A short season worth the wait
Jeske finally puts on pads as Red Hawk
The days began to pile up so much so that Connor Jeske quickly lost count of them. It got to a point that he no longer wanted to keep track of them, and as the weeks became months, he wondered if he’d ever play the sport he loves again.
The truth was not counting made it easier to forget about everything going on. But there times when Jeske, a freshman at Ripon College, walked through campus, saw the leaves change color, and knew he should be out playing football.
Then he would remember the disappointment again. “Yeah, it was tough,” Connor says during a phone interview. One doesn’t have to see his face to know what football means to him. You can hear the frustration in his voice when he describes the last twelve months of his life.
COVID-19 has cost Connor much. He had to forgo the final months of his senior season at Colby High, and now he was dealing with it as a college student.
Instead of soaking up the college atmosphere, meeting new people and playing college football, he was grappling with a world still held in the grips of the first global pandemic in over a century.
“It’s been pretty weird with this whole COVID thing, and I don’t know if you can ever find a true balance, but I think I’ve found a pretty good groove,” Jeske says. “I think I made the dean’s list last semester, and I should be on it again this semester. So yeah, I found a good groove.”
Jeske drew on his time and experiences at Colby, where he had faced adversity before. He remembered how had overcame great obstacles to achieve great things. While a junior with the Colby Hornets, Jeske had broken his knee cap just three games into his season. As he cradled his leg during the ambulance ride, there were unspoken fears he would never play football again.
Connor marshalled his inner strength, endured weeks of grueling physical therapy, and remade his body, turning himself into a 6’4’ 255 pound one-man wrecking ball. When he returned to play under those Friday Night lights as a senior he helped guide Colby to the playoffs for a 15th straight season. Along the way he won All-Conference and Defensive Player of the Year honors for the Cloverbelt.
That senior season culminated in his being named All-State as a defensive end and his committmnent to play for Ripon College and be a Red Hawk.
Connor drew on those memories as he channeled his frustration with COVID-19 into making himself better than before. He used the time away from the field to becoming the best version of himself so that when he did retake the field, he would be the toughest, strongest and best option at defensive line his coaches had.
“We still had some practices in the fall so I just tried to push myself and get better each day,” Jeske recalls. “The time away did give me a lot of time to work on my pass rush moves and to get bigger and faster and learn to play college football. I learned a lot of new moves to add to my collection, which is nice.”
Lifting while wear a mask was tough, and so was practicing with one covering his bearded face. He supposed he could have shaved the beard, but he wasn’t going to allow COVID-19 to take one more thing away from him.
The more time he spent with coaches, Jeske felt the game become slower, easier to understand, which wasn’t the case when he first came to Ripon to play for coach Ron Ernst.
“It’s definitely a step up,” Jeske says about his journey from WIAA D-5 to NCAA D-3 football. “I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s just different. Everyone at this level can play, and is a great athlete. I just worked really hard and tried to put myself in a good position to be ready if my name got called.”
As it turned out, not having a season worked to Jeske’s advantage. It gave him time to adjust to the college game, which he discovered as full of surprises.
“The biggest surprise is probably just how big everyone is, even at the D-3 level. Then the play speed is a lot faster, but I feel like I’ve adapted pretty well.”
That would not be the only surprise Connor got his freshman year. He received a far more welcome one when he learned Ripon College would be playing an abbreviated spring season. It would only be three games, but it didn’t matter to Connor. All that mattered is he was back to playing.
“It feels good, it feels awesome to be back. It was hard waiting that long to play. It felt like forever. I mean, I knew eventually I would play, but you look on TV, and you see the Green Bay Packers on, or the Wisconsin Badgers, and you’d get that itch to be out there on the field.”
It was times like that where he wondered if he should have taken offers to be a walk-on with a bigger program. There were options, chances to play in the NCAA D-1 FCS, but at the end of the day, the chance to stay in Wisconsin and play was an opportunity he could not pass up.
“Some days I wish I went to a bigger school, but then on the other hand, I like my classes and teammates. I’m glad I stuck with my decision to stay smaller. I’m happy with my decision that I made.”
Jeske got his first taste of college action in early April, playing against Martin Luther College at home. Fan attendance was limited, but he could hear his name called out, and that alone was worth the wait.
“It felt good to have my family come and watch me again, to fans in the stands. I know my mom was really excited to see me play football. I was excited for everyone to watch me again, that really hit home how much I missed that. It was awesome.”
In total, Connor had been away from the game for over 500 days, and there was some rust on the game, along with some nerves after he learned he’d be getting the start at defensive line.
“I was pretty nervous, but I was also really excited. I shook off my rust in the first few snaps and just found my groove again. It was a blast being back on the field, playing again.”
Connor made an immediate impact in the loss, racking up three tackles, including one for a loss. He added a forced fumble to his resume as well. One more game would follow for Jeske, a close loss to Concordia University in Mequon. Jeske recorded a tackle in that game.
They’re modest numbers, but even just being here is victory enough for Connor.
“I never really thought I’d be playing college football,” he admits. “I just try to go out there and try to work hard every snap knowing people are watching me back home. It means a lot to me.”
After getting his first taste of action, the tall, rugged and powerfully built man out of Colby is back to counting the days until his football season begins.
Only now he’s doing it with some thing far better than disappointment. Now when he counts the days, he has hope.
GETTING THE JOB DONE -Connor Jeske (#75) prepares to block downfield for Reece Kellnhofer (#47) during his junior season. A two-way player for Colby during his time with the Hornets, Jeske is now focusing on defense during the Ripon Red Hawks abbreviated spring season. Through two games, Jeske has made his presence known, registering several tackles and forcing a fumble.STAFF PHOTO/ROSS PATTERMANN
