By: Will Frasure
The moments before a football game are always tense: players anxiously wait at their lockers, gathering their thoughts just minutes before game time.
Scattered around the locker room, players like Jordan Thompson pray to gain solace before going onto the field.
"I can't really describe it," said Thompson, a redshirt freshman tight end."It's like an intense calm. Guys are praying by themselves or with each other."
Thompson, a devout Christian, says his faith gives him peace before he steps out onto the field. Even just minutes before the game, he knows that there's only so much he can do.
Some things are out of his hands, he said, and he knows God will take control of what he cannot control.
Thompson and his teammates might hold each other's hands and embrace each other in prayer to calm their nerves before games. Their trust in God and each other gives them confidence before taking the field.
"We can only go out and play so well," Thompson said. "Yeah, we might be big, bad football players, but we're not afraid to hold hands and look out for each other.
Thompson, who had seven catches for 109 yards at tight end last season, uses a bracelet he received from Athletes in Action (the athletic branch of Campus Crusade for Christ) to remind him who he is playing for. The bracelet, which says "Audience of One" is a symbol to Thompson to use God's gifts as effectively as possible in his performance.
"God is our audience," Thompson said. "Glorifying him and thinking if I'm actually going all out or thinking if I do my job better makes me want to play better."
In return, God helps guide Thompson through games when things may get rough, he said. All of a sudden, everything comes together and goes smoothly.
"There's been times when things were way over my head," Thompson said. "But when we're out there, something just clicks and I know exactly what I'm doing"
One game from this past season sticks out to Thompson as a time when God helped him through rough endeavors.
The night before Ohio's game against Buffalo, Thompson felt ill before falling asleep and had to awake during the night to vomit. On game day, Thompson could barely eat and had to be given two liters of IV. Thompson thought his sickness would sideline him for the game.
Still fighting sickness moments before the game, Thompson prayed with team chaplain Mark Heflin in the locker room for the sickness to abide during the game.
When Thompson lined up for the first snap, something came over him. His first block was one of the hardest hits he had all season. Thompson ended up having one of his best games of the season, despite his illness.
"I definitely think the Lord was looking out for me," Thompson said. That's definitely one time I believe he helped me out, because I was in bad shape."
The tight end grew up in a passionate Lutheran family in the country town of Rockford, Ohio. Thompson remembers going to church since early childhood. His Sundays were basically an event, as the family went to church and then had a big dinner before relaxing for the rest of the day.
But one moment in Thompson's life helped him strengthen his faith even more. Thompson's father passed away when Jordan was still young. To honor his father, Thompson used to dedicate his athletic performances to his father in hopes of making him proud.
When he arrived at college, though, the Audience of One bracelet made Thompson rethink who he was actually playing for.
"When I heard that phrase, I realized my dad would always be proud of me, no matter what I did," Thompson said. "I knew he would understand if I dedicated my play to our God."
Now, Thompson lives his life on and off the field by trying to glorify God during all activities.
To compare how he lives his life for God, Thompson compared his faith to that of the sentencing of a criminal.
"If you stood before a jury and the judge asked you if you had done everything you could for him, could you honestly say you had?" Thompson said. "That's how I try to live my life everyday."
