Cathleen Allison/Nevada Appeal
Normally coaches love to boast about returning seniors. They claim they are the foothold to any good team and that they are vital for any level of success.
What you almost never hear about is the story of the first-year senior.
But after years of suffering from a self-imposed deterrance from playing football, Nik McJunkin finally listened to his friends and came out for the Dayton football team.
"I always thought football had a lot of people who knew what they were doing the whole time, I just never really kept with football so I didn't know much," said McJunkin, who will play wide receiver. "I was discouraged to come out. I didn't want to have everyone laugh at me."
So far, no one has been laughing at the only senior on the team who has never played so much as a down of organized football. While most of his teammates concentrated on football in the fall, McJunkin spent the time training for track where he won a state title in the 4x400 relay last year.
"I've got good lungs now," McJunkin said. "It helps me to where I can do play after play. I've got the advantage over some people on that."
The track-speed has blessed him with an unofficial 4.7-second 40 time, which in the Northern 3A likely ranks among the top at the position. But speed is only one element to being a wide receiver. The position requires precise route running, blocking ability on run plays and down field and, of course, pass-catching skills.
"He's good, he's a good learner," said Dayton's Connor Conroy, last year's starting quarterback. "He's fast and he can catch the ball a lot better than I thought.
"I'm glad he came out. I really am, because we needed a receiver; somebody quick. Because we're just not good with our hands in the receiving (corps)."
McJunkin admits that he is miles behind his teammates. While he grew up in a family of football fans, he didn't follow the sport and couldn't tell a fly route from a 4-3 defense. But he recieved a crash course from fellow track athlete Ricky Bodine, who is a key returning player for the football team. The linebacker rehearsed some of the simple plays over the summer with McJunkin to hopefully keep anyone from laughing at him.
"The plays," McJunkin said. "I was nervous about reading over that, but most of it, I figured out, you don't need every single number and word that's in that. You need to know your parts and be able to help the rest of your team and know what you're doing."
McJunkin is apperantly a quick learner.
"He made our two 7-on-7s (passing tournaments) and did some really nice things," Dayton coach Rick Walker said. "He just got a lot to learn obviously."
Walker's youngest son, Kage Walker who is battling for the starting quarterback job, said McJunkin caught almost everything thrown his way in the tournaments.
But so far, catching isn't his favorite part.
"I was excited to get that first hit," McJunkin said. "I haven't gotten a real good one yet. I'm liking hitting people, the contact. This is really the only sport you can come out and get aggressive. I'm liking that."