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Photo by Eric Pajak Mesa Legend |
Thunderbird captains (from left) Justin Douglas, Jeremiah White, Nick Trevillian and Brad Smith, are the first players other opponents see when they represent their team for the coin toss. |
Football is a sport that needs leaders for a team to survive a brutal three month schedule and an even more rigorous year-round training.
The Mesa Thunderbirds have just that in four soft spoken but very fiery players who put the team ahead of themselves at every given point.
There are four players on this tough and physical team that fellow players look to for leadership. Justin Douglas, Jeremiah White, Brad Smith and Nick Trevillian, are all players that seem to produce and standout in each game.
Justin Douglas is a defensive end in his second year for Mesa. He is a General Business major who likes being around the lake when he’s not pounding it out on the football field. Leading the defense in sacks is something that Douglas said he would like to accomplish this season.
“We just need to take it one week at a time,” said Douglas.
Douglas has been contacted by Arizona State, Oklahoma, Cal-Berkley and BYU, to come play football for their teams, next season. He said he is leaning toward the Sun Devils right now.
Jeremiah White is a 19 year old running back for the T-Birds who says he wants to break the school rushing record this season. The school record is 1,373 yards held by Rashad Armstrong who broke it in 2001. White got off to a good start the first week with 130 yards, but was banged up against Dixie College and did not even play in the second half.
White is a Criminal Justice major who doesn’t know if he will continue playing football at a university after this season.
“I just want to win games this year. I don’t know about next year yet,” White said.
The T-Birds’ strong side tackle on offense is Brad Smith.
“I want both of our running backs to have 1,000 yards this season,” Smith said, speaking of Austen Collins, in addition to White.
Smith would like to continue playing football at a Division 1 school next year but is more worried about staying focused this season. He is a business management major who wants a big family someday. Fishing,, hunting and camping are all things that keep Smith busy when he isn’t paving the way for the Mesa running backs.
Middle linebacker Nick Trevillian, said he wants to be part of a great defense during this football season.
“We want to turn some heads, open a lot of people’s eyes to see how good we really are,” Trevillian said. “Everyone should come check us out this season.”
Trevillian is hoping to get a scholarship to play football for the University of Arizona next year. But eventually he would like to be a fireman and have a great career with a nice family.
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