{"id":2824,"date":"2016-09-22T19:05:39","date_gmt":"2016-09-22T19:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/?p=2824"},"modified":"2016-09-30T13:52:19","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T13:52:19","slug":"a-great-little-gem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/2016\/09\/22\/a-great-little-gem\/","title":{"rendered":"A Great Little Gem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richard Paige<\/em> — Even historical footnotes are memorable.<\/p>\n

Late in the fourth quarter of Wabash\u2019s 59-7 win over Allegheny on Sept. 17, a 5-foot-9 sophomore running back trotted onto the field for his first collegiate game action. His first carry netted a one-yard gain.<\/p>\n

This particular back, Austin Hoover, was a good high school player, rushing for better than 2,600 yards as a senior at Sheridan (IN) High School. He\u2019s been a hard worker at Wabash who shows up every day hoping to make himself and his teammates a little better.<\/p>\n

\"Austin<\/a>
Austin Hoover ’19.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI just set my mind to help out whoever is playing,\u201d Hoover said. \u201cIf I\u2019m on scout team that week, I\u2019m going to do my best to make sure they get the best looks. If I get some reps on offense, I\u2019m going to make those count. I\u2019m making sure everything in practice counts in one way or another to help during the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three carries later, Hoover took the ball at the Wabash 32 yard-line and burst into the clear for a 47-yard gain, helping the Little Giants to a big piece of history. His scamper was the one that broke the single-game rushing record, originally set in 1975. Wabash ended the day with a whopping 513 yards on the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no better guy to set the school record than Austin Hoover,\u201d said Wabash head coach Don Morel.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s it feel like break off a big run where there is nothing in front of you but turf and the end zone?<\/p>\n

\"Six<\/a>
Six of the guys pictured here helped Wabash rush for 513 yards on Sept. 17. Pictured above are (l to r): Bobby Blum ’19; Tyler Downing ’18; Isaac Avant ’20; Shamir Johnson ’17; Assistant Coach\/RBs Darold Hughes; Matt Penola ’19; Cam Morgan ’20; Austin Hoover ’19; and Lamore Boudoin ’20.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good feeling to know that you are getting open, but there is anxiety there as well that there could be someone coming up on you,\u201d said Hoover, who finished the game with 57 yards rushing on four carries. \u201cMy thought process was \u2018I am going to score in this play. I\u2019m going for it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

While he was tripped up shy of the goal line, Hoover realized his carry was the record breaker just like everyone else: when it was announced to the stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they announced it over the P.A., I kind of put two and two together that my run put it over,\u201d he laughed. \u201cIt\u2019s a good feeling to know that I was a part of the record breaking. Obviously, I wouldn\u2019t be a part of it if it wasn\u2019t for the other five backs who contributed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coach Morel was all smiles while reviewing film two days later.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose guys down the depth chart, they practice hard and they really play hard when they get a chance,\u201d said Morel. \u201cA story like Hoover\u2019s, it\u2019s a great little gem.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Richard Paige — Even historical footnotes are memorable. Late in the fourth quarter of Wabash\u2019s 59-7 win over Allegheny on Sept. 17, a 5-foot-9 sophomore running back trotted onto the field for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"w_featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/09\/Hoover_crop.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2824"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2832,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2824\/revisions\/2832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}