The Daily Toreador - Student Newspaper of Texas Tech

Issue date: 4/2/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Karl Anderson

Texas Tech running back Baron Batch knows how to take a hit, but no one could prepare him for the hit that changed the outlook on his football career.

This time, the hit Batch took did not come from an oversized linebacker, but from something he never saw coming.

"God threw a brick at me and hit me in the head, and said, 'Listen up, you got to change something,'" Batch said.

The epiphany came after Batch's final surgery to his left ankle, which doctors told him should force him to hang up his cleats.

As a true freshman in 2006, he played in six games before suffering a season-ending Achilles injury during practice. He developed a bone infection in the same ankle, which extended his recovery time by about four months.

"I got here, I was on the brink of playing a bunch, and I got hurt," said Batch, who played with the scout team as a redshirt in 2007-08. "I was thinking, 'Why me? Why me?'"

After the seventh surgery, Batch said he decided to quit living the night life and making decisions he felt were not worth the risk, such as drinking alcohol and hitting the clubs on a regular basis.

It was not until former teammates Keyunta Dawson and Manny Ramirez invited him to a Bible study in 2006 that Batch said the light bulb went on, essentially turning the spotlight away from him and shining it on others around him.

"When I got saved man and became a Christian and really started to live it, the whole base of Christianity is you try to serve others," he said. "It's not about you. That's why I say it's so much bigger than being an individual. It's not about you."

Instead of playing for his own personal achievements, Batch said he understood his role on the football field was much more than scoring touchdowns. With so many people watching him, whether he knows them or not, Batch said his goal is to set a positive example at all times.

"It's just so much bigger than being an individual," he said. "It's just having an opportunity to - I don't want to say be an icon - have people watch what you're doing and being able to do the right things and affect people. A lot of people don't get that opportunity, and a lot of people do have the opportunity and don't use it, or use it the right way."

As he sat from the sidelines, Batch said, watching his team progress through a season without him supplied all the motivation he needed.

Continued...

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