Coaches help Southern Cal snapper fulfill dream
The best moment of college football’s opening weekend came after an unusual correspondence last week between opposing coaches. Southern California’s Clay Helton called Western Michigan’s Tim Lester on Thursday. Lester followed up with an email. That happens during game week, well ...
“Never,” Lester told USA TODAY Sports on Sunday, chuckling.
But when Helton outlined his idea — he wanted to get Jake Olson, who is blind, into the game to snap for an extra point — Lester was all for it.
That wasn’t all. When Lester agreed, Helton told him, “OK, here’s my email address.” Before allowing Olson to play, USC’s doctors needed to know Lester was on board with the plan.
“I give him all the credit,” Lester said. “That’s not an easy conversation. He was just being honest about a player he really cared for. He said he was gonna call every coach and just hope he gets it done. ... He was just very nice in asking, and he said he understood if I didn’t want to do it. He wasn’t forcing it down my throat, by any means.
“I didn’t think it was a hard de- cision at all. It was bigger than the game. I was happy to be a part of it.”
Before the game Saturday when the coaches spoke at midfield, they hammered out the details, including the parameters of when and if it would be appropriate.
“It was a weird conversation to have,” Lester said. “But when you’re having this weird conversation for a good reason? We were talking about what’s out of hand, what’s not out of hand, but it was for a good purpose, a once-in-alifetime opportunity for a young man.”
As part of the deal, when Western Michigan scored its first touchdown, USC didn’t rush the extra point.
“Our first PAT was on air, basically,” Lester said. “And if the situation ever arose, he was gonna call timeout and look over at me. The officials were in on it. Then I could bring our guys over and explain what was going on.”
For a long while, though, it appeared the opportunity wouldn’t occur. In the final minute of the third quarter, Western Michigan led by a touchdown; the score was tied at 28 midway through the fourth quarter. It wasn’t until USC’s Marvell Tell returned an interception for a touchdown with 3:13 left that the game was finally “out of hand,” as the coaches had defined it.
Helton called timeout. Lester gathered the Broncos. He hadn’t said anything to them before the game about the deal, not wanting them to countenance the possibility the game might get away from them.
“I told my guys, ‘This opportunity for Jake is bigger than the game, you know?’ ... I told them, ‘Don’t even take a step,’ ” Lester said. “They were just doing what their coach told them to. But afterward and as it was happening, I think they realized how special a moment it was.
“It was cool just to watch it happen, just to watch the reaction of their sideline. You could see how big it was for them.”
We all could. Kudos to Lester and the Broncos, even on a day when they had come so close to a huge upset, for allowing the best moment of the weekend to occur.