Center

I wasn't thrilled about being switched to center at first,but I had played the position before befiefly during my pop warner days. So snapping the ball was no big deal. What was a big deal was playing for my new coach offensive line coach Zenni. He was an Italian man short and he kinda looked like a wibble wobble. His voice was high pitched and he was old one of the oldest coaches on the team if not the oldest. I later found out that he had coach in the NFL and semi pro leagues and other college teams. Offensive line is not for dummies, it takes some smarts there are many things to remember and being the center there are a few extra responsibilities. Like the center QB exchange rembering to snap on time and setting the line of scrimmage for everyone to line up and finally setting the huddle. OH don't forget you have to block too. Lol I soon realized that nothing happened on offense without the center and I was a pretty important piece of the chess board. So I started to work on my craft. I do believe the majority of my concussions occurred playing center as most of the time there would be a nose guard lined up over me and they were usually big fellas. As a center you have to be able to move in two directions at once. Forward and backward. Snapping backward but still moving forward, this is where your head gets tangled up a bit. You don't get a concussion every play but your head takes a beating. And a game without a few bell ringers just wasn't a good game really. Coach Zenni was all about repition we did things over then over again. He expected us to move as a unit and we where supposed to know what the other guy was doing. This required communication before the snap and after. We had our own language that we spoke on the line of scrimmage it was very cool. Often our Quarterback Jimmy would have two plays in mind and he might choose one in the huddle then change his mind at the line depending on what the defense was showing him. Then he would tell us at the line calling an audible. Then we would have to talk it over quickly before Jimmy had me snap the ball. A chess match at the line of scrimmage in seconds. Then bang go time. After my Freshman year our team was up and coming we were 7-2 I think not bad for mostly sophomores. I bought into Coach Zenni system 100% and would have run through a wall for the man if he told me too. He was tough on us but also fun to be around. I think he had polio when he was a kid and he kinda waddled a bit and had no feeling from ankles down to feet. We as a unit had many nicknames for him none of which we would say in front of him. He could really get loud when we were not performing to his standard and he would spin his metal whistle faster and faster until whack somebody was getting one in the helmet. More often than not it was me cause I was in the middle of the huddle and the easiest to get to. Eventually we started taking a little revenge on coach Z. When we were having a bad day the guys would look over at me in the huddle and give me the look while he was screaming at us and I would cleat his foot. He could'nt feel it but we would all smile and think it was funny. This went on for about two years until, one particular practice before a big game. It was a walk through practice and we were confident as by now we won a lot more than we lost. And the whistle starting spinning, we were getting chewed out for being lazy. I got the signal and was about to take our revenge when he pulled his foot back quickly. He said Quackenbush if you cleat me today I will run you till ya die. I'll be damned if he did't know all along we were doing this to him. Loved that Guy.