Easy Way No Way for DeGeare
If graduating from Wake Forest were easy for a football player, then any of them could do it. Not all of them can. Though the Deacons’ rate of attrition is not as dramatic as it is a many other schools, it’s still significant. The proof can be found on pages 167 through 171 of the 2009 Football media guide, where the all-time letter winners are listed. If you get a chance, check out how many players, for one reason or another, be it injury, homesickness, academics or a decision to transfer, didn’t play all four years. Some were quickly forgotten. The memories of others such as Cornelius Birgs (2002-04), Daniel Orlebar (2003) and Eric Berry (2005-06) tend to linger.
A year ago, when he was academically ineligible, offensive lineman Chris DeGeare had as good an excuse as he would ever need to join the list of attrition. Only he wouldn’t take it. He had already played three seasons. He figured that with his size and athleticism, he would have, at least, a crack at pro football. He knew that to regain his eligibility he would have to sit out a season’s worth of games while still being required to show up every day in practice. And he knew he was going to have to hit the books, hard.
That’s what it took, and that’s what Chris DeGeare did, which is one reason I enjoyed writing this morning’s feel-good story of DeGeare regaining his eligibility and gearing up for his senior season. Another reason is I’ve gotten to know DeGeare pretty well over the four years and I’ve gotten to know his father Brian from the times we’ve stood along the wall and watched practices together. I didn’t know his mother Genetria, but she was the first one from the family I talked with when DeGeare committed to Wake Forest before his 2004 senior season at Glenn High School. We talked by phone, for no more than 10 minutes, but I remember how impressed I was with her warm, gracious and articulate manner.
DeGeare has been through so much since he arrived in January of 2005 at age 17. His mother died of cancer his freshman season. He has battled weight, not always successfully. And he had to sit out his first senior season. If the adage that good things happen to good people proves true, then DeGeare will have a second senior season to remember long after his first is forgotten.
At 6-4, 330 pounds with surprising agility and nimble feet, DeGeare has a solid shot at an NFL career—especially if he keeps his weight down around where it is now. But DeGeare told me this week that plan B would be a career in law enforcement. His major is sociology.
“I would like to do some more school, go to graduate school and get my masters,’’ DeGeare said. “I’m going to concentrate on military sociology. And from there I’d like to maybe to an internship with the FBI or CIA, something like that.
“I’ve just always been interested in government-type law enforcement.’‘