BOULDER — Wednesday’s national signing day was the fourth to come and go since Tyler Sale last put on shoulder pads.
His opportunity to sign a letter of intent to play football on what usually is the most overhyped day for high schoolers in a calendar year never came, but that isn’t what has been eating at him as a student at the University of Colorado.
Sale misses playing the game and all that comes with it, from banging heads on the way to great victories to workouts that made him dog tired and the locker room smell that peels paint.
He’s seriously considering a plan to do something about it, as in attempting to become a walk-on for the Buffaloes.
“I am,” he said. “I want to.”
Three seasons ago, Sale was one of Colorado’s best schoolboy defensive linemen. The 6-foot-4, 245-pound tackle at Arapahoe in Centennial was all-Continental League in Class 5A and All-Colorado by The Denver Post, a true Warrior in the trenches with smarts, and not limited to the field. The son of a career high school teacher, Sale had a 3.8 grade-point and registered higher in character.
He won The Denver Post 2004 Gold Helmet Award as the state’s top senior player, scholar and citizen.
However, he had knee surgeries before his senior year and they caught up to him. Sale passed on another in order to have a full senior season of sports for the Warriors (he also played basketball and was a thrower in track).
“I lost some cartilage, was pretty much bone on bone,” he said.
Openly honest about it — it’s his way — when meeting with recruiters, Sale drew interest from the Ivy League, even a whiff when Gary Barnett was in command at CU. While Sale didn’t necessarily scare them off with it, it probably didn’t help.
So off he went to CU minus school sports, a vast change for someone who always headed to practice or games in the afternoons, evenings and on weekends.
A minor procedure on his other knee was another setback.
“I was down for a while,” he said.
Thankfully, it isn’t all he’s about. The junior has a 3.2 GPA in environmental science and truly enjoys his college life, the people and scenarios he encounters. He was thrilled the other day when he and friends took the trails on a hike to the Flatirons.
Sale, even with earlier knee problems, could do it because he “religiously” works on strengthening his joints and maintaining their flexibility.
He got to the point last season that he became one of Ralphie’s handlers, a worker with the school’s beloved buffalo mascot.
It’s one of the great spectacles of college football, Ralphie and her handlers leading the CU team onto the field.
Not surprisingly, people get out of Ralphie’s way.
You wouldn’t think folks with knee problems could — or would want to — run with a 1,200-pound animal (on television, no less) capable of stomping or crushing them any time she wanted to, but Sale knows a good time when he sees it.
“It’s awesome,” he said. “She’s a big girl. I love doing it.”
He qualified after working out with other handlers at the Dal Ward Center. It also piqued his football interest, as did standing on the sidelines during games.
“I’ve missed it,” he said. “I was longing for the game . . . it was tough standing there. I wouldn’t say I was angry, maybe frustrated or disheartened. There were nights like that.”
He lost some weight when he first began rehabbing his knees, but it’s back — he’s 252 and can go heavier. He’s running freely. Plus, his 405-pound bench press would make him one of the strongest players on campus.
“I’m curious to see what I still have,” he said.
If he wants to try playing again, he must deal with the NCAA Clearinghouse — a process he began in high school and can complete online — then hit the football operations office for the next steps.
Sale was sheepish when discussing an attempt to play football again and repeatedly said he hadn’t done much to date, but I could hear it in his voice.
He wants to play again, and this is not a person who makes idle boastings.
Don’t count him out.
