Leaving a Mark
Artavis Pierce and Tom Hager
In partnership with Athletes For God
As I made my decision of where to attend college, it wasn’t something I took lightly.
I was the first person in my family to go to college, and I wanted to make sure I made the right decision. I had quite a few offers from schools in the Midwest, but I ultimately decided to attend Oregon State University. It was over 3,000 miles away from my hometown of Lake Alfred, Florida, but that was also kind of the point.
I wanted to attend somewhere I had never been before, with people I had never met and people who maybe saw the world differently than me. I found that in Corvallis, but I had no idea when I got there just how much I was about to grow as a person.
One of the people who impacted my life the most was actually someone who wasn’t from Oregon either. It was Isaiah Hodgins, a receiver on our team from the Bay Area. Not only is Isaiah one of the best receivers in the country, he is also the one who helped convince me to start going to church.
I had been to church before, but it hadn’t necessarily become a regular part of my life until I met Isaiah. And if you took a look at my tattoos, you’d realize what an impact church has had on me.
On my right leg I have a tattoo of the gates of heaven, as well as a dove. I also have the Philippians 4:13 tattooed on my leg, which says “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength”. And if you looked at my left arm, you’d see the words “Blessed” on my bicep and “God’s Gift” on my wrist.
And while I don’t have my favorite verse tattooed on me yet, there’s still room to get it…It’s John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
I’m glad I started going to church more regularly, but that theme of believing goes beyond just God. At Oregon State, it’s also about believing in ourselves. Believing in this program. And believing we’re turning this thing around.
I knew what I was getting into when I signed up to play at Oregon State.
The team had gone 5-7 during my junior year in high school, and during my senior season they were 2-10. If we were going to make this program a winner again, it wasn’t going to be overnight.
That trend continued into my first three years, which saw us finish 7-29 and undergo a coaching change. Now my coach was no longer Gary Andersen, but Jonathan Smith. Our first year under Coach Smith didn’t necessarily go as planned either, but we did do something after our first win in 2018 that seemed fitting. When we came into the locker room after our 48-25 over Southern Utah, we shouted “1…2…3…Family!” And just like how family is with you in the good times and bad, we would need that brotherhood to stick together to turn the corner in Corvallis.
That chant couldn’t have come at a better time, because it was also probably a low point for me.
It was only a week earlier that I had the best game of my career. I had waited my turn for two years to be the featured back, and it seemed like that patience had paid off during the season opener against Ohio State. In the third quarter of that game, my quarter Jake Luton handed the ball off to me, and after bouncing off one tackler, I headed for the sidelines and turned upfield. For the next 80 yards nobody touched me, and I scored my first touchdown of the season.
People actually thought we might get shut out by Ohio State’s defense, but two plays into our next drive, I scored again, this time from 75 yards out. I’m not sure anybody actually touched me on the play, and all of a sudden we had put up 28 points on the Buckeyes. Plus, the game was on national television, so all my friends and family back home could watch the game. Sure enough, after the game my social media had a ton of notifications of people congratulating me.
Our team picked up where we left off in the next game against Southern Utah, and by the second quarter we were up 24-0. I already had 91 yards in the game, so this looked like it could be a big day for me, and then it happened. I fell on my left elbow, and just like that I was out for the rest of the game…as well as the next three games after that.
Not only was I unable to play, I could barely exercise. I basically couldn’t move my left elbow, so all my workouts had to be modified, and my weight lifting had to be done with my right arm. It was not what I had envisioned when I started the season.
Taking my place was Jermar Jefferson, and in my absence he was incredible. Despite splitting time with me in the Southern Utah game, he ran for 238 yards and four touchdowns. He ran for 106 yards in the next game against Nevada, and by the time we played Arizona State, he was on a roll. He rushed for 254 yards in that game, to go along with his two touchdowns.
I was healthy enough to return for the next week, but by that point I knew that Jermar was going to be the primary back. While I would be contributing to the team, I was no longer the starter.
When it comes to jealousy, the Bible takes a firm stand…it’s something you want to avoid. Not only is it in the 10 Commandments, Jesus also reminds the disciples about jealousy when they ask which one of the 12 is His favorite.
I was fortunate that jealousy was never an issue for me. When Jermar was flourishing as the starter, I was happy for him. I wasn’t so selfish to try and take his spot, especially when I knew he was playing so well. Plus, when Coach Smith gathered the team around and chanted “Family”, that means being happy for your brother when he’s succeeding.
Since Jermar’s breakout had come so early in his career, I wasn’t sure if he would be prepared for all the attention that would come his way. I just made sure to be there for him and encourage him in any way I could. Plus, I wasn’t the only one who knew what it was like to wait for playing time. Isaiah was fourth on our team in catches in his first season, but last year he had more receiving touchdowns than anybody else in the conference.
Jermar finished the 2018 season with nearly 1,400 yards, and last year we both came back. We looked like we might be a better team, but more importantly Coach Smith made us believe we were a better team. He made us feel like we could go out there and beat anybody. It didn’t matter that we had won just 1 out of our 18 previous Pac-12 games, he made us feel like winners.
When you’re trying to change the culture of a place, I really think it helps to be around people who have the same goal as you. People who understand what you’re doing and why. But I also had my own routine I would do before each game would start…After we ran out of the tunnel, I would head over to the end zone and take a knee. I would pray to God – not to put up big numbers or anything like that – but rather I would pray to put it all on the line. To give it my all. Colossians 3:23 says “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart” and as I took the field each Saturday that’s what I set out to do.
We lost our first Pac-12 game on a last-second field goal to Stanford, but it looked like our program was starting to turn the corner. Sure enough, the next week we beat UCLA 48-31, and then a few weeks later we recorded back-to-back wins over Cal and Arizona. All of a sudden the team that had struggled for so long now had a winning record in conference play.
We lost our next game to Washington, leaving me with one last home game to leave my mark at Reser Stadium. We led 35-28 late in the fourth quarter when Arizona State scored a touchdown to get within 35-34…but rather than going for the extra point they went for two. As their offense stayed on the field, people started to realize the game was potentially on the line. You could barely hear the person next to you, and when our defense came up with the big stop on Eno Benjamin, the crowd absolutely erupted.
We had just won our fourth Pac-12 game that season – as much as the previous four years put together.
These days I’m in New Castle, Pennsylvania, training for the NFL Draft. It’s a strange time in my life, because for the first time since I picked up a football I don’t know if there will be a “next year”. I haven’t heard about what the mock drafts have said – or even if I’ll be drafted at all – but I can’t control what other teams think about me. I can only control what I can control, and that includes finishing my degree someday. I have just a few credits left, but I have little sisters and a younger cousin that look up to me. I want them to see that if I can go to college, they can go too.
And if I can make my dreams come true, so can they.