To University of Washington Huskies Joe Mathis, the NFL is neither spotlight, big payday, nor even ego. It’s a conduit to fulfill his passion: playing Football.
Some people have all the luck. Born into money, discovered by a camera at an early age, you know the types. Kardashians in other walks of life. Things have always just “gone their way”. But to others, there is a fire in the soul. That aching hunger within one’s essence that cannot be denied. That ache drives sculpters to pull statues out of blocks of stone. It drives song writers to play tunes until fingers bleed so that the melody is just right.
“The game slows down for you when you know what you’re doing.”-Joe Mathis
After all, that aching hunger is driving Washington Huskies Joe Mathis to play
football. Is it a predestined fate which
pulls him to the sport, or is he propelling
himself to excellence on sheer will power? In any case, he must overcome many obstacles along the way.
Earned His Way
Joe Mathis is no such person who has things handed to him. He has had to train harder, persevere, find a higher level of focus than others on the football field. In his senior season, he found the right frequency.
In retrospect, he was the embodiment of the team’s spirit. Seemingly from nowhere, he led the team in the first six games of the season to a 6-0 start. In the process, he had 25 tackles, 7.5 tackles for a loss, and five quarterback sacks. He was just getting started, but that would be the season for Joe Mathis. He suffered a foot injury. Fate has an ironic, almost sadistic, sense of humor sometimes.