It was one of many greatest moments in Georgia soccer historical past. Gamers have been celebrating. Followers have been delirious.
However Bennett Vest had a job to do.
Sure, for all intents and functions, the sport was over when Ohio State kicker Noah Ruggles missed a 50-yard area aim try with solely eight seconds remaining within the 2022 Faculty Soccer Playoff semifinal on the Peach Bowl.
However the recreation wasn’t really over.
So Vest, located on the Ohio State sideline, weaved by means of the maze of dejected Buckeyes and accomplished his last job: delivering the sport ball to the official. Moments later, quarterback Stetson Bennett took one last snap to ship Georgia to the nationwide championship recreation.
Welcome to life as a ball boy.
“Although we could not have a direct impression on the sport,” mentioned Vest, who served as a scholar supervisor for the Bulldogs as an undergraduate, “we are able to definitely mess it up.”
It’s an necessary if largely unseen job that requires timing, fast instincts, athleticism and — as one gear supervisor put it — “maturity.”
Nevertheless it’s additionally wildly enjoyable, in accordance with those that have accomplished it. And there’s no different gig prefer it in school soccer.
“I’m by no means gonna take a look at a recreation the identical,” mentioned Ben Shirley, a former supervisor at Clemson who’s now on the gear employees at UNLV.
“Like, any sport ever once more, after doing this.”
Faculty soccer applications make use of wherever from 12 to 25 scholar managers, usually undergraduates who work for a stipend. Duties throughout the week vary from observe setup to gear prep to laundry to … properly, something required to maintain the operation operating easily.
On recreation day, as many as six managers function ball boys — two or three on every sideline. The job requirement is easy: If the sport ball is thrown out of bounds or knocked out of play, make certain the officers have a substitute as rapidly as potential.
“Youngsters like it. It’s simply thrilling for them and there’s actually by no means a greater seat in the home since you’re proper the place the play is, you’re proper the place the ball is,” mentioned Luke Wyatt, the previous head gear supervisor at Vanderbilt. “The managers would at all times politic to see in the event that they could possibly be the ball boy that weekend.”
However working the opposing sidelines comes with extra accountability, as properly.
“Over time, I at all times tried to place essentially the most mature guys on the (different) aspect as a result of they’re not gonna run their mouths,” Wyatt mentioned. “You at all times must allow them to know: ‘Don’t work together with the gamers. Once we don’t have the ball, step again out of the best way. Don’t get in the best way of the coaches teaching the sport, or the officers.’”
Former Auburn ball boy Jake Longenecker did his finest to behave. However he typically couldn’t assist himself throughout his time with the Tigers within the mid-2010s.
“I used to be form of a little bit s—,” he mentioned. “I at all times discovered methods to be a smart-ass, I’ll let you know that a lot.”
Longenecker usually stayed busy when Auburn was on offense. However he had loads of time for tomfoolery when the Tigers have been on protection and the opposing staff was accountable for operating balls.
“(The opponent is) signaling in performs and I used to be at all times conscious of the place I used to be standing and typically I might attempt to, on objective, stand in entrance of the individuals calling within the performs,” mentioned Longenecker, the son of two Auburn graduates and a lifelong fan of this system. “They’d by no means like that. They’d shove you out of the best way and I’d be like, ‘Yeah, I do know what I’m doing. I do know what I’m doing. So go for it.’”
Scott Cochran, the previous energy and conditioning coach at Alabama and particular groups coordinator at Georgia, had an analogous humorousness. When Auburn performed the Crimson Tide, Cochran would usually punch the ball out of Longenecker’s palms.
“And he would simply be like, ‘Ball safety!’” mentioned Longenecker, who works in advertising at James Madison. “He was simply joking. (However) it didn’t harm any much less. … I used to be like, ‘Man, he actually works out.’”
Some head coaches take pleasure in interacting with the opposing staff’s ball boys. Others ignore them.
“You’ll get into conversations with coaches on the visiting staff sideline,” mentioned Bradley “Spider” Caldwell, a former gear supervisor for 3 a long time at Penn State. “Like, (former Ohio State coach) John Cooper one time, he leaned over to one in every of my managers and he says, ‘Who’s that No. 24 on the market?’ So the supervisor instructed him who he was. He was a defensive again. (Cooper) says, ‘Yeah, that child’s not superb. Inform Joe (Paterno) that child’s not superb.’”
Auburn coach Hugh Freeze doesn’t get into deep conversations with ball boys however likes to thank them for the job they do and can usually take a jab about their head coach’s “terrible” golf recreation. Arkansas coach Sam Pittman mentioned ball boys are “at all times good children” and convey “particular that means” to the sport. However he likes to jokingly inform them earlier than the sport begins to “keep the hell out of my approach.” San Jose State’s Ken Niumatalolo likes to say good day and ask them about their majors.
And when Clemson hosted Louisiana Tech in 2022, Shirley remembers Bulldogs coach Sonny Cumbie jokingly asking him what performs the Tigers have been about to run after they constructed a double-digit lead within the second half.
“He mentioned it in a approach that I might inform that he knew I didn’t really know. So I simply mentioned we have been operating it, like as a joke,” Shirley mentioned. “After which he really yelled out to his staff that it was a run, additionally as a joke form of factor. It was fairly humorous.”
Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea mentioned there have been a few situations when an opposing ball boy has gotten chippy on the sidelines, though that appears to be the exception and never the norm.
“It’s a type of issues that won’t at all times make sense, however it’s how we do enterprise,” he mentioned, referring to the oddity of getting a few representatives from the opponent in your sideline. “Most occasions when there’s or has been (a difficulty) it resolves fairly rapidly.”
Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz mentioned opposing ball boys could be distracting, however he at all times tries to be respectful. Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin mentioned he doesn’t actually discover them.
Each coaches was ball boys themselves — Drinkwitz beginning as a freshman in highschool and Kiffin manning the sidelines as a youngster when his father, Monte, coached linebackers for the New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings.
“It was really a very cool expertise,” Kiffin mentioned. “We needed to be on the opposite sidelines for half the sport and — I used to be simply telling this story the opposite day — Mike Ditka’s over there and Jim Harbaugh and Walter Payton.
“I at all times wished to provide you with a system as a result of I might hear (the opposing staff’s) performs over there, however my dad can be on the opposite sidelines teaching protection for the opposite staff, for the Vikings. And I at all times thought, ‘I ponder if you happen to might provide you with a system the place if I heard the play I might inform him the performs someway.’”
When Steve Spurrier was the coach at Florida, one in every of Wyatt’s Vanderbilt ball boys requested the Head Ball Coach if he might have his visor.
“He mentioned, ‘Child, you’ve acquired a number of balls. However no. You may’t have my visor,’” Wyatt recalled. “That was actually humorous.”
On the 2023 Gator Bowl, a Kentucky participant supplied to change his jersey for Shirley’s Clemson pullover.
“I used to be enthusiastic about that your entire time, your entire recreation. Like how humorous wouldn’t it be if I got here again (to the Clemson bus) with a (Kentucky) jersey?” Shirley mentioned.
Considered one of Wyatt’s favourite reminiscences is from an away recreation at Ole Miss years in the past.
“I used to be actually brief on assist that day, so I had … one in every of our policemen operating balls — not in uniform, however he was an off-duty policeman,” Wyatt mentioned. “Properly, he’s a fantastic huge man. He was like 6-5, 300-plus kilos. So earlier than the sport, the officers at all times meet with the ball boys. They’ve a gathering to inform them how they need issues accomplished.
“Properly, he seems to be up and he goes, ‘OK. You’re the oldest and the biggest ball boy I’ve ever seen.’ And James is the man that’s doing it. He goes, ‘Properly look right here, ref, don’t begin no s— and there gained’t be any.’ So it’s a grown man operating balls telling the referee that. The referee acquired an actual good kick out of it.”
These days, all groups have their very own ball boys working each sidelines, no matter whether or not they’re residence or away. However in Caldwell’s early days at Penn State, the house staff usually supplied managers to run balls for each groups.
Such was the case within the fall of 1989 when Penn State traveled to upstate New York.
“So we’re enjoying Syracuse and it’s proper earlier than halftime and we’re driving. We’re in area aim vary,” Caldwell mentioned. “However we had a little bit bit extra time on the clock and so coach Paterno wished to get a little bit bit nearer to make it a brief kick.”
The Nittany Lions put another play in — a 5-yard hitch from quarterback Tony Sacca to the tight finish. However Sacca threw an interception. Paterno was not happy.
“He’s yelling on the quarterback, ‘Why did you throw that ball?!’” Caldwell mentioned, imitating Paterno’s distinct voice. “(Sacca) was infamous for excuses. So he’s like, ‘Coach, the soccer was moist.’”
Caldwell didn’t see the interception. He left the sidelines a couple of minutes earlier to organize the locker room for halftime. So when Paterno stormed over to Caldwell within the locker room and demanded solutions — particularly, why the soccer was moist — Caldwell was caught off guard.
“I mentioned, ‘Properly, the Syracuse managers are operating the footballs,’” Caldwell mentioned. “(Paterno mentioned), ‘What do you imply the Syracuse managers are operating the footballs? You’ve gotta get someone on these. We will’t have that.’ I’m like, ‘OK, Coach, OK.’ And the entire staff’s in there now. They’re on the brink of do halftime changes and Joe storms out of the room and all the staff’s taking a look at me and the coaches are standing there and one of many coaches says, ‘Soccer? Moist? How can a soccer be moist after we’re enjoying contained in the Service Dome?’
“I by no means even thought of it. So I’m wanting over at Sacca like, ‘I’m gonna kill you, you son of a gun.’”
Since that recreation, Penn State has traveled with eight managers (up from six), with two designated to run balls on the opposite staff’s sideline.
“To (Sacca’s) protection, I assume our middle was a sweater,” Caldwell mentioned, laughing. “He did sweat so much and it was fairly sizzling within the Service Dome … (however) I urge to vary.”
Ball boys is probably not blue-chip recruits, however don’t underestimate their athleticism — and fearlessness. This crew is scrappy.
Longenecker, a former highschool linebacker, went viral throughout Auburn’s 2014 recreation in opposition to Arkansas when he someway saved tempo with Tigers large receiver Melvin Ray on a 49-yard landing reception.
Longenecker discovered throughout a climate delay later that afternoon {that a} clip of his “exploits” had already amassed 4 million views on Vine, the previous social media platform. ESPN tweeted out the play, as properly.
“Melvin and I had a chuckle about it. I feel I did, like, one interview on the time and so they requested me why my highschool coach by no means put me at operating again,” Longenecker mentioned. “I used to be like, ‘As a result of I used to be gradual.’ And I meant it. I nonetheless am. It was one thing that regarded good on digicam there for like 10 yards.”
Frankie Grizzle-Malgrat, higher referred to as “Pink Lightning,” is arguably essentially the most well-known ball boy in school soccer historical past. He first went viral within the early 2010s when TV cameras caught him sprinting down the sidelines to rejoice a Florida State landing.
The person. The parable. The legend.@FSUFootball‘s Pink Lightning ⚡️⚡️ pic.twitter.com/76foBPRfk9
— ACC Community (@accnetwork) June 27, 2020
However he could also be remembered extra fondly for by no means backing down when he sensed a Florida State participant wanted his assist.
“When somebody messes along with your brother, you go to their assist,” Grizzle-Malgrat mentioned. “And also you don’t actually take into consideration the results. … You simply hope for the most effective.”
Grizzle-Malgrat is 5 foot 8 … with footwear on. However when former FSU quarterback Jameis Winston threw an interception in opposition to Oklahoma State in 2014 and located himself surrounded by Cowboys gamers — one in every of whom hit him within the face masks — Grizzle-Malgrat muscled his approach in to defend his man and helped pull the All-American QB out of the tussle.
“I’m so much, lot smaller than a bunch of them dudes, however you don’t give it some thought,” Grizzle-Malgrat mentioned, including that his greatest concern was at all times getting his glasses damaged. “Oklahoma State, one of many huge defensive linemen, he elbowed me at the back of the top.”
Equally, he was there to assist Winston up when the quarterback took a late hit in opposition to Duke within the 2013 ACC Championship Sport.
“Simply know that I’m there for you and I’m there that can assist you up,” Grizzle-Malgrat mentioned. “I’ve acquired your again.”
Niumatalolo can bear in mind one in every of his 5-foot-9 ball boys at Navy leaping right into a skirmish to assist a participant in a bowl recreation on the alternative sideline.
“I mentioned, ‘What occurred over there? Did you get within the battle?’ He mentioned, ‘No, Coach, I needed to leap in there and attempt to save so-and-so,’” Niumatalolo mentioned. “I mentioned, ‘Good for you, man! You’re standing in for our gamers?’ These are small, tiny children leaping in there attempting to battle.”
Throughout Wyatt’s time at Vanderbilt, the Commodores really wanted assist from regulation enforcement on a visit to Arkansas.
“Considered one of my ball boys comes throughout the sector and tells me, ‘Hey, I’ve acquired an issue. Their energy coach is grabbing me and pushing me round, saying I’m within the coach’s approach and all that,’” Wyatt mentioned. “So we needed to get the state trooper to take away the energy coach from Arkansas’ sideline.”
And typically, there’s even drama between the house and visiting ball boys.
“We have been enjoying at UT (in 2005) and we gained the sport on a principally last-minute landing,” Wyatt mentioned. “We had the ball that gained the sport for our quarterback (Jay Cutler). We have been gonna hold it. And the (Tennessee) ball boy tried to take it and our ball boy ran throughout the again of the tip zone and tackled him. It was fairly humorous.”
For as critical because the job could be, it’s finally the enjoyable reminiscences that ball boys take with them.
Vest, now in his second 12 months of regulation faculty at Samford, had an unforgettable dialog with a bunch of Ohio State defensive linemen within the second half of the 2022 Peach Bowl, proper as the sport was coming all the way down to the wire.
“They have been asking the place all the women have been at,” he mentioned, laughing.
Grizzle-Malgrat, who’s now an gear supervisor for Florida State’s softball and soccer groups, was at a bar in Virginia Seashore for his cousin’s birthday in 2019 when a bunch of locals acknowledged him. Even 10 years later, he nonetheless fields autograph and picture requests within the grocery retailer or at a restaurant.
Vest remembers a unique kind of interplay with followers at Tennessee.
“In Knoxville in 2021, we even had followers moon us from the stands,” he mentioned.
As Longenecker mentioned, the job isn’t at all times glamorous. It’s usually thankless work that entails lengthy hours crammed with laundry, unpredictable climate and countless little duties.
“(However) I’m alive. I’m wholesome. And I’m joyful. So I wouldn’t change it for something on this planet,” he mentioned.
Maybe Dan Leben, a former Vanderbilt supervisor, summed it up finest.
“It’s,” he mentioned, “a ridiculously enjoyable factor to do.”
(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; Pictures: Clemson Athletics, Dannie Partitions / Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Pictures, Georgia Athletics)
