A walk-on from Loup City, Nebraska

In what has been a trying season for the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team, the entire season might now be epitomized by a young man from our hometown. Headlines on Sunday all across the state read, “Five years of practice leads to one sack but walk-on Matt Jarzynka couldn’t be happier.” While I am often critical of this new generation for wanting instant gratification and not willing to be patient or pay their dues, this young man busted that notion all to pieces.

I was driving down that road listening to the game and the Huskers were ahead by a comfortable margin. In the second half, numerous players were finally getting the opportunity they have been waiting for the entire year or in some cases their entire career. Suddenly, with the tone of a huge victory, announcer Greg Sharpe describes the play, “Coming through the line untouched is Matt Jarzynka with a sack.”

After the game, there was considerable media attention on this young man and what he has contributed to the Husker football team. Because he was redshirted one year, Matt is in his fifth season on the team but before this Saturday his only time on the field had been for practices and camps. He was there as a valuable part of the team, practicing every single day and working at making the starters better without once stepping on that field during a game.

To me this really speaks to the concept of team. I fully understand this is a football game and a game I am not really considered a fan of, but this is a huge life lesson for so many. Young and old, men and women across the country need to see and understand the example this young man has demonstrated. He spent five years busting his tail for this one moment and then he seized it in style. Naturally his press interviews (while wearing a Jarzynka Farms cap) were humble and done in style, but again this is a mentoring moment for so many. He didn’t give up. He didn’t beg for playing time. He didn’t make excuses. He just went to practice and did his job to prepare the starters to take the team to victory. That ultimately gave him the opportunity to get a big time sack and etch his name in the record books.

It could be argued that this what is missing in today’s culture. There are so many, in every walk of life, that are not looking for the mentoring opportunities. Whether you are a parent mentoring your own kids or you find others not related to you who aspire to do great things, why would you not seize the moment as Jarzynka has done?

Ironically or not, on the very same day that this football game was taking place, President Donald Trump accepted the invitation to address the National FFA Convention. Trump, the first president in 27 years to accept the annual invitation, spoke of the vital importance of farmers, and 65,000 young people, the next true leaders of our country, attended the convention and heard the president put the farmer in a positive light. 

He truly did (if you cut through the other noise he shared) give the proper credit to the jobs we do. I once again suggest that it is not enough in itself but rather it should serve as our inspiration to contribute to the team, do the work in practice and in the weight room, never knowing exactly when our number will be called to step onto the field.

The other statement that President Trump got exactly right.

“Your time in the FFA, in the field, in the farm, in the land and in the classroom has not only prepared you for a stellar, great career in something you love, it’s taught you essential truths about life and about the world in which we live. You know that success only comes through hard work and perseverance.”

I know we always say that farm kids excel in work ethic and sense of responsibility and accomplishment. I agree completely but I have also witnessed more farm families raising city kids more than I ever thought possible. Mentoring does require work and we must not ever take it for granted. Now we have a great young mentor that displayed leadership and perseverance, not with his lips but rather with hard work and determination and his name is Matt Jarzynka—a walk-on Cornhusker from Loup City, Nebraska.

Editor’s note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.LoosTales.com, or email Trent at [email protected].