 "Photo: Karl Anderson")
Texas Tech running back Baron Batch knows how to take a hit, but no one could prepare him for the hit that changed the outlook on his football career.
This time, the hit Batch took did not come from an oversized linebacker, but from something he never saw coming.
"God threw a brick at me and hit me in the head, and said, 'Listen up, you got to change something,'" Batch said.
The epiphany came after Batch's final surgery to his left ankle, which doctors told him should force him to hang up his cleats.
As a true freshman in 2006, he played in six games before suffering a season-ending Achilles injury during practice. He developed a bone infection in the same ankle, which extended his recovery time by about four months.
"I got here, I was on the brink of playing a bunch, and I got hurt," said Batch, who played with the scout team as a redshirt in 2007-08. "I was thinking, 'Why me? Why me?'"
After the seventh surgery, Batch said he decided to quit living the night life and making decisions he felt were not worth the risk, such as drinking alcohol and hitting the clubs on a regular basis.
It was not until former teammates Keyunta Dawson and Manny Ramirez invited him to a Bible study in 2006 that Batch said the light bulb went on, essentially turning the spotlight away from him and shining it on others around him.
"When I got saved man and became a Christian and really started to live it, the whole base of Christianity is you try to serve others," he said. "It's not about you. That's why I say it's so much bigger than being an individual. It's not about you."
Instead of playing for his own personal achievements, Batch said he understood his role on the football field was much more than scoring touchdowns. With so many people watching him, whether he knows them or not, Batch said his goal is to set a positive example at all times.
"It's just so much bigger than being an individual," he said. "It's just having an opportunity to - I don't want to say be an icon - have people watch what you're doing and being able to do the right things and affect people. A lot of people don't get that opportunity, and a lot of people do have the opportunity and don't use it, or use it the right way."
As he sat from the sidelines, Batch said, watching his team progress through a season without him supplied all the motivation he needed.
"I never really took my mind off it one bit, one day, one second," Batch said of returning to the field. "I constantly thought about it, and just thought of ways to improve myself, even if I wasn't in the games."
Running backs coach Seth Littrell said since Batch was recruited from Midland High School, he saw a young man who would fight through any adversity dealt his way, so when the injury happened, thoughts of Batch quitting never surfaced.
"There was no doubt that he wouldn't make it back (from the injury)," Littrell said. "Was it always rosy? No. Were there some down times? Yes. He always knew he'd work hard and come back and have a positive attitude and get it done."
Batch said he rehabbed four to five hours a day in the summer, reaching 70 to 80 percent health before camp. He was redshirted and delegated to the scout team, where he said the ankle felt 100 percent by the fifth or sixth game of the season.
The 20-year-old Batch oozes a contagious mixture of determination and maturity, which he said is a result of personal struggles he endured before college.
Batch's mother passed away when he was a freshman in high school. The loss forced him, his three brothers and one sister to mature at a young age as he lived with family friends or his aunt and uncle.
"Having to grow up, some of the situations that I had to go through, you got to mature real quick," he said. "You gotta keep a positive attitude or you're not gonna make it."
Even then, those obstacles would not impede his performance on the field. He racked up 2,005 rushing yards and 28 rushing touchdowns as a senior, good for third in state Class 5A in rushing yards and fourth in scoring.
Batch's teammate, junior running back Kobey Lewis, said he loves seeing Batch back in action because of his natural ability to play the game like an energetic kid, making his debut on the local peewee football team.
"Baron is so funny," Lewis said. "He makes me laugh because he gets so hyped, so hyped at the littlest thing. He just loves coming out here and practicing. Baron is the type of player that'll run you over, he'll shake you and he'll laugh doing it at the same time."
Batch attends Trinity Church in Lubbock as well as a weekly Bible study with middle linebacker Brian Duncan.
Duncan recently was named one of 11 finalists for the Sullivan Award, which rewards the nation's top amateur athlete for on-field achievements as well as community service.
Batch said the injury was a blessing, giving him the opportunity to reach out to new friends and become a role model, similar to Duncan.
"If one person can listen to what I'm saying and change, then it was worth me getting injured, and I truly believe that," Batch said. "I'm back now, I have the same amount of eligibility I would've had if I wouldn't had got hurt. I'm back in the same situation. I got the same opportunities I did when I got here. So I'm not gonna complain one bit."
Batch said complaining about the current situation in Tech's backfield would be just as useless. In fact, he welcomes having an array of running backs.
"You wouldn't want to be the only good running back on the team; you'd hate that," he said. "I'm glad everybody can play, and we got playmakers in everybody that plays running back."
The competition has sophomore Aaron Crawford, Lewis and senior Shannon Woods battling it out with Batch in spring practices for a spot at the top of the depth chart.
Littrell said he has no idea who eventually will win the starting nod in the backfield, but he did not hesitate to acknowledge where Batch's capabilities could land him.
"There's no doubt in my mind that Baron will start around here sometime," he said. "When it is, I don't know. He's a really good player, and it's gonna be hard to keep him off the field."
Since his return, Batch noticed a difference in how he handles his offensive assignments compared to his freshman year. He said the game has slowed down for him, allowing him to react, rather than think too much.
"It's just unexplainable; seven surgeries and I feel fine," he said. "I feel better than I did before I got hurt. If that's not God, I don't know what is."
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