No politics, no legal issues, just a unique story about an outstanding athlete who is doing something that is in the realm of “Bo Jackson”, “Kirk Gibson”, “Antonio Gates” and “Dion Sanders”. I am probably violating some type of copyright law because I am copying excerpts from an article that appeared in the Detroit News today that was for subscribers only. Here are portions of the story.
Former DI lacrosse star leads Ferris State football to brink of DII national title
Ferris State football is looking for its first national championship. Its quarterback, Jared Bernhardt, is not. Bernhardt has emerged as one of the most fascinating stories …..in all of college sports in 2021, showing up in Big Rapids late in the spring not knowing if he’d ever play a snap, and eventually becoming its go-to quarterback and Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference player of the year. All this, mind you, after not having played football for five years.
Bernhardt came to Ferris State after a decorated five-year run with Maryland lacrosse, where he played in two national finals, won a national championship in 2017 and was national player of the year earlier in 2021. Bernhardt grew up playing football and lacrosse at a young age. In high school, as a quarterback running the triple-option in Longwood, Florida, he had more than 4,000 all-purpose yards and 30 touchdowns over his final two high-school seasons. His senior year, he rushed for 1,457 yards and 12 touchdowns, and threw for 751 yards and six more touchdowns. He was good in football. But he was great in lacrosse, totaling 434 points and 236 goals during his lacrosse career. He was the No. 3 overall lacrosse recruit in the country, and No. 2 among midfielders, for the 2016 class, so he committed to that sport — and to Maryland, where his brothers, Jake and Jesse, also had played.
His first year at Maryland, he won a national championship and was named Maryland athletics freshman of the year. His second year, he was first-team All-Big Ten and third-team All-America. His third year, he was first-team All-America and a finalist for national player of the year. And his fourth year, he received the Big Ten Medal of Honor. In 2020 he was starting to get the itch for football again and had started reaching out to programs — mostly Division II, and many via random, cold-call emails. He found Ferris State, a Division II school that had been to the national championship game in 2018 and the national semifinals in 2019. He expressed interest in being a quarterback, but also noted he could be a receiver or running back. Since there was no Division II football in 2020 due to Covid, Bernhardt returned for a fifth year of eligibility at Maryland — and what a fifth year it was. He set Maryland’s all-time scoring record, was the Big Ten Tournament MVP, made the NCAA All-Tournament team, and won the 2021 Tewaaraton Award, lacrosse’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. Maryland went 15-1, including 10-0 in the Big Ten, with three wins over Michigan. The lone loss came to Virginia, 17-16, in the national championship match.
While playing his final year at Maryland, Bernhardt was viewing Ferris State spring-football practice, questioning Ferris State Coach Annese about this and that and the other things over text messages. “I told Coach I wanted to come to a team that was gonna compete,” Bernhardt said of early discussions with Annese. “I wanted to win a national championship.” Said Annese: “It’s pretty incredible. I kind of had an inkling that he was gonna be really special when he knew our offense better than the quarterbacks who had been here, just by studying film.”
Bernhardt showed up to Big Rapids without any grand expectations since he hadn’t played football in 5 years. In his college football debut, Sept. 2 against Findlay, Bernhardt threw for three touchdowns, and rushed for four more. After missing a few games because of injuries and Covid-19 protocols, he came back to lead Ferris State to a 55-7 victory over Shepherd in the national semifinals, in which he rushed for five touchdowns in the first half. For the year he led Ferris State to the GLIAC championship and was named GLIAC player of the year.
There have been many two sport stars who have excelled in both sports such as those I mentioned above. The fact that Bernhardt has done it at a position as complicated and demanding as quarterback, after not playing a snap of football, is truly amazing. I know I will be watching this game with great interest. Athletes like this do not come around very often.
What are you doing today to stop violence? What are you doing today to expand mental health services for those in need? What are you doing today to make sure your guns are not are accessible to minors in your household?
Stay Safe. Social Distance. Wear your mask when indoors in public places. Schedule your vaccine and booster.
Orchid of the Day: Ferris State University for making it to the Division II national championship game again.
Onion of the Day: To those who have caused so many schools to be closed by making threats against the school. I hope all are caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Quote of the Day: “He might be one of the most understated human beings I’ve ever seen. He’s also one of those guys that never has, probably in his mind, performed up to his potential. He’s always focused on what did I do that wasn’t good. ‘Man, that was a great game.’ ‘Yeah, but …'” Ferris State Coach Tony Annese talking about FSU quarterback Jared Bernhardt.
What a GREAT story.