The Details: Before Embraces One-Step-At-A-Time Approach
November 18, 2016 | Football, General
By Mason Kelley
GoHuskies.com
When Drew Before talks about his journey to Washington, he uses a quote to describe the motivation required to keep striving to reach his loftiest goal â to play Division I football.
"Whenever you feel like giving up, think of those who want to see you fail."
Before first heard that quote when he was a receiver/quarterback at Shadle Park High School in Spokane, Wash. Undersized for the positions he played, that idea kept pushing him to prove he could compete at an elite level.
"It was something to motivate me," he said.
By the time his career came to a close, he had a few opportunities to play in college, but he chose to shift his attention to school. He went west, enrolling as a student at Washington.
"I was ready to be done," he said.
Then it hit him. He missed the game. He wanted to play again. So, he attended the Huskies' walk-on tryouts. He made the team.
"I realized I wasn't happy not playing football," he said. "The first time I put my pads back on, it was the best feeling ever. I missed that, being able to run around on that field."
But, the initial excitement of making the team was dashed when a hamstring injury forced him off the team. He treated it as a temporary setback.
He rehabbed on his own. He trained for the next opportunity. He tried out again when coach Chris Petersen and his staff took over the program.
During the tryout, he glanced over the shoulder of one of Washington's coaches. He saw his name and, next to it in parenthesis was one word (hamstring). Before didn't make the team.
"At that point, I didn't know what to do," he said. "I really wanted to play. I thought about transferring, but I really liked the school."
He kept training. Back in Spokane, he worked as a coach, helping out at sports camps for children. He would get in a workout at the end of each day. People started to notice.
"What's going on?" they would ask. "Why aren't you playing football?"
One of those people just happened to be Tim Rypien, the father of Boise State quarterback Brett Rypien, who also went to Shadle Park.
"Why aren't you playing anywhere?" he asked.
Before shared his story and Rypien reached out to Washington defensive backs coach Jimmy Lake. After a year of working and waiting, Before received a phone call.
It was right before the start of fall camp and, all of a sudden, Before was back on the team.
Three years later, Before will now be honored with the rest of the Huskies' seniors prior to Saturday's game against Arizona State.
"It makes you really appreciate it a lot more," he said.
For Before, each step in the process has been dependent on embracing small goals. First, he had to make the team. Then, he had to make an impression on scout team. And now, he works to contribute both on special teams and as a receiver.
"It's been a roller coaster with all the work to get on the team," Before said. "It motivates me. I keep taking it one step at a time."
Each time he steps on the field, he tries to prove something to himself.
"Personally, it's big to me to accomplish things I set out to do," he said.
It would have been easy for Before to give up the game after suffering the hamstring injury as a freshman that caused him to be cut from the team. He could have given up after not making the team when he tried out a second time. But he didn't.
He had a goal. He worked until it became a reality. And now, as he runs out of the Husky Stadium tunnel for one final Saturday in front of the home crowd, he is someone deserving of a celebration. His effort behind the scenes, when nobody is watching is a driving force behind the Huskies' 9-1 record and their No. 6 national ranking.
But he doesn't play for attention. He competes because he loves the game. He missed it too much to give up.
And, now that he's come this far, he plans to enjoy everything that comes next.
"It's awesome," he said. "It's just crazy seeing all the work we've put in, all the winter conditioning, all the spring conditioning, all the summer conditioning. It's been really exciting to see, this year, how well that paid off for us, how well the season's been going. It's all coming down to a couple of really exciting games.
"I'm just going to soak in this environment on last time, try to enjoy it as much as possible."Â
