of us was going to redshirt, then all of us needed to redshirt. We didn't feel like it would be that big of an impact if just four us redshirted and four of us didn't.”

With spring practice starting this week, the fact that they're now redshirts has finally hit them. Nearly all eight players have played major roles in the Hilltoppers' success over the past three seasons - Hamilton, Ryan, Rumph and Bear are all coming off earning all-Gateway Conference honors.

So when the coaches now yell for the first team to take the field, they have to stay put and watch their teammates go out and do the jobs that used to be theirs.

“It's hard,” Rumph said. “Especially since I've started since my freshman year and I've always been one of those guys they've called ‘Ones.' Now when they're calling ‘Ones' I'm not going. When they call the second group I'm not going. So it's hard.”

While being reduced to secondary roles may take getting used to, it's not completely unexpected. Part of the deal was helping groom some of the younger players to take the field next fall.

For guys like Bear, who's one of the more vocal and emotional leaders on the team, this spring offers a different kind of challenge, something he's embracing.

“We just have to take a positive from it and take it the best we can. We still have to be leaders on this football team and encourage these other,” Bear said. “We've got to get after these younger guys and get them to do some of the things that we've done on the field. We have to get out there and get after it.”

Giving up their positions for a season does come with a risk - there's no guarantee that they'll be given their starting positions back.

Part of Elson's decision to redshirt some of his biggest contributors was to create more competition and depth. All eight will practice this fall and should give the starters a good look once they join the scout team.

“I think that's definitely one of the benefits of coming back that next year. We're going to have a pretty experienced team,” he said. “When we have our look teams, we're going to have some pretty good looks, you know.”

Edited March 29, 2007 by MeanGreen61