Blaske's journey: Part 1

Even in an age of instant information, replete with social media and Click-here-for-more-details tabs, stories are often lacking background and are seldom told in their entirety.

Let’s use football recruiting and the young men who ultimately realize their collegiate dreams as an example. We’ll often read about visits, what schools are interested, and ultimately a player’s final decision.

But what about the journey itself? That can be as interesting, often more so, than the final decision.

That’s certainly true in regard to incoming freshman Austin Blaske, whose dream came true when he signed to play football for Georgia.

However, Blaske's journey to Athens didn’t start the day he was offered a scholarship. No, those seeds were planted over five years ago, when young Blaske told his dad Andrew Blaske that he wanted to play college football.

It’s a quest the elder Blaske recalled during a recent interview with UGASports.

The first of our two-part series begins today. Enjoy his tale.

Young Austin was just in seventh grade when he told his dad Andrew that he wanted to commit to what it took to become a college football player.

The elder Blaske remembers the day well.

“I told him it’s a 365-day year commitment,” Blaske said. “He was a multi-sport athlete at the time, doing track and basketball. But I said, when it comes down to it, you're going to have some dates that have a conflict, and you got to pick what is your No. 1 sport, and if there's a conflict, it always defers to your No. 1 sport.”

Andrew knows a thing or two about commitment.

A native of Plano, Texas, Andrew Blaske became immersed in Texas football at an early age. He grew to know what it meant to be a champion and what it took to get there.

A Marine background helped teach him toughness and discipline, lessons he passed on to his oldest of two sons at a very young age.

Young Blaske was obviously paying attention, as evidenced by what happened during an offensive line camp at South Effingham High prior to his eighth-grade year.

“Austin was a rising eighth-grader. We had a kid over there at the high school who was 6-7, 325; I think he finished out playing at like 340. He was just a big dude, and Austin was probably 6-0, 6-1, and weighed 165 pounds,” Blaske said. “They’re getting ready, and the coach says, 'Okay, board drills,' and he (the big player) steps right up to the board. Nobody else steps up.”

But one kid eventually did.

“The eighth-grader (Austin) steps up against the senior and gets his ass whooped. They get up and go through the cycle again. (The big player) gets up there again—and the little kid gets up there again,” Blaske said. “None of the high school kids would get up there and go against him, so I knew where his heart was.”

Young Blaske was simply heeding his father’s words.

“I’ve always said, you can’t get any better unless you’re going against somebody better than you. I've always told him, you walk into a bar, make sure you eyeball who's the biggest guy in there, because that's the first one you want to hit,” Andrew said. “Take out the number one threat, and then everything else is easy. I guess he remembered that.”

Although Austin didn’t get the better of his opponent that day, the seeds for future success were planted.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Blaske didn’t attend many camps. South Effingham’s former head coach wasn’t a fan of camps and actually discouraged players from attending.

Still, when Andrew learned that Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh was hosting a camp at Valdosta State, where other schools were being invited, he made an exception, although not for the reason you might think.

“I had a Marine Corps buddy. Actually, one of the civilians, and he was a huge Michigan fan. So, I'm like, you know what, I’ve got to get down there and just get his autograph,” Blaske laughed. “Because my buddy had this game room, he called it the Bo Schembechler Auditorium; it was nothing but incredible. All Michigan stuff.”

But what started out as a trip to snarf an autograph would come to mean more.

After a solid showing, Michigan began following Austin. Although the Wolverines never offered, schools were getting their first look at the young man who was just starting to blossom.

From that day forward, Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Mattison (now the co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State) began following him on Twitter.

“I’m that dad. I steal my kids’ phones, I keep on policing them and talking to them about social media. But you look at who is following them,” Blaske said. “You can see who basically is kind of eyeballing or looking at or at least knows who they are at that point, right? And so, it was the only camp he went to as a rising 10th grader.”

When Austin attended the Harbaugh camp, he had yet to even earn a starting position on his own team. That happened before his 10th-grade year, after a strong showing in spring practice had Blaske set up to be a starting defensive tackle.

But he wouldn’t get the chance.

“One of the seniors wasn't happy because Austin had been blistering his ass playing defense. After Austin took him to the ground, he was jogging up, as the ball play was still going. The whistle blew, and the kid came up behind him and chucked him,” Blaske said. “He didn't mean to hurt him. It was a slick field; Austin stuck his foot out and everything, and he ended up getting his MCL (injured) and Austin missed half the season.”

An avulsion fracture would ultimately be the result.

But discouraged? Not Austin.

The youngster was already back to lifting 80 percent of his previous maxes, and was hoping to get the go-ahead to play in the big game between arch-rival Effingham.

When he didn’t get the OK, Austin was unhappy. One day he texted his dad from the locker room. Pop was not pleased with what he read.

“The fool texted me from the locker room, and I turned him into Coach the next week,” Blaske said. "Here’s how crazy he was. The kid was talking about putting somebody else's jersey on and padding up. I’m like, you don’t think they’re going to be able to tell the difference between you and C. J.?

"So, I turned him in. The rule is no texting, and all kinds of stuff in a locker room, right?”

Once cleared, Austin was in for another surprise.

“While he was injured, the offensive coordinator, he came to me he goes, ‘Man, I’m going to need your help.’ He goes, 'We're going to ask Austin to come over and be full time on the offensive line,' ” Blaske said. “I'm a defensive guy myself. And I know the mentality, especially in our school. The way it was, if you went from the D line to the O line, it was considered a demotion.”

But then the elder Blaske got to thinking. And so did his son.

“I told him, 'You're a really good defensive lineman.' And he still is. 'I think your bread and butter to meet your goal of wanting to play at the next level, I think you can absolutely be a stellar offensive lineman,' ” Blaske said. “So, the first week he got released back to full everything, he went out there and won the right tackle spot, his 10th-grade year.”

If Andrew Blaske had any questions about his son’s toughness, he didn’t have any following South Effingham’s playoff game at Warner Robins back in 2017.

“Warner Robins had some studs, and their defensive tackle and defensive end were legit. But Austin was wearing this kid out,” Blaske said. “Well, you know if you're under-sized and you’re supposed to set the edge, about the only thing you can do is cut the guy. So, Austin was cutting this guy throughout the game, and the guy was getting pissed off.”

Apparently, the other side of the field was taking notes.

“It’s toward the end of the game. And here comes a kid who has not been in the game yet for Warner Robins. We were down on like our 10-yard line or something,” Blaske said. “They sent him in at D line, they cycled out that stud and they were going to try to teach Austin a lesson.”

The lesson included taking out Blaske’s knees.

But the youngster was prepared.

“Austin knew how to defeat that as a defensive lineman; he just shoved him to the ground. Well, as he's jogging forward, up to where the ball is, the guy comes running up behind him and kidney punches him,” Blaske said. “It was from that day forward, I knew I had a competitor. He took that kid for a facemask rodeo, the kid’s helmet got ripped off his head, and he was probably horizontal with his feet off the ground. I was like, wow. I mean, I got tears rolling down my face up there in the box. I was like, 'He's here. He's arrived.' And I mean, he was awesome.”

Blaske was moved to left tackle for his junior season, setting himself up for even more success, and eventually the realization of a childhood dream.