{"id":6669,"date":"2017-11-08T01:14:33","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T09:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wou.edu\/westernjournal\/?p=6669"},"modified":"2017-11-07T21:19:05","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T05:19:05","slug":"duckworth-is-prepared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/duckworth-is-prepared\/","title":{"rendered":"Duckworth is prepared"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Paul F. Davis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Simson Garcia | Sports Editor<\/span><\/h5>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen that much rain in my life,\u201d said Wolves quarterback Nick Duckworth, of experiencing the complete weather difference between here and Arizona, his native home state. Duckworth transferred to Western from Phoenix Community College.<\/span><\/p>\n

He grew up in Scottsdale, but is now prepared for the new forecast of this here Oregon weather. He\u2019s also prepared to fulfill the position of a starting quarterback for the Wolves football team as he is about to finish his two-year career at Western. <\/span><\/p>\n

While he prepares for the final stretch, he\u2019s also working on finishing up his degree in economics, with a business minor. <\/span><\/p>\n

Athletes, too, have a lot to prepare for during a transfer transition. Usually, junior college transfers make that transition between their sophomore year and the start of their junior year at the university they\u2019re transferring to. Duckworth is one of those transfers. He\u2019s also understood, very well, the differences between the two institutions of community college and universities. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a challenge at first,\u201d said Duckworth. \u201cWith the four-year school, there\u2019s more of a social aspect with it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps what makes him more ready and at ease with the transition is based on the fact that he\u2019s not alone, and that that social aspect is present here at Western.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the case especially when it comes to his teammates.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was worried about getting acclimated with all the guys, but that was the easiest part\u2026 and I think we\u2019ve had a lot of junior college transfers as well, so it helps that we\u2019ve been through a lot of the same stuff,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, according to the Western\u2019s website, 10 players from the Wolves football roster, including Duckworth, are transfers from junior colleges. That shared bond with teammates is something he\u2019ll take with him long after he\u2019s graduated from college.<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked about what he would carry with him from the experience of playing at Western, Duckworth answered, \u201cdefinitely the relationship with my teammates. The relationship with those guys, I feel like I\u2019ll have a lot of lifelong relationships with, even though I\u2019ve been here in such a short time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In the short amount of time he\u2019s had on the field, he\u2019s amassed 3,121 in passing yardage, and has nearly doubled his touchdown number, from 9 to 16, compared to last year. <\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, last year he didn\u2019t start a single game and only played six games total. The fact remains that he became ready when his number was called upon. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLast year,\u201d speaking on his first touchdown on Western soil. \u201cWinter was not fun.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

And the recurring theme here is that he may just be warming up.<\/span><\/p>\n

Duckworth had said that he would like to continue the profession of football, and wants to turn it into coaching at some point after college. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking on the change from year one to year two, he said it has been quite a shift; \u201cI\u2019ve put on a lot more warmer clothes. I definitely can get used to it. The first year was very tough, but I think I\u2019m more prepared now.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Duckworth will have another chance to ready himself on senior day, when he and the Wolves look to sweep the season series against Simon Fraser on Nov. 11 \u2014 and where they will look to end a tumultuous season on a high note. But he\u2019ll have more chances, during life after Western. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI love the summers up here,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

And perhaps, after next summer, a shot at the green \u2014 the golf course, of course, not the gridiron. <\/span><\/p>\n

If there was another sport he was as equally as passionate about as football, it\u2019s golf.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI play golf a lot\u2014that gets my competitive juices flowing,\u201d Duckworth said. \u201cI actually worked at a golf course last summer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And his favorite club: \u201cDefinitely the driver.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Taking this into consideration, in the way he uses his club on the course, or his arm on the field, there\u2019s a drive in him towards accomplishing a goal. <\/span><\/p>\n

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Simson Garcia | Sports Editor \u201cI\u2019ve never seen that much rain in my life,\u201d said Wolves quarterback Nick Duckworth, of experiencing the complete weather difference between here and Arizona, his native home state. Duckworth transferred to Western from Phoenix Community College. He grew up in Scottsdale, but is now prepared for the new forecast of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1017,"featured_media":6670,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1017"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}