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University of Massachusets Athletics
Super-Senior Reflections: Randall West
August 27, 2019 | Football
AMHERST, Mass. - University of Massachusetts football quarterback Randall West is one of the team's redshirt senior student-athletes, alongside Mike Caggiano, Michael Curtis, Cooper Garcia, Kyle Horn and Mike Yerardi. Caggiano, Horn, West and Yerardi arrived at UMass as classmates in 2015, while Curtis joined the group as a junior college transfer in Dec., 2016. Each of the fifth-year team members will reflect on their time at the University of Massachusetts for UMassAthletics.com. Their entries will be posted throughout the week leading up to the season-opener at Rutgers on Fri., Aug. 30.
What does it mean to you to have one more go-around on McGuirk with the team?
"This is surreal. (Mike) Yerardi, Kyle Horn and Mike Caggiano, those are the only three guys left from my recruiting class. It's crazy to think about the guys who have come and gone over the years that I've been here.
"Really, at the end of the day, it's about the people. Coach (Walt Bell) says it all the time: 'the memories that you will have, you won't necessarily remember all the plays you made on the field, but you will remember the locker room and all the in-between with the team.'
"It's weird to think about how it's almost the end. The goal for us is that we all want to make it count. We want to make sure we leave UMass football in a better position than when we got here."
It's been a unique experience for you in particular with your walk-on role as a member of UMass men's basketball head coach Matt McCall's team. How has that added to your memories of this place as you prepare to graduate?
"It has been such a cool experience. Basketball was always my first love. I thought I might play college basketball, up until probably my sophomore year of high school. Just to spend time in a different environment playing a different sport with a great group of guys, and appreciate their side of things, it's been amazing. Coach McCall brings such a fire to each day of practice. There has not been a day I came to practice where Coach McCall wasn't fired up, drinking his energy shake and coaching the guys.
"You appreciate the people more when you get to spend time with them. The thing I have appreciated most throughout the last few years was the support I have received from people in the athletic department, in the football program and the fans that come to the games. When Coach Bell arrived, I didn't know how he was going to respond to me also being a member of the basketball team, if he would be supportive of me playing basketball and football. I remember talking to my parents, asking them and myself 'I'm going to be at basketball and I won't be interacting with the football team as much, how is he going to respond to me being a member of his team while playing basketball?'
"Thankfully, Coach Bell was 100 percent on-board with me being a member of both programs. He expressed his sentiment on how, at schools in the South, he had guys who also played baseball and how he loved that. 'You go do what you're supposed to do, do what Coach McCall asks you to do and we'll figure it out from there,' he said to me. Coach (Matt) Shadeed was great about it as well, helping me keep a schedule where I could do what Coach McCall asks and be around the FPC, the team and participate in all the team activities. I am so thankful for that, how I could spend time at the Champions Center to prepare for games and also spend time at the FPC and be with the football team, learn the offense and keep my body in the right place to be successful during spring football."
If you can leave any pieces of advice for the Minutemen who will join this program after you've left?
"My advice is to get everything you can out of your experience. If you're going to be here for five years like I am here for, make the most out of those five years and get your master's degree. Make a plan, outline what you'll have to do and stick to it. If you're going to be here for five years on scholarship, why not get your master's degree? You already have a bachelor's degree from one of the most prestigious state universities in the country, why wouldn't you want your master's as well? You're setting yourself up to be successful in life. Even if you don't get a shot at professional football, at the end of the day you can only be an athlete for so long, you can only play a sport for so long.
"To me, if you can get those degrees and set yourself up to be the most successful person you can be, it not only benefits you, but it benefits this program and this university. If you have everyone on the same page maximizing their college experience while they are in school, that's how programs can improve themselves long-term. I'm not even referring only to play on the field, I mean off the field where you have hundreds of alumni that are successful after college. If you have guys like that, that are as detailed off-the-field as they are on-the-field, all of it translates to more programmatic success. Smart guys off the field translate to smart guys on the field. They can teach you all the strength and speed in the weight room. Up here (taps head), you have to have use your intelligence to set yourself up to be the most successful person you can be."
University of Massachusetts plays its first home game of the year on Sat., Sept. 7 against Southern Illinois at 3:30 p.m. Single game, season, group and Homecoming Weekend tickets for the 2019 season are available now. Tickets can be purchased through the UMass Athletics Ticket Office over the phone at 866-UMASS-TIX, online via UMass Athletics Ticket Central or in-person at the Mullins Center Box Office.
Follow University of Massachusetts football on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook (@UMassFootball).
What does it mean to you to have one more go-around on McGuirk with the team?
"This is surreal. (Mike) Yerardi, Kyle Horn and Mike Caggiano, those are the only three guys left from my recruiting class. It's crazy to think about the guys who have come and gone over the years that I've been here.
"Really, at the end of the day, it's about the people. Coach (Walt Bell) says it all the time: 'the memories that you will have, you won't necessarily remember all the plays you made on the field, but you will remember the locker room and all the in-between with the team.'
"It's weird to think about how it's almost the end. The goal for us is that we all want to make it count. We want to make sure we leave UMass football in a better position than when we got here."
It's been a unique experience for you in particular with your walk-on role as a member of UMass men's basketball head coach Matt McCall's team. How has that added to your memories of this place as you prepare to graduate?
"It has been such a cool experience. Basketball was always my first love. I thought I might play college basketball, up until probably my sophomore year of high school. Just to spend time in a different environment playing a different sport with a great group of guys, and appreciate their side of things, it's been amazing. Coach McCall brings such a fire to each day of practice. There has not been a day I came to practice where Coach McCall wasn't fired up, drinking his energy shake and coaching the guys.
"You appreciate the people more when you get to spend time with them. The thing I have appreciated most throughout the last few years was the support I have received from people in the athletic department, in the football program and the fans that come to the games. When Coach Bell arrived, I didn't know how he was going to respond to me also being a member of the basketball team, if he would be supportive of me playing basketball and football. I remember talking to my parents, asking them and myself 'I'm going to be at basketball and I won't be interacting with the football team as much, how is he going to respond to me being a member of his team while playing basketball?'
"Thankfully, Coach Bell was 100 percent on-board with me being a member of both programs. He expressed his sentiment on how, at schools in the South, he had guys who also played baseball and how he loved that. 'You go do what you're supposed to do, do what Coach McCall asks you to do and we'll figure it out from there,' he said to me. Coach (Matt) Shadeed was great about it as well, helping me keep a schedule where I could do what Coach McCall asks and be around the FPC, the team and participate in all the team activities. I am so thankful for that, how I could spend time at the Champions Center to prepare for games and also spend time at the FPC and be with the football team, learn the offense and keep my body in the right place to be successful during spring football."
If you can leave any pieces of advice for the Minutemen who will join this program after you've left?
"My advice is to get everything you can out of your experience. If you're going to be here for five years like I am here for, make the most out of those five years and get your master's degree. Make a plan, outline what you'll have to do and stick to it. If you're going to be here for five years on scholarship, why not get your master's degree? You already have a bachelor's degree from one of the most prestigious state universities in the country, why wouldn't you want your master's as well? You're setting yourself up to be successful in life. Even if you don't get a shot at professional football, at the end of the day you can only be an athlete for so long, you can only play a sport for so long.
"To me, if you can get those degrees and set yourself up to be the most successful person you can be, it not only benefits you, but it benefits this program and this university. If you have everyone on the same page maximizing their college experience while they are in school, that's how programs can improve themselves long-term. I'm not even referring only to play on the field, I mean off the field where you have hundreds of alumni that are successful after college. If you have guys like that, that are as detailed off-the-field as they are on-the-field, all of it translates to more programmatic success. Smart guys off the field translate to smart guys on the field. They can teach you all the strength and speed in the weight room. Up here (taps head), you have to have use your intelligence to set yourself up to be the most successful person you can be."
University of Massachusetts plays its first home game of the year on Sat., Sept. 7 against Southern Illinois at 3:30 p.m. Single game, season, group and Homecoming Weekend tickets for the 2019 season are available now. Tickets can be purchased through the UMass Athletics Ticket Office over the phone at 866-UMASS-TIX, online via UMass Athletics Ticket Central or in-person at the Mullins Center Box Office.
Follow University of Massachusetts football on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook (@UMassFootball).
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