Eagle Scouts hear from BYU football player

By Patsy Stoddard
Editor

The Tavaputs District Eagle Scout Banquet was held March 24 at the Orangeville Community Center. Bart Cox welcomed the group. The Ferron Eagle scouts presented the flag ceremony and Dallin Parker Braun sang the National Anthem. Joe Semanoff was the guest speaker. He is a former BYU running back. The Eagle scout awards were presented by Bart Cox and Danna Gray. Mary Alice and Dan Johnson from the Eagles Lodge 1550 gave each of the recipients an American flag. The dinner was catered by BKs Stop’n Shop of Huntington.
Scouts include: Austin Kevin Albrecht, Dallin Parker Braun, Jace Curtis Collard, Matthew James Hanson, Ian M. Hughes, Trandon Scott Jackson, Jake Reid Jensen, Brans Christian Petersen, Luke Andrew Stilson.
Jake Jensen is serving a mission in Puerto Rico so his father accepted his award on his behalf.
Danna Gray introduced the guest speaker Joe Semanoff. She said, “He walked onto BYU and then went on a mission to Brazil. He was a running back. He married his sweetheart and they have three children ages 5, 3 and 4 months. He is a loan officer in South Jordan.
Semanoff said he is from Pennsylvania. “I love the scouting program. It’s an honor to be here. I have the best calling in the world and that’s teacher quorum advisor. I get to do all the fun stuff, but don’t have to go to any of the meetings. My parents are converts to the church, my mom is from Portugal. My Dad was our scout leader. In our high school there were no members of the church. All my cousins were in my scout troop and we were all good friends. My Dad took us out into the wilderness and we would find our way back with a compass. I loved those times, that’s what we talk about when we get together. Scouts was a good experience.
“I played football for BYU. I’ve been done now for about eight years. As I look back there were key moments that taught me lessons. I learned things from the coaches that have stuck with me and taught me to be strong and successful.
“You need to find your vision and how you’re going to get there. In my room as a kid I had a poster of a BYU football player. I saw that picture every night and every morning. It was molding into what my vision would be. I started playing football in the sixth grade. I played up with the seventh and eighth graders because they didn’t play on Sunday. My brother was on the varsity team and I loved watching him play. I developed a love for the game. My brother played for Rick’s College.
“College football is more focused than high school football. It’s a different level. I’ve used my brother a lot in my life for advice, he’s five years older than me.
“Always have personal counsel, it can be your mom and dad or young men leaders, someone who loves and cares about you and can put you in your place and give advice. We need someone to give us advice. Making emotional decisions is not the best.
“I knew I wanted to go to BYU. I got my Eagle Scout. I always thought if you work harder than the next guy you’re going to be better. My goal was to be the best I can be. My high school senior year we had a good season and I started to get some letters from colleges. But, in the back of my head I still kept thinking I’m going to play for BYU. I sent my sister a highlight reel. She was attending BYU at the time and I told her to show it to the coaches.
“One of the coaches contacted me and said they didn’t have any scholarships available for running backs but he encouraged me to walk on. So I applied to the school and was denied. Coach Tidwell called and I sent my transcripts. He said tell me all about you. So I told him I was an Eagle scout, played football, basketball and ran track. I got my acceptance letter.
“No matter what you do, there are always going to be haters. My girlfriend questioned whether I was good enough to play for BYU. It’s what you choose and what you know. If they aren’t behind you then what they say doesn’t matter.
“At BYU I was known as a preferred walk on. It was like there’s not a scholarship for you, but we have a spot on the team for you. Because of this, I wasn’t allowed to start playing football until the first day of school. When I played in high school it was for a small school so we did everything.
“My first day of practice I was the new kid. The horn blew and everyone knew where to go and went to their groups. I ended up with the linebackers and so they sent me over to the running backs. I played on the scout team. This means each week we simulate the offense of the team we’re playing that week. Manaia Brown beat me to the outside and he’s a big guy 6’4” and he just lifts me off the ground. I was even thinking I didn’t belong here. The offensive guys and the defensive guys don’t talk to each other. They go against each other. One day the defense and the offense were fighting. Teag Whiting who is now a coach at SUU told us, ‘if we’re in a fight then you’re in a fight.’ The next week there was another fight so I saw a guy standing there and I ran over and knocked him over. It’s interesting going from a big fish in a small pond to a little fish in a big pond.
“I was on the kick-off team. It’s like the last frontier of football. We were supposed to play to contact, like run down the field, but then pull up before you hit someone. Bill Wright, he was a shot put thrower who was like 260 6’4. I was in the first wave of defense and the runners were behind in a wedge. I was running down and when I was about to hit, I pulled up and Bill hit me. Everyone was watching. I got up and I was mad. The walk-ons stuck together. I kept thinking I was going to get him. I couldn’t move on I couldn’t let it go. I was so mad and excited to get back at him, when coach said let’s go, I ran down the field and buried my head in his chest and picked him up and everyone was watching. Everyone was saying, ‘hey that freshman got Bill.’ I was down at my locker after practice and a player comes up and says, Hey, Bill wants to talk to you. I thought oh no. So I go back and Bill said, I just wanted to shake the hand of the little guy who kicked my A today.
“Be fearless and opportunity comes up. I was nervous and scared a little bit, but I did it. I got to know the upperclassmen and most of them had served missions. I started thinking about serving a mission and asking questions. They all said, it was the best time of my life, I learned this and this…seeing these guys on my team, we were like a family. So that’s what I wanted to do. I served a mission to Brazil and they speak Portuguese, now my mom and I can carry on a conversation and my dad doesn’t know what we’re saying.
“When I got back I was on special teams and it was an incredible experience. That year we went 6-5 and played a bowl game.
“Then I was a junior and Coach Bronco Mendenhall told me to stop by his office either before or after the team meeting. He told me congratulations from today forward, you’re a full scholarship athlete.
“When I was a senior we would all meet with Coach Mendenhall personally and he would ask how we were doing. The structure of football helped me to grow. We could ask him anything we wanted so I asked, ‘How do you stay strong all the time.’ Coach said when he’s traveling he always listens to conference talks or has good books, he said you have to stay focused and know who you are. Know what your strengths are. Know your weaknesses. If you know your weaknesses you can put up guards against them. The advisory knows our weaknesses. My senior year I was one of the running back captains. One game I was voted to carry the flag. I was so stressed I was going to fall down and my team was going to run over me. Before a game there’s so much emotion and excitement. I started thinking, I love these guys, if I fall they will pick me up. The people on the outside don’t matter. It was like Lehi’s dream, all the others don’t matter. We were 11-2 that year and played UCLA in a bowl game. It was an incredible experience to see all of us on the practice field and know all we had put in to get there. We put all this work in and this is the result.
“Have a clear vision. Know where you want to go. The naysayers are not important. Have personal counsel, someone you can talk to, someone who cares about you and can give good solid advice.
“Play to your strengths and be fearless. Work your butt off in all you do. Hard work will always pay off. Always give more than you take. You can never be wrong by doing the right thing. I love you guys and I am honored to be here,” said Semanoff.