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But he, too, emerged from his brief
NFL career in 2002 unsure of him-
self, and was behind his peers who
had already worked professionally
for several years.
Sword, too, gave coaching a
try, but found it wasn't for him; by
then, he was 30 years old and even
further behind. A job working as a
recreation supervisor for the city
of Palm Coast in Florida wasn't the
answer either.
Both Ray and Sword eventu-
ally did find their paths. The for-
mer battled through his depression
thanks to counseling and has writ-
ten an inspirational book partially
based on his experiences, titled
"Rays of Light: Volume1, 'Let There
Be Light.' " Ray is now trying to get
into broadcasting after enjoying an
appearance on WTKA, a Detroit
sports radio station, before the
Michigan State game last year.
After the recreation supervisor
job, Sword realized that he has a
passion working with disadvan-
taged kids, and he has been teach-
ing for the last four or five years,
currently at a juvenile detention
center.
"But it was hard now, I'm not say-
ing it was easy, just trying to figure
out what I wanted," Sword said.
"People were telling me all that I
did (at Michigan), but I said, this
doesn't define who I am."
It's July 11, and Chris Floyd has
learned that he didn't get the job
- the job that he came back to Ann
Arbor for, that he thought was defi-
nitely his, based on how he viewed
certain conversations he had with
the interviewer. Instead, it went to
a more qualified candidate, a former
Michigan track athlete named Jeff
Porter.
The department thought he
would be too football-focused, he
says, and that his references weren't
strong enough. One of them, Floyd
is told, even hung up on the inter-
viewer. (According to Floyd, when
he followed up with the reference, it
turned out there was miscommuni-
cation, and the reference apparently
tried to call the interviewer back
several times to no avail)
"It doesn't make sense," Floyd
said. "I'm disappointed. I'm really
disappointed, because it seems like
when I left D.C. to come here, I was
a shoo-in for the position."
The rejection is nothing new.
"I've been in this boat before,"
Floyd said. "I've been turned down
for several jobs here at the Univer-
sity. I've never made it this far. I've
never been interviewed for any job
at the University and I've applied
for a number ofjobs.
fter splitting snaps with
sophomore quarterback
Trevor Sieman early in the
season, Northwestern junior Kain
dolter has moved into a hybrid role
for the Wildcats, spending almost
equal time passing, rushing and
receiving.
Under center, Colter is 62-of-89
passing for 517 yards, with three
touchdowns and two interceptions
this fall. He has rushed 114 times for
622 yards and 11 touchdowns, and
caught 16 passes for 169 yards.
That's a busy stat line.
At Big Ten Media Days in July,
the Daily sat down with Colter to
discuss his jack-of-all-trades role in
the offense, following in the steps of
Dan Persa and his upcoming match-
up with the Michigan football team.
The Michigan Daily: You're the
returning leading rusher, receiver
and passer. Is quarterback truly
your preferred position?
Kain Colter: Definitely. You're the
leader out there on the field, every-
one's looking for you to have an
answer to any problems on the field.
I like being that guy. The other posi-
tions you don't get to have too much
control, and I like having control.
I'm not going to lie and say I don't
like going out there and running a
route or maybe playing some run-
ning back, it's all fun, but playing
quarterback is the best.
TMD: What does having that
leadership role mean to you?
KC: It means a lot. Look at the
guy we had last year - Dan Persa,
first team All-Big Ten quarterback
- I've got some bigshoes to fill. The
biggest thing is just trying to bring
the young guys along, giving them
an example of how we do things
and make sure they're able to play at
a high level once they get in.
TMD: Having to take over for
Persa, pretty daunting task, isn't it?
KC: Definitely. I learned a lot from
Dan, he was a guy who led by exam-
ple, the way he worked, the way
he led the team. I was able to get a
good picture of that before I stepped
into this role, so I try to mimic him
in some things I do, but at the same
time I'm goingto be a different play-
er. I'm not going to try to be exactly
like Dan Persa or exactly like Mike
Kafka, who was before him. They're
great quarterbacks but I'm going to
try to be myself. I feel like I offer the
team something a little different.
TMD: What can you bring to the
table that Persa and Kafka couldn't?
KC: Just being dynamic. The
defense never really knows where
I can be on the play and I can make
plays in a lot of different ways, I
think that's the biggest thing. At
quarterback I'm trying to improve
passing, be a pass-first quarterback,
and the defense has a lot of things
ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily
Junior quarterback Kain Colter has passed, rushed and caught well for Northwestern this fall.
they're going to have to defend.
TMD: The Big Ten has steadily
moved toward a more spread-
offense, wildcat-type . scheme,
adapting with the times per se to
move away from its power-running
roots. Is that style of play good for
the conference?
KC: I think so. Dynamic quar-
terbacks, dual-threat quarterbacks
are exciting for the game. Look at
FLOYD
From Page 5
tions like this, Floyd feels he's the
perfect person to help reach out to
fellow alumni.
"I don't feel like there's anybody
(more) qualified," Floyd says.'
He became aware of the open
position during a visit to Ann Arbor
in March; by April, he decided to
leave the job he had in Washington,
D.C. working for the Department of
Defense, fully confident he would
land this one in the Athletic Depart-
ment.
Floyd went to Ann Arbor to go
through the interview process but
he had no income, so he picked up
the security work at the Blue Lep. In
the daytime, he also worked for the
Ann Arbor Parks and Recreations
department, doing field mainte-
nance for the city's parks.
By early June, Floyd's resolve
hadn't weakened.
"I think that the job is mine, it's
only amatter of time before I get the
call to start," Floyd said then. "But
until that happens, I have to keep
grinding it out every day for the city
of Ann Arbor, and that's what I'm
doing."
He hadn't considered the possi-
bility that he wouldn't be hired.
"I'm telling you, I don't even
think that way. I'm so positive that
this is goingto work out. I just don't
see it not workingout."
Not every former Division-I foot-
ball player struggles to find his way
once his playing days conclude. But
Floyd isn't alone, either.
Marcus Ray, a safety at Michigan
from 1994-98, is forever immor-
talized in Wolverine lore for his
vicious hit on Ohio State wide
receiver David Boston in the 1997
edition of the rivalry game, which
was captured by Sports Illustrated
and used as the magazine's cover
the week after the game.
Many Michigan fans no doubt
saved that cover, a reminder of the
glorious year that was 1997.
Those fans never saw the "life
depression" that Ray fell in to when
his short-lived NFL career came to
an end after a groin injury in 2001.
They didn't see how Ray struggled
through a doomed marriage, how
the former defensive back ballooned
by more than 100 pounds and how
he went through the motions as
a high school coach and graduate
assistant at Michigan and Central
Michigan for the next 10 years.
He compared his high-school
coaching experience to that of a
drug addict - the few hours he got
of it a day were a high, but the rest of
his life was the painful come-down.
"I think my outside appearance
was a reflection of what was going
on with Marcus Ray on the inside,"
he says. "I didn't like myself any-
more. I didn't know how to like
myself without athletics or without
being in shape.
"I didn't have anything to hang
my hat on, so I spent a lot of time
in my own mind, living in 1997,
because that's where I felt comfort-
able. That was the last real taste of
success that I experienced."
Sam Sword, a classmate of Ray's,
is the third all-time leading tackler
in Michigan history, with 265 stops.
Denard Robinson, Taylor Martinez,
MarQueis Gray, Braxton Miller and
myself - some pretty good athletes
right there who have huge play-
making ability. When we're on the
field there's going to be some high-
lights and it gets the fans excited.
TMD: What can you take from
Denard Robinson's game, his style
of play and improvement the last
few years that you can use for your-
self?
KC: I was able to talk to him yes-
terday for the first time and the first
thing you notice is that he's a real
humble man. He made a lot of plays
in his career - I remember being in
high school and looking up to him,
wanting to do some things that
he did. He does some really good
things out there on the field, run-
ning the ball and throwing the ball,
leading his team. I think he's a really
unselfish player, that's probably the
biggest thing I've taken from him.
Everybody's unique, everyone has
their own skills and abilities, so
I'm just going to be myself and also
take some tips fromguys around the
league.
TMD: We saw you working in the
backfield successfully with the read
option againstMichigan last season.
KC: The biggest thing last year
was that we weren't consistent
enough. We had good quarters and
some really bad quarters. So I think
as we approach this year we've got
to try to be a little more consistent.
We had a really good game plan
coming into the Michigan game last
year, some guys executed in the first
half but we had some bad plays in
the second half and things didn't go
our way. We definitely had a chance
to win that game.
TMD: You've faced Michigan
in Evanston, almost looked like a
split crowd but nonetheless a home
game, what are you expecting for
your visit to the Big House?
KC: I'm excited. One of the rea-
sons I decided to come to North-
western was because of all the
stadiums I'd be able to play at.
Michigan's one of the best venues
in the nation. Excited to play there,
can't wait, definitely a game I'm
looking forward to.
TMD: It's been well document-
ed that Northwestern hasn't won
a bowl game since the 1949 Rose
Bowl. What would it mean to your
team to secure the program's sec-
ond bowl win?
KC: Everybody on the team right
now wants to be able to say that we
were the class, we were the team
that was able to change the stigma
that we've had about how we've
done in bowl games. We want to be
part of something special, some-
thing we've been working towards,
and hopefully we can get that done.
Colter applauds the steady influx of dual-threat quarterbacks into the Big Ten in recent years.
6 1 FootballSaturday - November 10, 2012
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