The stage is set, and the players are ready to play. The Utah football team is getting ready to face its longtime rival BYU in the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl next Saturday. The Utes are spending the next week and a half studying and dissecting the opposition, while getting the new faces of the team ready to fight in the Holy War.
This includes freshman defensive back Philip Afia – who is excited to see the rivalry first-hand for the first time.
“Before coming here I didn’t know anything about the rivalry,” said Afia. “It’s a great rivalry out here from what I’ve seen. In California, it’s a game that I haven’t paid attention to, but I’m really excited to be part of it now.”
Before Afia headed to Utah to play football, he was a standout for his high school team in California, but he used different training methods to get him where he is today to work different parts of the body and mind.
Typically, football players join track and field before their college careers to stay in shape and to gain an advantage over their opponents. Other football players play other sports, like basketball or baseball, during their off seasons to keep in form.
And then there’s Afia – who used kicking a soccer ball as his jumpstart to his football career.
Afia’s football story is interesting, to say the least. He’d never participated in or even witnessed a competitive football game before trying out as a kicker for his high school. After his freshman year, he switched positions to defense, and he has been solid ever since before signing for Utah in 2014. Afia credits soccer for helping him develop the necessary skills to become more tactically aware in the secondary.
“Soccer helped a lot,” Afia said. “It built a lot of athleticism and endurance, so I was always in shape. It’s definitely a lot of work with your feet, so being a DB, it helps when I have to play coverages. It gives me a lot of instincts with the ball.”
Though soccer isn’t as popular as football in the U.S., a plethora of college and NFL stars have credited the beautiful game towards their development to play on the gridiron. New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who was a top soccer prospect that was scouted by the U.S. national team when he was 13 years old, said it helped with his footwork and conditioning. Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, who played as an attacking midfielder when his family lived in Germany, believed it helped him find different angles for passing. And Miami Dolphins pass rusher Ndamukong Suh studied his idol and soccer superstar Thierry Henry as a child to help develop his footwork skills.
The list goes on and on. Many scouts of football teams – especially in college – are beginning to look at the players that have played soccer before switching to football. It brings a different dynamic to the sport that hasn’t been seen in past generations, and Utah defensive coordinator John Pease agrees that it helps with the defense he assists in coaching.
“Soccer definitely helps a lot with feet quickness,” Pease said. “I think it’s a marvelous game. With conditioning, you have to learn to run, run and run some more. You learn how to use your body weight and change direction and use your feet, obviously.”
Like the other football greats mentioned above, Afia used the skills he developed playing on the pitch to introduce a new dynamic to his high school football team, the Alaya Bulldogs. After his freshman year making field goals and kickoffs, his coaches made the switch for him to play defensively for the rest of his high school career.
He became a force for his school’s defense – earning many honors and first team selections – including being ranked as a three-star safety by Rivals.com and Scout.com. Utah, looking for great additions to its secondary for future seasons, picked up Afia at the right time.
With soccer becoming more popular with younger generations, Afia hopes college programs take recruit’s prior-played sports, including soccer, into consideration for who to scout and select for their rosters, including the Utes. He feels that if more players use soccer as a way to develop better footwork and to improve their tactics visually, we could be seeing more greats like Beckham Jr. and Luck light up football in college and in the NFL.
“Playing many sports like soccer definitely helps with football,” Afia said. “It just helps you learn to be dynamic and have strengths in different areas.”
Afia has just started his college career, but he is hoping to use his skills of scoring goals to help him make big tackles for the Utes. He also plans on returning to the pitch during the offseason to remain in shape for spring training, and to play the game he loves.
Football will continue to reign as the king of American sports, but with soccer’s help, as in Afia’s case, it can get better as well.
@chad_marquez