BOWLING GREEN — Given all that he has seen during the past 365 days, Darius Wade is thrilled to be at Bowling Green.
The sixth-year graduate transfer joined the other Falcons quarterbacks for extra work after practice Tuesday, happy to still be throwing, and happier yet to still be a Division I quarterback.
The past year has been a wild one for Wade, who started last fall at the University of Delaware after transferring from Boston College, sustained a shoulder injury doctors thought would end his career, reignited his throwing motion on a favor to friends, and serendipitously found a home because his former offensive coordinator needed an immediately eligible veteran at a new school more than 500 miles west.
Wade’s move to BG, however, meant he had to decommit from another orange outfit: Home Depot. Wade was working full-time as a supervisor at the popular retail store, before the Falcons gave him a reason to trade hardware for hard counts.
“It was kind of surreal because before I got here, I was at home on the couch with my parents. It was a very drastic change very quickly,” said a smiling Wade. “I just was a regular person. Now, I’m back to being a football player.”
Being a football player once again was very much in jeopardy for Wade at this time last year. Doctors discovered the acromion — an oblong process on the shoulder blade — never fully developed in Wade’s throwing shoulder. Wade said doctors told him corrective surgery had an 85 percent rate of failure and that most athletes never return to competitive sports after recovery.
Wade rested until the late winter, when some of his Delaware teammates began preparing for their pro day in front of NFL scouts.
As Wade began working out with them, he was in for a surprise. His repaired shoulder still had a fastball.
“I had, like, five months to rest, so just from throwing with them, I saw that I still had my pop and I could still throw it even though I couldn’t previously,” Wade said. “Because of that, I felt like I still could do this. I started working with some [physical therapy] people and doctors, and they just put me on some different regimens and got me healthy again.”
Luckily for Wade, Bowling Green needed an additional quarterback. Starter Jarret Doege transferred after the spring semester, and Wade ran BGSU coach Scot Loeffler’s pro-style offense when Loeffler was Boston College’s offensive coordinator.
The Falcons had precious little time to teach the system to a new player, but Wade wasn’t exactly new.
“He knows the offense. He’s been a part of the system for a long time,” Loeffer said. “His knowledge of it, you couldn’t just walk in off the streets and walk in and think you’re going to run this offense. You’re not.”
Wade reached out to Loeffler, and the pairing made sense for both parties. The Falcons temporarily patched an area of extreme need, while Wade earns another chance to play.
“I just wanted to see if this was a potential opportunity that could work out for the both of us,” Wade said. “Pretty much, the stars aligned. He needed a quarterback, I am a quarterback, and it just worked out in both in our favors.”
Loeffler said Wade still has work to do with rhythm and timing, which he said is to be expected given the long layoff from football, but that Wade had “progressively gotten better.”
Wade is in competition with Grant Loy and Matt McDonald to be the starter for next week’s opener against Morgan State.
But no matter who starts, Wade said he’s thankful for the chance to end his college career on his own terms.
“Regardless if it’s me being out there [starting] or helping the person who is, that’s something I’ll be perfectly OK with,” Wade said. “God put me in this position to still be able to play this game that I love, and I’m very grateful for that. Regardless of what happens, this is an opportunity I’m excited and happy for.”
First Published August 20, 2019, 8:07 p.m.
