If you’re looking for a football player who has a summer job as a lifeguard or something inside, you might check with the so-called skill guys.
If you’re looking for a farmer, a first look toward the guys in the trenches might be in order.
On one particular day this summer Bearcat linemen reported to the Ken Rippy Fieldhouse about 7 a.m. to get in their lifts and work on blocking drills and agilities.
The skill guys? They started showing up at 8 to 8:15 to make sure they had everything packed and ready for a bus ride to a 7-on-7 competition.
After their work was completed, the linemen left the facility, with at least a few of them headed to do even more work, a lot more work.
That was the case for seniors Andrew Tibbits and Matt O’Bar who stopped off at McDonalds for a quick bite before going to work on their respective farms.
For Tibbits (number 56 above) that’s working with his family’s rodeo stock “lots of horses, lots of bulls.”
“Tibbits is just a country kid that gives it his all every time he’s in the building,” Bearcat line coach Jacob Hattabaugh said.
For O’Bar there were laying houses, cows, pigs “everything you would find on a farm.”
O’Bar (shown above blocking for Dax Goff) and his siblings have long been visible at the annual South Logan County Fair exhibiting those animals.
Asked which “work” is harder both answered without hesitation it is the farm life.
“You’ve got to build fence every day, dang near” said Tibbits. “Long hours.”
“You’re dealing with whatever. You never know,” said O’Bar. “There’s always something to do.”
That pays dividends on the practice and game fields.
“It gets you way more in shape,” said O’Bar, whose father Joe was also a lineman with BHS.
Kind of like the work on the farm that isn’t necessarily noticed by society, other than a finished product, toiling on an offensive and or defensive line is often doing the work that is often overlooked because, in either case, it is not thoroughly understood.
O’Bar and Tibitts say recognition for success going elsewhere simply comes with the territory.
“It doesn’t matter as long as we win the game,” said O’Bar.
“O’Bar is a three-year starter who has played every position up front,” said Hattabaugh. “He is a hard worker that is always on time and doing the right thing. He has a chance to play on Saturdays.”
For now Saturday is a work day, not quite what recovery is for some of his and Tibbits' teammates though.
Tibbits, for example, will help operate a rodeo on some weekends -- his first chute dog experience was at a rodeo at the South Logan County Fair.
Because both also turn around and play a tackle position on defense, like extra hands on a farm, you cannot have too many linemen.
“We’ve got a good two or three groups coming right now,” said O’Bar.
Tibbits is actually a new addition to the Bearcat lineman brotherhood. He transferred into the school district last year but did not play as a junior.
Sometimes farm work is scheduled prior to practice. For instance, Tibbits knew in advance he would be loading a truck with animals for transport even in advance of showing up at for a 7 a.m. lift/drill session one Thursday, set because there would be another 7-on-7 that night.
O'Bar and Tibbits say they do not feel left out by the 7-on-7 trips.
“I’d rather get some work done,” said Tibbits.
Sometimes that work does conflict with football. For instance O’Bar’s family will be getting a new crop of laying hens during the first week of fall camp in August.
“When I get out of boot camp, I’ll got to get ready for those chickens,” said O’Bar.
After high school Tibbits wants to become a diesel mechanic, but that isn’t to get away from the farm, it’s more likely to add to the farm.
O’Bar would like to follow his dad to Arkansas State – Joe graduated from ASU with a degree in agri business -- or even go elsewhere to play college football. But, like Dad, he’ll likely end up back on the farm.
