Life After "The Fumble"

[ALEX LIFESON]

Life After "The Fumble"
Posted by CBS11

Bill Jones
The SMU Mustangs play Nevada in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve at 7pm CST From the Longhorns to the Horned Frogs, there have been some great college football stories this season, but none of them come close to matching what I consider to be the comeback story of the year.

The SMU Mustangs have risen from the NCAA graveyard – their best season in a quarter century – and they’ve done it with a true freshman quarterback at the helm during the critical stretch run of their season.

After starting quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell went down with an injury, SMU coach June Jones inserted Kyle Padron into the lineup on Halloween afternoon in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Jones must have covered his eyes in fear of the horrific scene that was certain to unfold.

True freshmen just simply don’t step onto a college football field, especially on the road, and have immediate success. But this true freshman did. Padron not only led the Mustangs to a victory that week… but the next week… and the week after that… as SMU earned an invitation to the Hawaii Bowl. It's the school's 1st postseason bowl game since its pre-death penalty days in 1984.

Kyle Padron is no ordinary true freshman. Even at the tender age of 18, he’s a seasoned pro when it comes to overcoming adversity. To fully appreciate his story, you have to understand where he was on the afternoon of December 1st, 2007. That’s when he was “under center” for the first time in his life.

At the time, Padron was a junior at Southlake Carroll, enjoying the view from the sidelines as the vaunted Carroll Dragons were well on their way to an unprecedented 6th straight Texas high school football state championship game.

Keep in mind that in Southlake, the team motto “Protect the Tradition” had essentially become the city’s slogan. Every team in town – from peewee to high school – is called the Dragons. During their remarkable championship run, the varsity Dragons had played in front of one Texas Stadium crowd numbering nearly 50,000 fans.

On this day, the Dragons had jumped ahead of the unbeaten Abilene Eagles, 14-3. But that’s when life changed unexpectedly for Padron. Starting quarterback Riley Dodge was injured, and suddenly, Padron was in the game, taking the first meaningful varsity snaps of his life.

“Protecting the Tradition” had now fallen onto Padron’s 16-year old shoulders, and he was up to the challenge. But this was a game that went right down to the final fateful snap. Carroll fell behind, 22-21, with less than three minutes left in the game. However, Padron directed the team 85 yards down the field. With less than 30 seconds left, the Dragons were at the Abilene 10-yard line, in position for a short game winning field goal attempt by their reliable kicker Cade Foster.

With the clock winding down, despite still having one timeout left, Padron was directed to go “under center” and take a snap so that he could throw a pass into the ground to stop the clock. Sounds simple enough, except for the fact the Dragons are a shotgun formation team. Padron had never received a snap under center in a varsity game – and he still hasn’t. The ensuing fumbled snap was recovered by Abilene, and just like that, the season was over. The championship dream had died.

“The Tradition” went unprotected that day, and as you can imagine, Padron felt like he had let down not only the team, but also the entire city of Southlake. It was a burden that no 16 year old high school junior should have to endure.

Things got worse before they got better for Padron. The good news: He had basketball practice the following Monday to help take his mind off “The Fumble”. The bad news: He had to play in basketball games. That’s when he heard an incessant taunting of “Fuummbble”, “Fuummbble”, “Fuummbble” from rival student sections every time he touched the basketball.

Kyle’s father, Larry Padron, says his son’s confidence had been ruined, but the entire Southlake community restored that by lifting Kyle up in the days and months after “The Fumble”.

“The loss two years ago was devastating to Kyle and it was hard to watch him go through that,” said Cindy Padron, Kyle’s mom. “It was heartwarming and I, as a mother, will forever be grateful to those people. Their kind words made a difference for Kyle.”

Former Dallas Cowboys and SMU quarterback Richard Bartel, a longtime family friend, called with encouragement. And, Kyle even received an autographed football from Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, who wrote on the ball, “Kyle, things happen for a reason. Hang in there.”

Romo should know. Of course, he’s had to overcome his own fumbled snap in a playoff game.

“The Fumble” is not all that Kyle Padron has had to overcome. His senior season at Carroll was cut short due to a season ending injury. However, despite the fact Padron only started six games in high school, June Jones and the Mustangs stood behind their scholarship offer.

“That fumble may have got him to SMU,” Larry Padron said. “It gave him the intestinal fortitude. He said, ‘I’m going to show these people I can play.’”

The Padron’s are effusive in their praise for the SMU coaching staff, especially Jones and Assistant Head Coach Dan Morrison.

“I am a believer, and so is Kyle, that all things happen for a reason and looking back, I feel these were blessings in disguise,” Cindy Padron said. “Kyle might not be where he is today if these things had not happened. I believe Kyle is a stronger young man today because of these events, and I believe having dealt with these experiences, he can handle anything. I could not be more proud of him.”

Truly, there is a great life lesson for all of us in the Kyle Padron comeback story. Even if we’re not at fault, we’ve all had fumbles in our past, and we’ll have more in the future. The secret is to not listen to those taunting voices that cry “Fuummbble”. Instead, it’s wise to heed the advice of that noted philosopher Tony Romo: “Things happen for a reason. Hang in there.”

Like Romo, Kyle Padron has learned that what may seem like the end of the world is actually just the beginning.



Bill Jones

CBS 11/TXA 21 Sports

http://twitter.com/cbsdollarbill

[Junior]

Great read. It's great to see how Kyle has responded so well to prior adversity. We are lucky to have a guy of this caliber as our QB.

[peruna11]

Good Story. I don't recall that kind of word count from our media recently!

After starting quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell went down with an injury, SMU coach June Jones inserted Kyle Padron into the lineup on Halloween afternoon in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Jones must have covered his eyes in fear of the horrific scene that was certain to unfold.

He was actually "inserted" in the Houston game

ETA: We had the opportunity to chat with Mr. Padron at the Marshall game. Really nice guy. What a wonderful family, and a great kid. I think we are going to be very, very lucky to have him as he continues to grow and learn.

[SoCal_Pony]

Good Read Indeed.

What impresses me most about Padron is his calm demeanor under pressure. Nothing seems to rattle him. Looking back at the Tulsa game in particular, that was quite an remarkable feat for a true Freshman.

The kid simply doesn't make many mistakes and he should only get better as he becomes more comfortable in the RnS.

I see 3 more bowl appearances and hopefully some wins over Tech, A&M and TCU.

[that's great raplh]

Go ponies