But the 29-year-old fought his way back up to 61 in the rankings to earn his spot in this year's first round.

The reminders of that time are still in evidence on match days of as and the current skipper would love to earn a spot in their history books.

This time everyone had to earn a spot, including the eight finalists of last year.

But he out-hustled, out-ran and out-lifted just about everyone else during spring practice his sophomore year to earn a spot on varsity.

After a difficult debut with a red card, he started to earn his spot in the squad.