EAGLE ALUMNI

A lineman gears up to play Stanford
By Kyle Skierski

Focus is an important element when you are striving for success in anything. It is especially important when you are preparing for an upcoming season with the third game being one of the most highly hyped media events in UC Davis history.

Attendance will range upward of 50,000 screaming fans. We will also have a Pac-10 opponent with a tradition that dates back further than Super Bowl MVP John Elway and Heisman Trophy winner and NFL great Jim Plunkett.

Besides the media attention, and the fans and community so excited about the Aggies playing such a high-caliber football team as the Stanford Cardinal, people forget that we won't face Stanford until the third game of the season.

As a football team, we have to ignore the hype and take the season one day at a time. We have been focusing and working to perfect the most miniscule of details in hope of emulating teams that played with the heart and "Aggie Pride" before us.

The teams before us

These teams' players laid the groundwork so that we could have an opportunity like the one that lies ahead. But right now we have to improve everyday at practice as an offense, a defense and as a team.

We can't look too far ahead because it takes our focus off of the opponents we play each week, each one presenting us with different schemes, styles, blitzes and mismatches that we must pay close attention to in order to capitalize when it counts.

It's hard preparing for a game that you know will be the biggest stage anyone on our team has ever played on. Thousands of people will be watching, including family, friends, alumni and several generations of past Aggie football players -- and we don't want to let anyone of them down.

Sacrifices and pressure

I constantly think about all the sacrifices we have made in the off-season – the weight room, 7 a.m. running, film sessions, etc. Most people say that it's a lot of pressure with our 35 consecutive winning seasons on the line, the second toughest schedule in the nation, and playing Stanford. But I look at it as motivation.

Our team has worked too hard this year to be apprehensive or back down from any challenge. Great moments are born from great opportunities, and Stanford is maybe the greatest opportunity that UC Davis football has ever had.

Many people ask me if I am afraid of the bigger, more talented Stanford Cardinal. I have the same answer every time. No. And if you come out on Sept. 17, I think you'll see that my teammates aren't either.

Besides being one of the two returning starting offensive linemen, third-year communications major Kyle Skierski is also an intern in the UC Davis Athletics Media Relations Office and an Aggie host with the UC Davis Police Department.