Benefield: Age is just a number for Santa Rosa Junior College lineman, 34

The fact that Tom Carrell is 34 years old and a starting lineman on a college football team might be the least interesting thing about him.

And the fact that Carrell has played the game only sparingly since he was a kid just adds to his story.

But it’s worth noting that when he suits up for the Bear Cubs of Santa Rosa Junior College, his jersey doesn’t say 34. He’s No. 71 - getting done at 34 what he let slip away half a lifetime ago.

Carrell, a member of Elsie Allen’s first graduating class in 1998, never suited up for the Lobos.

There was the fight that kept him out of football his freshman year, after which he shipped off to Wisconsin for two years, where he played some ball but also played around.

“I was pretty lost at that time,” Carrell said. “That was not how I wanted it to go down, but that is how it happened.”

He moved back to Santa Rosa for his senior year, but a torn ACL kept him off the gridiron for the Lobos.

He never went to college. Instead, he moved to Hawaii to work in the family roofing business.

But he’s stayed near the game. Standing 6-foot-8 and weighing 330 pounds, it’s fair to say that the game finds him.

He played some with a semi-pro team in Oregon and was even approached by some college coaches.

“I had multiple opportunities,” he said. “I was approached by a college recruiter and I considered it. At that time, I was 24 and thought ‘Ha, I’m way too old to play college football.’ So now I’m 34 and I’m either crazy or something.”

Carrell, a father of two kids, has coached just about every level of youth football and basketball and was set to coach the junior varsity squad at Piner High School this season when Lenny Wagner, the head coach of the Santa Rosa Junior College Bear Cubs, saw him suited up with the semi-pro North Bay Rattlers and the two got to talking. This is where Carrell starts to epitomize the dreams of every man: getting tapped on the shoulder by a college coach who asks, “Do you think you could play a few snaps?”

“He jokingly said, ‘You know, I have all of my eligibility left,’?” Wagner recalled.

Wagner’s no dummy. And Carrell, well, Carrell is huge.

“I said, ‘Well, you know, we start practice in two days,’?” Wagner responded.

Carrell hasn’t missed a beat since.

Now the starting right guard with the Bear Cubs, his day begins around 5 a.m. when a house with a 10- and 3-year-old is as quiet as it’s ever going to be. He does homework and paperwork for the roofing business before heading to campus for a full load of classes at the J.C. He’s studying general education with an eye toward construction management, but has a keen interest in psychology. Football, with film, weights, practices and treatment sessions, takes up as much as six hours each afternoon. Then it’s family time and whatever else needs to get done.

That is one of the many elements that separates Carrell from the pack in Wagner’s eyes. In his career, he’s seen older - let’s call them more veteran - guys with physical gifts try to take a crack at college ball, but none like Carrell. No. 71 is working at being a college student, not just a player.

Other guys?

“All they wanted to do was play a year, just for fun. Being a student was never a part of it,” Wagner said. “He’s really into the school thing. He’s really motivated and disciplined and working hard.”

Maybe that is because now Carrell sees the whole picture.

He gets that he’s an anomaly, that he stood out with the Bear Cubs before playing a snap. When asked for an interview, he accepts graciously but adds, “I haven’t done anything but be 34.”

But he also knows he’s got something to give that’s bigger than his 330-pound frame.

He’s no longer a kid but he’s been one. He’s made bad decisions and he’s made good ones. He’s got some living under his belt. Those are things he can bring to the Bear Cubs beyond his ferocious power.

“I want to be nasty on the football field, but I can be there and help the younger guys with the life experiences,” he said.

“I’ve been really impressed by him,” Wagner said.

“He has an appreciation for the opportunity,” Wagner said. “A lot of kids these days deal with entitlement issues. He is very thankful. He is very gracious. He is a really good example for them. The level of appreciation makes him a pleasure to have out there. The fact that he is a good player is a bonus.”

And a pretty big bonus at that.

Wagner believes Carrell has the goods to get scooped up by a bigger program.

“Somebody will give him a scholarship, heck ya,” he said.

Carrell, who credits his fiancee Cecilia Cervantes with holding down the family fort while he pursues this new direction, said he doesn’t know what his future holds but is going to work hard to keep his options open.

“I’m not going to put a ceiling on it,” he said.

Funny thing, when a roofer says no to ceilings and yes to the sky’s the limit.

You can reach staff columnist Kerry Benefield at 526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com and on Twitter @benefield