Following the Path
Nate Stanley and Tom Hager
In Partnership with Athletes For God
In the winter of 2016, I was faced with the biggest decision of my life up to that point. It was my senior year in high school, approaching National Signing Day, and I was getting ready to determine where to spend the next four years of my life. I had made my verbal commitment to Iowa two years earlier, as a sophomore, but now at the 11th hour people weren't sure what I would do.
When I had first committed to Iowa, I was the first member of my class to do so. I had to put my trust in UI coach Kirk Ferentz and his staff to surround me with other good recruits who would eventually become my teammates. But Iowa was the first one to believe in me, so I believed in them.
And yet, now that the time was approaching to actually sign the Letter of Intent, people thought I might turn my turn my back on Iowa and head to Wisconsin. I grew up in Menominee, and now that the Badgers had signed Paul Chryst as their new coach, people thought it might be enough to dissuade me from Iowa City.
I wasn't raised like that.
My parents taught me that your word means a lot, and I think that goes back into the scripture. If I tell somebody I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it to the best of my ability. I also remember saying a lot of prayers and asking God if this was the right decision. He ultimately led me to stick with Iowa, and after everything that has happened since, I'm so glad I listened to God's advice.
It's been an amazing journey, but the same person who signed on that dotted line two years ago is not the same person I am today. My faith has evolved tremendously since then, and even though I've tried to keep my roots, I've grown quite a bit on the road of my faith.
I've always grown up thinking that my relationship with God is like a road, full of ups, downs, twists, and turns, but if you just stay on the road, you'll get to where you need to go. That first big turn in the road for me came during my junior year in high school, when I missed almost half of the season with a broken hand.
I had committed to Iowa by that point, but the injury was difficult because I had grown up around the Menominee High School program for much of my life. My dad was a football coach, and even before I could play I was the team manager, so I had been looking forward to playing for my dad for years. Now that the opportunity had finally arrived, I was going to miss five or six games with this injury.
It's amazing, though, how God's plan often comes full circle in the end. One of my dad's former players – who suffered a pretty serious injury years before – was now in a position to understand what I was going through and help me out.
At another point on my spiritual road, I didn't face a turn on the path as much as a fork. A year after recovering from the injury, my grandmother passed away pretty suddenly. She was my mother's mom, and she tried to attend as many of my football growing up as she could. She was incredibly supportive of my football career, but her death didn't just affect me. It affected the entire family.
I think there's two kinds of reactions people can have to death: you can think why did this happen, why did this happen to me, or you can always look at like this person had a great life and did everything they could to love others and serve the Lord.
That was the epitome of my grandma.
Her death also brought on an outpouring of support from coaches, and it really showed me who cared about me as a person, beyond what I can do as a football player. Some of those people were on the Iowa coaching staff, and over the last two years my relationship with them has grown closer. I'm glad we're so close, because the last season has brought on some exhilarating highs and a few soul-searching lows.
Two days after we started preparing for the season opener last year, my quarterbacks coach called me into his office to let me know that I would be the starter. I called my dad right away, because he's probably been the biggest influence on my football career.
Before our first game, as we made our way from the locker room to the tunnel, I remember being pretty nervous. I just thought about all the work we had put in from January (right after my freshman season had ended) to this point, and now this was where all the practice throws and workout sessions would be put to the test. I was also thinking about the game plan, because the opposing quarterback was Wyoming's Josh Allen, a top 10 pick in the NFL draft.
The only team we had played against for the last nine months was ourselves, so people didn't know what to expect from our team. They also didn't know what to expect from me, because this was my first start and I didn't complete a pass the entire first quarter. But our defense picked me up when I initially struggled, and after I found my rhythm we walked away with a 24-3 win.
It was really the next game when people began to take notice of me and our team. We were playing our rival Iowa State, and I can honestly say it was one of the craziest games I have been a part of. We led 21-10 in the third quarter, only to give up three straight touchdowns and find ourselves down 31-21 with less than seven minutes to play.
That's when your faith can be put to the test.
Before I say the Lord's Prayer with my teammates, I get dressed in my helmet and shoulder pads and just sit in my locker and say the prayer individually. Near the end of the prayer it says “lead us not into temptation” and as athlete, one of those temptations is to doubt yourself.
This week was different, however. My teammates had put their confidence in me, and I returned the favor by throwing a touchdown pass to Ihmir Smith-Marsette to put us within 31-28. Then, on the very next play, my teammate Parker Hesse came up with an interception to set the stage for a miracle finish.
We managed tied the game on a field goal, but this is where things really got crazy. Iowa State came right back and scored a touchdown to go back up 38-31, and although we punted on our next possession, our defense came through by forcing a three-and-out of their own. That gave us one last chance, but there was only one problem: we were down by a touchdown and had 2:54 to travel 89 yards just to tie the game.
It seemed like a difficult spot, but I love those opportunities, because it shows our team's character. A lot of us wear wristbands showing that we play for Jesus, and situations like that final drive give me a chance to glorify Him.
By the time we had driven to midfield, we had chewed up all but 1:09 left of the clock. Time was not on our side, but that's when I found my teammate Akrum Wadley. He was running a little cross route and after I threw him the ball he took care of the rest, breaking tackles and sprinting all the way for the game-tying touchdown. Then in overtime, after Iowa State could only manage a field goal, we knew a touchdown would win us the game.
We drove down to the ISU 5-yard line, where I found Ihmir once again. He wasn't wide open, but he was just open enough to come down with the game-winning catch. We had just come back to stun the Cyclones and win 44-41 in overtime.
Had my road not included the twists in turns earlier in my life, I don't know if I would have had the resiliency to help lead our team back in that game. But you need to enjoy those moments while they last, because within a few weeks God was preparing another gigantic turn in the road for me.
When we played Penn State last year, the atmosphere inside Kinnick Stadium was absolutely electric. Both of us were undefeated, but it was Penn State who was ranked 4th in the country. Our stadium was covered in yellow with fans, and with four seconds to play, it actually seemed like we were going to pull off the upset. We led 19-15, and as Penn State called a timeout for one last play, our fans were getting ready to celebrate.
With the ball at our 7-yard line, the Nittany Lions certainly had a chance, and as time expired Trace McSorley threw the game-winning touchdown pass for Penn State. All the built up energy inside the stadium just evaporated into thin air.
It was a really hard time mentally, but I was able to look at my faith and say “it's not the end of the world, it's going to be okay.” I am fortunate enough to have two Christian parents I could talk to about it, and they told me to just weather the storm and keep doing what I've been doing, and give 100 percent effort, no matter the situation. That's not for your own gain, they told me, but it shows others that the talent you have been given is working for something greater than yourself.
If that wasn't enough to put things in perspective, visiting the University of Iowa Children's Hospital will take care of that for you. The hospital was built right next to our stadium last year, and one of our fans came up with a really cool idea – at the end of the first quarter, everybody in the stadium should turn around and face the hospital and wave the to the kids watching our game.
The first few times that it happened I didn't know what was going on, because I was talking to coaches about the game plan, but after that I began to take notice that something special was going on. The best part is I didn't just get to wave to the kids. I got to visit them.
Being at the hospital gives you a whole new perspective, and it's really enlightening when you notice what they're going through and what they deal with on a daily basis. When I walk in the room, you just see their faces light up, and you think that person has a great attitude about what they're going through, and they try to find the best in everything they can.
I took that attitude with me, when my body was being pushed with workouts or my mindset was being pushed with adversity in a game.
I can tell you that by the time our team faced Ohio State last year, when they were 7-1 and ranked 6th in the country, I was already a different person than when the season started.
Of all the stories in the Bible, one of my favorites is David and Goliath. David was a poor shepherd with no fancy tools or formal training, but what he did have was a slingshot and faith in God. Sure enough, despite having little chance of beating Goliath, he knocked the giant down with a single shot.
Our team was definitely playing the role of David last season when we hosted Ohio State, but it didn't matter what anybody else thought about our chances. We believed in ourselves.
We were such underdogs going in that it actually played to our benefit. We played free, not worrying about the consequences, and just had fun. Of course all the games are fun, but this was different. We played with a looseness and energy that was different than all the other games, and it showed. After Ohio State tied the game at 17 in the second quarter, we scored 31 straight points. That streak saw us score more points than people had expected us to score the entire game, and by the time the final seconds had ticked away, we were looking at a 55-24 blowout.
As the clock hit 0, tens of thousands of students and fans rushed the field. It was so amazing to share that experience with them, although my first thought was to not do anything crazy like land in a dog pile and get injured. I did manage to stay safe, and that win felt like a culmination of all the hard work we put in and the faith we had in ourselves.
To go from the high of the Iowa State win, to the heartbreak of the Penn State loss, and to find a way to bounce back against Ohio State showed the perseverance of our team. It also showed what can happen when you put faith in yourself and God.
When our team pulled off that comeback against Iowa State last year, I was happy I could grab that win for my teammates who were from here, because the win meant so much to them. I also recognized that if you didn't grow up in Iowa, it's hard to understand the importance of winning the CyHawk rivalry trophy, and that victory at the time was more for my teammates than anyone else. Since that time, however, after everything we've been through, and the closer we've bonded together as a team, I'm more of a Hawkeye now than I ever have been before.
I'll do my best to make sure the CyHawk trophy doesn't leave Iowa City this season. As for God's road, all I know is that wherever it will take me, I am staying on His path.
