Hank Goff served two tours as a Marine one in Afghanistan the other not so eventful tour in Okinawa. The 28 year old Marine when coming back to the world wanted to have a new challenge, to be apart of a team and brotherhood again, to fill the empty void of not competing. Goff wanted to play college football.
When did Goff actually make the decision to play college football you might ask? One day he and a buddy named Curtis Standing Cloud were prone in the dirt, pinned down by machine-gun fire.
“Here I am, this big white dude, trying to hide behind a tree about six inches wide,” Hank remembers. “We’ve got rounds skipping all around us.”
"One bullet kicked up a clod of mud that hit Standing Cloud in the face. We looked at each other and burst out laughing. It was all we could do,” Hanks says.
A moment later, Hank blurted, more to himself than the guy next to him, “Man, f--- this—I’m gonna play football again!”
Was that even possible? The NCAA’s five-year rule stipulates that student-athletes have five years to complete their four years of eligibility. Recognizing the sacrifices soldiers make, however, the governing body created exceptions. Hank’s eligibility clock had stopped during his four-year enlistment.
Hank went on to play as a defensive lineman at Concordia-St. Paul, a Division II school located in Minnesota. The 28 year old put up respectable numbers, in 2014: 5 ½ tackles for loss, 1 ½ sacks, four passes defended and one pick. That said, he played extremely well and won the Big Bear Award given to the team’s outstanding lineman.
“Let’s not forget,” says Hank, who will play his final college season in 2015 at the age of 28, “that I am a grown man beating up on 19-year-olds.”
Photo Courtesy: Hank Goff
Source: www.si.com