‘Last Chance U’ star making most of opportunity at UIW
When Chance Main decided to wear a brown leather vest and cowboy hat to class at Independence Community College, he was caught off guard to see a film crew ready to document his arrival.
The cameras for the Netflix series “Last Chance U” were everywhere that day, capturing everything from practice to meetings to Main’s quiet time playing video games in his dorm room.
Main became one of the featured attractions of Season Four — the small-town guy from nearby Cherryvale, Kan., struggling through injuries and trapped in a depth chart logjam but yearning for an opportunity to play Division I football.
By the time the show premiered in summer 2019, Main was enrolled and participating in workouts at Incarnate Word, where he’s now a junior and team captain at defensive end.
After last week’s season-opening win over Mcneese, UIW visits Lamar at 3 p.m. Saturday in Beaumont — Main’s next step in a journey that has drawn worldwide attention.
“A lot of people were reaching out and saying, ‘Hey, I’m inspired by you, keep working hard,’ ” Main said. “To them, I’m just a blue-collar, hardworking guy. That’s what they see. A lot of littler kids reaching out. From all around the world, actually. So it was really interesting there for a while. I wasn’t expecting that.”
Main at first had no idea how he would be portrayed in the program, but he said the producers “show it how it is” and “don’t really bend anything.”
The film crews captured Main’s day-to-day life as a self-described “country guy” — rotating the tires on his oversized pickup, discussing how to field dress an animal, and relaxing to country music with a group of local friends.
The documentary also touched on Main’s family life, including father Drew’s time as a player at Independence.
“At first, you’re like, ‘I have to watch what I say.’ But once they’re there for about a month, the whole season, you start not caring and do your own thing,” Main said. “It’s kind of awkward at times. Those guys take that stuff really seriously. They don’t talk or anything. I’m like, ‘Crack a joke with me.’ But they were good guys.”
The football side of Main’s story showed a player who entered Independence at about 200 pounds and redshirted as a freshman to focus on adding weight. Despite gaining 25 or 30 pounds ahead of his featured season in 2018, Main was still mostly a reserve, stuck behind players with Power Five interest as he grappled with back and neck injuries.
UIW coach Eric Morris said Main’s talent and work ethic jumped out during an in-person evaluation, and the Cardinals were “sold that we could develop him into a great player.”
Main continued to add bulk upon arriving in San Antonio and was listed at 245 pounds on the 2019 roster. Limited by a knee injury early last season, he finished with 28 tackles, 11½ tackles for loss and 2½ sacks.
Even through an offseason complicated by the pandemic, Main was persistent in his effort to gain weight, setting up a wooden rack to bench press in his home garage.
Morris said Main sent the coaches videos of his workouts through the summer and returned to campus last fall in “phenomenal shape.” When the Southland season was pushed to the spring, Morris highlighted Main as one of the players hurt most by the adjustment.
“The initial response wasn’t good,” Main said. “You never like to train that hard and have something taken away from you. But for the long run, over a couple months, you forget about it and move on.”
Main tried to maximize the extra time to prepare, but he said the Cardinals’ weight room routine was shorter and less consistent compared to before the pandemic. He added that he still feels a bit out of shape thanks to the winter weather conditions that wiped out a week of practice last month, but he’s been able to bulk up to about 255 — around 10 pounds shy of his ideal playing weight.
UIW’S shift to more four-down fronts on defense has benefited Main, Morris said, helping him notch two sacks in last week’s opener. “Pretty soon, offenses are going to have to know where he is, and whether you want to slide protection to him or get a running back to help chip him or anything like that,” Morris said. “Look for him to have more big games like that in the future.”
Main said he feels like he’s playing the best football of his career, learning the nuances of his position from a Division I coaching staff. He also said he’s become less shy since arriving on campus, though he admitted he’s been too nervous to try anything like wearing a leather vest and cowboy hat to class.
On the show, Main often talked about wanting to get away from a small town where “everybody knows your business.” He said he’s enjoyed the fresh experience of San Antonio, even if many of his country comforts have been harder to replicate.
“I keep hoping someone will say, ‘Hey, I have a bunch of land, come hunt with me,’ ” Main said. “It just hasn’t happened yet.”
“A lot of people were reaching out and saying, ‘Hey, I’m inspired by you, keep working hard.’ ” UIW defensive end Chance Main, on his star turn in Netflix’s “Last Chance U”