Central Michigan University Athletics
Football Notebook: Chippewas Welcome A Special Guest
8/17/2017 12:00:00 AM | Football
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - A very special guest paid a visit to the Central Michigan football team before practice on Thursday.
Dick Enberg, Central Michigan's most famous alum, addressed the Chippewas in their meeting room inside the Indoor Athletic Complex, just around the corner from the Dick Enberg Academic Center.
"One of the proudest things in my life is to have my name on the athletic academic center and I hope you all use it well," said Enberg, who earned a bachelor's degree from Central Michigan in 1957 and went on to a remarkable and highly decorated sports broadcasting career. "I'm proud of the wins and losses, but equally so about how well you do in the classroom."
Enberg's five-minute address included an anecdote from his days at CMU, when he was the student-body president and the Chippewas won five consecutive Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships from 1952-56.
"I contributed greatly," he quipped. "I was the fifth-string JV quarterback."
Enberg, a 13-time Emmy winner who has earned the highest honor a broadcaster can receive in football, basketball and baseball, spoke to the players about the unbreakable and lifelong bonds that they form by competing together on the football field.
He used the symbolism of the ring to illustrate his point, and how there is no beginning or end to a ring.
"The power of the ring and how it relates to football," he said. "Where is your ring? Football, offense, defense, when you go on the field, what is the ring you form? Your huddle.
"A ring of fellowship, a ring of your brothers and that ring is going to last your entire life. Every time you get in that huddle, think about the ring. It's eternal. It's going to last for your whole life. It's only as good as those 11 men that form that ring, that huddle. In the process take time to love each other because you're friends for life.
"Your best friends, your most loyal brothers, are those that were in that huddle with you. Remember that, remember your brothers. Be there to pick them up. That's part of what being a good team is."
Bond and tradition: A fitting example of what Enberg spoke about with regard to the bond between teammates will continue during the 2017 season.
The Chippewas will again honor late teammate Derrick Nash in every game with one player wearing Nash's No. 21 jersey. It will rotate from player to player on a game-by-game basis, just as it has in the past two seasons.
Nash, a member of the football team and a Saginaw native, died in June, 2015, after a two-year battle with cancer.
The 2017 season would have been Nash's senior year at CMU.
Numbers game: Senior running back Devon Spalding, who led CMU with 758 yards rushing last season, has changed his uniform number to 13. Spalding had worn No. 25 for his first three seasons on campus.
During Spalding's freshman and sophomore years, No. 13 was assigned to an older player and CMU, like most every other college team, assigns numbers based on seniority.
Last season, as a junior, Spalding said he focused on getting healthy and back on the field after suffering a broken collarbone during his sophomore season.
"Junior year I didn't really care what number I wore, I just wanted to get back to playing," he said, adding that he wore No. 13 during a sensational career, both in football and baseball, at John Glenn High School in suburban-Detroit's Westland. "And this year, my family and me and my really close family friends were all talking and they all thought it would be really cool if I ended my career here with the No. 13. We decided collectively it would be a good idea."
What about superstition? No. 13 is generally considered bad luck.
"It signifies that you don't really care, in a sense," Spalding said.
Kickers battle: CMU coach John Bonamego said Thursday that Michael Armstrong, a graduate transfer from SMU, is the frontrunner in the battle with sophomore Kaden Keon for the starting placekicking job.
"I think Armstrong's ahead right now, just in overall reps," Bonamego said. "Kaden's really come on lately, shown some improvement. But overall at this point I'd say Armstrong's been more consistent."
Armstrong, a Greensboro, N.C. native, made one field goal in two attempts last season at SMU. He averaged 57.4 yards with two touchbacks on 16 kickoffs.
Staying the course: Bonamego said he plans to continue the two-man punting rotation of junior Cooper Mojsiejenko, the son of former Michigan State and NFL punter Ralf Mojsiejenko, and Australian Jack Sheldon.
Last season, Sheldon, who kicks rugby style, averaged 40.2 yards on 47 punts with a long of 63 yards, and 18 of his punts were down inside the opponent's 20-yard line. Mojsiejenko averaged 41 yards on 20 punts, with a long of 51 and five inside the 20.
