It was one of many largest moments in Georgia soccer historical past. Gamers had been celebrating. Followers had 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 subject purpose try with solely eight seconds remaining within the 2022 Faculty Soccer Playoff semifinal on the Peach Bowl.
However the sport wasn’t truly over.
So Vest, located on the Ohio State sideline, weaved by means of the maze of dejected Buckeyes and accomplished his closing job: delivering the sport ball to the official. Moments later, quarterback Stetson Bennett took one closing snap to ship Georgia to the nationwide championship sport.
Welcome to life as a ball boy.
“Although we could not have a direct affect on the sport,” stated Vest, who served as a pupil supervisor for the Bulldogs as an undergraduate, “we will actually mess it up.”
It’s an vital if largely unseen job that requires timing, fast instincts, athleticism and — as one tools supervisor put it — “maturity.”
However it’s additionally wildly enjoyable, based on those that have executed it. And there’s no different gig prefer it in school soccer.
“I’m by no means gonna take a look at a sport the identical,” stated Ben Shirley, a former supervisor at Clemson who’s now on the tools employees at UNLV.
“Like, any sport ever once more, after doing this.”
Faculty soccer packages make use of wherever from 12 to 25 pupil managers, sometimes undergraduates who work for a stipend. Duties throughout the week vary from follow setup to tools prep to laundry to … nicely, something required to maintain the operation working easily.
On sport day, as many as six managers function ball boys — two or three on every sideline. The job requirement is straightforward: If the sport ball is thrown out of bounds or knocked out of play, ensure that the officers have a alternative as shortly as attainable.
“Children find it irresistible. 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,” stated Luke Wyatt, the previous head tools 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 duty, as nicely.
“Through the years, I at all times tried to place probably the most mature guys on the (different) facet as a result of they’re not gonna run their mouths,” Wyatt stated. “You at all times need to allow them to know: ‘Don’t work together with the gamers. Once we don’t have the ball, step again out of the way in which. Don’t get in the way in which 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 stated. “I at all times discovered methods to be a smart-ass, I’ll inform you that a lot.”
Longenecker sometimes stayed busy when Auburn was on offense. However he had loads of time for tomfoolery when the Tigers had been on protection and the opposing group was accountable for working 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,” stated Longenecker, the son of two Auburn graduates and a lifelong fan of this system. “They might by no means like that. They might shove you out of the way in which 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 power 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 arms.
“And he would simply be like, ‘Ball safety!’” stated Longenecker, who works in advertising and marketing at James Madison. “He was simply joking. (However) it didn’t damage any much less. … I used to be like, ‘Man, he actually works out.’”
Some head coaches take pleasure in interacting with the opposing group’s ball boys. Others ignore them.
“You’ll get into conversations with coaches on the visiting group sideline,” stated Bradley “Spider” Caldwell, a former tools supervisor for 3 a long time at Penn State. “Like, (former Ohio State coach) John Cooper one time, he leaned over to one among my managers and he says, ‘Who’s that No. 24 on the market?’ So the supervisor advised 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 sport. Arkansas coach Sam Pittman stated 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 manner.” San Jose State’s Ken Niumatalolo likes to say whats up 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 had been about to run after they constructed a double-digit lead within the second half.
“He stated it in a manner that I may inform that he knew I didn’t truly know. So I simply stated we had been working it, like as a joke,” Shirley stated. “After which he truly yelled out to his group that it was a run, additionally as a joke form of factor. It was fairly humorous.”
Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea stated 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 kind of issues that won’t at all times make sense, but it surely’s how we do enterprise,” he stated, referring to the oddity of getting a few representatives from the opponent in your sideline. “Most occasions when there may be or has been (a problem) it resolves fairly shortly.”
Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz stated opposing ball boys could be distracting, however he at all times tries to be respectful. Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin stated 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 young person when his father, Monte, coached linebackers for the New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings.
“It was truly a extremely cool expertise,” Kiffin stated. “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 give you a system as a result of I may hear (the opposing group’s) performs over there, however my dad can be on the opposite sidelines teaching protection for the opposite group, for the Vikings. And I at all times thought, ‘I ponder in case you may give you a system the place if I heard the play I may inform him the performs one way or the other.’”
When Steve Spurrier was the coach at Florida, one among Wyatt’s Vanderbilt ball boys requested the Head Ball Coach if he may have his visor.
“He stated, ‘Child, you’ve received quite a lot of balls. However no. You may’t have my visor,’” Wyatt recalled. “That was actually humorous.”
On the 2023 Gator Bowl, a Kentucky participant provided to change his jersey for Shirley’s Clemson pullover.
“I used to be serious about that all the time, all the sport. Like how humorous would it not be if I got here again (to the Clemson bus) with a (Kentucky) jersey?” Shirley stated.
One in all Wyatt’s favourite recollections is from an away sport at Ole Miss years in the past.
“I used to be actually brief on assist that day, so I had … one among our policemen working balls — not in uniform, however he was an off-duty policeman,” Wyatt stated. “Effectively, he’s an incredible massive 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 executed.
“Effectively, he seems up and he goes, ‘OK. You’re the oldest and the most important ball boy I’ve ever seen.’ And James is the man that’s doing it. He goes, ‘Effectively look right here, ref, don’t begin no s— and there received’t be any.’ So it’s a grown man working balls telling the referee that. The referee received 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 dwelling or away. However in Caldwell’s early days at Penn State, the house group 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 subject purpose vary,” Caldwell stated. “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 yet one more 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 stated, 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 arrange 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 stated, ‘Effectively, the Syracuse managers are working the footballs,’” Caldwell stated. “(Paterno stated), ‘What do you imply the Syracuse managers are working the footballs? You’ve gotta get any individual on these. We will’t have that.’ I’m like, ‘OK, Coach, OK.’ And the entire group’s in there now. They’re on the brink of do halftime changes and Joe storms out of the room and all the group’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 Provider 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 sport, Penn State has traveled with eight managers (up from six), with two designated to run balls on the opposite group’s sideline.
“To (Sacca’s) protection, I assume our middle was a sweater,” Caldwell stated, laughing. “He did sweat so much and it was fairly scorching within the Provider Dome … (however) I encourage to vary.”
Ball boys might not be 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 sport in opposition to Arkansas when he one way or the other saved tempo with Tigers large receiver Melvin Ray on a 49-yard landing reception.
Longenecker came upon 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 nicely.
“Melvin and I had a chuckle about it. I believe I did, like, one interview on the time they usually requested me why my highschool coach by no means put me at working again,” Longenecker stated. “I used to be like, ‘As a result of I used to be sluggish.’ And I meant it. I nonetheless am. It was one thing that seemed good on digicam there for like 10 yards.”
Frankie Grizzle-Malgrat, higher generally known as “Purple Lightning,” is arguably probably 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 have a good time a Florida State landing.
The person. The parable. The legend.@FSUFootball‘s Purple 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 stated. “And also you don’t actually take into consideration the results. … You simply hope for one of the best.”
Grizzle-Malgrat is 5 foot 8 … with sneakers 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 among whom hit him within the face masks — Grizzle-Malgrat muscled his manner 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 stated, including that his largest concern was at all times getting his glasses damaged. “Oklahoma State, one of many massive defensive linemen, he elbowed me behind the pinnacle.”
Equally, he was there to assist Winston up when the quarterback took a late hit in opposition to Duke within the 2013 ACC Championship Recreation.
“Simply know that I’m there for you and I’m there that can assist you up,” Grizzle-Malgrat stated. “I’ve received your again.”
Niumatalolo can bear in mind one among his 5-foot-9 ball boys at Navy leaping right into a skirmish to assist a participant in a bowl sport on the other sideline.
“I stated, ‘What occurred over there? Did you get within the battle?’ He stated, ‘No, Coach, I needed to soar in there and attempt to save so-and-so,’” Niumatalolo stated. “I stated, ‘Good for you, man! You’re standing in for our gamers?’ These are small, tiny children leaping in there making an attempt to battle.”
Throughout Wyatt’s time at Vanderbilt, the Commodores truly wanted assist from legislation enforcement on a visit to Arkansas.
“One in all my ball boys comes throughout the sector and tells me, ‘Hey, I’ve received an issue. Their power coach is grabbing me and pushing me round, saying I’m within the coach’s manner and all that,’” Wyatt stated. “So we needed to get the state trooper to take away the power coach from Arkansas’ sideline.”
And typically, there’s even drama between the house and visiting ball boys.
“We had been enjoying at UT (in 2005) and we received the sport on a mainly last-minute landing,” Wyatt stated. “We had the ball that received the sport for our quarterback (Jay Cutler). We had been gonna hold it. And the (Tennessee) ball boy tried to take it and our ball boy ran throughout the again of the top zone and tackled him. It was fairly humorous.”
For as severe because the job could be, it’s finally the enjoyable recollections that ball boys take with them.
Vest, now in his second 12 months of legislation college 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 had been asking the place all the ladies had been at,” he stated, laughing.
Grizzle-Malgrat, who’s now an tools supervisor for Florida State’s softball and soccer groups, was at a bar in Virginia Seaside 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 type of interplay with followers at Tennessee.
“In Knoxville in 2021, we even had followers moon us from the stands,” he stated.
As Longenecker stated, the job isn’t at all times glamorous. It’s usually thankless work that includes lengthy hours full of laundry, unpredictable climate and infinite little duties.
“(However) I’m alive. I’m wholesome. And I’m blissful. So I wouldn’t change it for something on this planet,” he stated.
Maybe Dan Leben, a former Vanderbilt supervisor, summed it up finest.
“It’s,” he stated, “a ridiculously enjoyable factor to do.”
(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; Photographs: Clemson Athletics, Dannie Partitions / Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Photographs, Georgia Athletics)
