By Gene Schallenberg
After more than a year of biding his time, J.D. Standley finally got his opportunity to step on the football field and show his coaches what he could do.
In the biggest game of his redshirt freshman season at that point, Standley filled in for Sam Houston State senior fullback Matt Powledge, who tore his ACL, against Tulsa on Sept. 26.
Throughout the rest of the season, which ended in a 28-20 loss to rival Texas State on Saturday, the former Madisonville Mustang filled in nicely for the Bearkats senior.
“Matt’s a good player,” Standley said. “He’s one of the hardest workers on the team. It was bad seeing him going down like he did. He still played and fought through that torn ACL. I just stepped in and tried to do the best I could. I wasn’t as good as he was, but I tried to and we’ll see where we can go from there.”
The first time Standley, who was slated as a second-string tight end in the spring, saw action, he was playing in front of more than 26,000 people.
But after a few more weeks of game time, Standley settled in and learned the ins and outs of his new position.
“I went in against Tulsa,” Standley said. “That was our biggest game at the time. It was a pretty big crowd. It took me a while to get the hang of it. After a while and game by game, I got the hang of it. I kept getting better each game.”
Standley admitted that there were some differences in playing fullback instead of tight end that he had to get used to.
“At tight end, there’s a whole lot more technique,” Standley said. “At fullback, there’s just a bunch of headbanging. It hurts a little bit more. But whatever gets me on the field, I’m fine with that. It really doesn’t matter.”
With the season in the books, if the fullback position remains in Standley’s future, that suits him just fine.
“Whatever they want, I’ll do it,” Standley said. “If I’m on the field, I’m fine with whatever they want me to play. I feel comfortable at fullback right now. I can still play tight end, but wherever they want me, that’s where I’ll be.”
Former Huntsville-area athletes in action
In the friendly confines of playing at home, former Lady Hornet Sarah Hazlewood and the Houston Baptist Huskies upset third-seeded New Jersey Institute of Technology in the first round of the Great West Conference volleyball tournament. Hazlewood had five kills in the five-set victory. Success didn’t last long as HBU was eliminated in the conference semifinals by Utah Valley in five games.
In the final game before Texas A&M;’s rivalry game against Texas on Thursday night, former Hornet Kirby Ennis helped keep the pressure on Baylor as the Aggies waltzed away with a 38-3 victory. Ennis recorded two tackles, including a 5-yard sack, his ninth of the season.
