CYber CYd Football: Messiah's Talks Senior Day

CYber CYd Football: Messiah's Musings, Week 4

CYber CYd Football: Messiah's Talks Senior Day

11.14.2008 | Football

By: cyclones.com

Iowa State hosts Missouri Saturday in what will be the final game for 26 senior football players. In order to give Cyclone fans an inside look at the Iowa State football team, senior wide receiver Euseph Messiah will be posting a weekly blog at cyclones.com on Friday of each week throughout the football season.

Messiah has a clean slate to talk all things related to his life, academics, Cyclone football and other daily hurdles of being a Division I student-athlete.

Week 11
Hello Cyclone fans! Welcome to the 12th edition of my weekly blog. This week we take on the Missouri Tigers for the last game at Jack Trice for the season. We're going to have a different feeling for this game because it's the last home game of the year and last home game for the seniors. Over the course of the week, my fellow seniors and I haven't really tried to let it sink in yet, because honestly, I don't think many of us want it to end.

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Most of us have been working and training hard for four-plus years to play in front of the best fans in college football and now the end is drawing near. Even though our season didn't turn out the way many of us had wanted it to, I still believe we have many memories at Jack Trice that show how great things have been for us at Iowa State.

To be honest, I don't even know if the fact that it's the last game at Jack Trice has really hit me yet. With all of this talk throughout the seniors of it being our last home game together, it made me think of how it all started for me.

Out of high school in Bettendorf, Iowa, I had a lot of offers from Division II and Division I-AA (now FCS) schools and really had my sights set on a scholarship I had received from the University of Northern Iowa. I had taken my official visit there and loved it and basically told their coaches that they didn't have anything to worry about as I thought I was going continue my football career there.

Then out of nowhere I received a call from Chris Ash, a former defensive back coach at Iowa State. He said that he saw my highlight tape and wanted me to take a look at Iowa State. It had been late in the recruiting process and he informed me that they didn't have a scholarship to offer me, but still wanted me to take a trip up to Ames and see what I thought. So my father and I decided to take a trip to Iowa State and we immediately loved the environment.

Looking at the situation now, I'll never forget the feeling I got when I first saw Jack Trice Stadium. I thought to myself ?wow', that would be amazing to be able to play there someday. Later, I remember getting a tour of the campus, talking to some of the coaches and players and loving it all. The atmosphere of Iowa State seemed like it was a perfect fit for me and I honestly didn't want to walk away thinking, ?what if?' I knew within myself that I could compete and play with Division. I players in the Big 12, all I needed was a chance. So a few days after the visit, I told my family that I felt God had sent me to Iowa State for a reason and I would be going there.

When we started camp in the fall of 2004, I remember there were around 25 to 30 of us newcomers for the season. Other than guys like Tim Dobbins and LaMarcus Hicks (who came from Junior College), I was among around 20 to 25 that had just come straight out of high school! And I remember the older guys saying to us, “...just wait and see how many of you are still here for senior night. It'll amaze you how many have left for different reasons when you're older.”

Honestly, they were right. Other than junior college players or guys that weren't redshirted a year after us, there are only nine of us left from our class. Not to take anything away from the guys who left (because there were many different reasons) but I believe there's a special thing between us nine guys because we represent the ultimate commitment.

When we started camp our freshmen year we could have given up because it was too hard - we could've left when the coaching staff that recruited us was going to be changed into a staff that we hardly knew - or we could've quit when our senior season started to unfold a little differently than what we had hoped. But we didn't.

I know it's hard for guys like Adam Carper, who represent everything good in our class but suffered a career-ending injury when we were younger. I know he would love to be with us right now, regardless of our situation. In all of those situations, the nine of us represent commitment, hard work, dedication, courage and leadership.

Our ability to be able to be recognized on senior night means more to us that a lot of people know. Personally, coming out of high school I thought that I would never find any better friends then my ones in Bettendorf, but I was wrong. Not that I don't love my friends in high school, but my friends and teammates at Iowa State represent more to me now. Over the four-plus years, my close teammates like Chris Brown, R.J. Sumrall, Brandon Hunley and Jason Scales - have been through a lot together.

On and off the field we've gone through friendship, hard work, death, glory, new life, love, injuries, school and many other types of situations that we'll never forget. These guys: No. 8 Chris Brown, No. 83 Travis Ferguson, No. 25 Nick Frere, No. 20 Brandon Hunley, No. 60 Brandon Johnson, No. 6 Jason Scales, No. 5 R.J. Sumrall, and No. 74 Joe Vanstrom are my brothers and we've been fighting for our Iowa State family since we arrived on campus.

Along with No. 3 J.J. Bass, No. 14 Michael Bibbs, No. 66 Joe Blaes, No. 75 Doug Dedrick , No. 18 Wallace Franklin, No. 34 Nick Harklau, No. 22 Jason Harris, No. 11 Chris Singleton, No. 61 Nick Slobidsky, No. 81 Michael Tate, No. 47 Kurtis Taylor, No. 39 Rickey Thompson Jr., No. 53 Evan Vencil, No. 56 Chris Weir, Adam Carper, Jordan Goos and Eric Schultz, we represent a feeling of when our minds maybe thought about quitting, but our heart wouldn't let us.

Other than that Cyclone fans, I hope that many of you can make it to Jack Trice Stadium on this Saturday, for kickoff at 5:30 p.m. I'm sure it'll be an emotional experience for many of us and I know that having our loyal fans there to continue their support will only help us to focus on beating the Tigers. Missouri is a very talented team and the game should be very exciting. Again I hope to see many of you there when we get off the bus around 3:30 p.m. to cheer us on, and until next time, GO CYCLONES!

- Euseph

“Loyal sons forever true...”