When we explored what made college football great, everything kept coming back to the sport’s organized chaos. The lack of structure is what makes it beloved by fans. And no player embodies that spirit, that organized chaos, quite like Jack Colletto of Oregon State.
The man nicknamed The Jackhammer does a little bit of everything for the Beavers. That was evident in their victory over Boise State this weekend. Colletto lined up at running back, quarterback, linebacker and played special teams over the course of 60 minutes. And he contributed in each role.
As a wildcat quarterback, he picked up a first down. As a linebacker, Colletto recovered a fumble and made a tackle on kickoff coverage as a special teamer. The Jackhammer also scored a 41-yard touchdown to put the game out of reach as a running back. It was awesome to watch (and not just because I really hate that community college from Boise).
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If this were the NFL or even one of the top five or six Power 5 schools, a player like Colletto would have slipped through the cracks. Everything is so segmented and specialized that those teams only want players to focus on a single role. That makes sense when you’re dealing with high-end talent. But for a school such as Oregon State, you need to get creative.
The Jackhammer isn’t elite at any one thing. He is, however, a damn fine football player who can contribute to a winning team. The coaching staff just needs to understand where those areas are and execute. Props to Beavers Head Coach Jonathan Smith for doing that.
Perhaps the most interesting thing to come out of the broadcast was the fact Oregon State assigns a graduate assistant to Colletto to help him manage everything. That helps, but he still has a ton of stuff to do during the week. Here’s what he told the Corvallis Gazette-Times about his process:
“I don’t even know if it’s really time management because I don’t even have time to decide what I need to do. It’s like, ‘I have to do this so it gets done.’ I don’t even have a chance to manage time. I have to watch tape on everything, special teams, offense and defense. Yeah, long days during the week. Very long days. It’s fun. But I also love sleep, too, so sometimes I’m like, ‘OK, I’m ready for bed.’ But I enjoy it.”
College football is special because of athletes like Colletto who is without a doubt the sport’s most awesome player at the moment.
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