Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Freshman Quarterback Adjusting to College Life
08/03/2003 | 12:00:00 | Football
Aug. 3, 2003
By Seth Whitehead
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE - Southern Illinois University freshman quarterback Jon Cairns admits he's stepped into a whole new world since arriving in Carbondale.
New state, new home, new friends, new teammates and new coaches.
And it's a much busier one as well.
"You put in a lot more time,'' Cairns said of college football. "In high school you meet, you have your practices, and then you get to go home. But here, you wake up early and we don't go home until 9 o'clock.
"We're here all day for meetings. Then we're on and off the field for three and a half hours. And we eat as a team everyday three times.
"It's fun -- but it's a lot of time."
And just wait until classes start up next week.
"It seems tough, knowing that I have football all day and then classes to go to,'' Cairns said of being a student-athlete. "But I'm looking forward to it and I know it will be a challenge.''
But managing time -- or lack-there-of -- is just one adjustment Cairns is making.
Just months removed from his final year at Blue Springs High School in Missouri, where he was an all-state quarterback and one of the most touted seniors in the country , Cairns was just another face in the crowd Sunday at Saluki Fan Day at McAndrew Stadium.
While fans sought out autographs from star running backs Tom Koutsos and Muhammad Abdulqaadir for their 'Thunder and Lightning' poster, and area media types conducted interviews with returning starters such as quarterback Joel Sambursky and safety Alexis Moreland, Cairns was comparatively anonymous.
"It's real humbling,'' Cairns said. "I mean, at my high school I think we had 60 players. From being a senior and being the quarterback, to coming here and being a freshman with 90 players --it's real humbling.
"You're low on the totem pole. You've got to be able to climb back up.''
If Cairns' mature attitude and talent are any indication, he is sure to climb back up that totem pole quickly.
Head coach Jerry Kill likens the 6-foot-2, 185-pound Cairns to a bigger version of Sambursky. Cairns was rated as the 20th best quarterback prospect in the country by Rivals.com after a senior year in which he completed 102-of-172 passes for 1,421 yards. He threw 15 touchdown passes and ran for nearly 700 yards and eight more TDs.
But with Sambursky coming off an outstanding freshman season in which he was named the Gateway Conference's Newcomer of the Year, Cairns knows that he'll have to wait for his turn in the spotlight. Fortunately, Sambursky and Cairns hit it off well during the latters' recruiting trip to Carbondale last year, and Sambursky has taken the freshman under his wing.
"We get along real well,'' Cairns said. "I hung out with him on my recruiting trip and he's tells me a lot. He got me into the offense first of all, trying to get me to know it before I came into camp. He's right there to tell me what to do if I mess up.''
After all, that's what being a freshman is all about -- learning.
Cairns is aware that he may be redshirted this year, just as Sambursky was during his first season in Carbondale.
"It'll be tough,'' Cairns said of the possibility of sitting a season out, "but it will be good for me to grow up a little bit. It will give me a chance to get bigger physically, and then more mentally into the college football game.''
