Fresno State Athletics
Tomorrow is Game On
12/18/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 18, 2009
ALBUQUERQUE - Today was our last full day here in New Mexico and probably the most special. We actually got to sleep in for the first time all week (which was great) and we only had one event today, the New Mexico Bowl Kickoff Luncheon with the other team and the bowl committee. Last year it was a drag, considering it was an early event and just another chance to have a staring contest with the other team (haha).
But this time our guest speaker, former USC coach John Robinson, gave a very special speech. The thing I took away from Coach Robinson was when he said, "The guys you play this great game of football with are the most special people in your life. They will never quit on you, if you don't quit on them, don't walk out on them, and they won't walk out on you." That really stuck in my mind because there are about 10 guys on my team that I will call my family for the rest of my life.
The last five years I have spent with them, as we've battled through thick and thin, blood, sweat and tears, hours in the weight room and hot summer days on the field will forever be the bond that we share and no one will ever break that. My teammates are very special people and will be my friends forever. My dad, Reggie Camp, who played seven years in the NFL, has had the same group of friends since I was a baby, and they are all his old college teammates. And I expect to have the same friendships with my teammates as my dad does with his.
Through this entire dream life here at Fresno State, I've had a great time playing the game I love, the game I've been playing since I was eight years old. I will forever miss Bulldog Stadium, the big time games and teams that we have played. There are so many people that go into this team's success and fortune, I'd like to thank those people from the bottom of my heart.
The two people I want to thank the most is my parents. For the people that don't know, I walked on at this school, which means I am not on scholarship and my parents fronted the bill to put me through college. It has never bothered me to play for free and not get a check like many of my teammates, because as long as I am playing the game I love the most with the friends I care about the most, money never mattered to me. I am blessed to have the parents I have, who have paid for my education and given me the opportunity to get my degree and play football while I'm at it. My mom always told me that once I had bad grades, she would take me off the team, and the one time I took that for granted, Coach Tim Skipper called her and told on me (thanks, Skip, haha).
My dad has always been my number one coach and fan. He may not be able to make all my games because he coaches at Lincoln High School in Stockton, (the best high school in the nation). But he is the one leaving me voicemails on my cell phone while I'm playing, telling me what I'm doing wrong, as if I'm right there watching film with him. A thing about my dad is, he never knew his father, and you'd never know it because he has been an amazing father.
So thank you to my parents for raising me to be the person I am today and giving me the opportunities they have given me. I love you two to the very fullest!
To all the fans reading for the past three days, thank you for reading this and for the everlasting support you have shown to the Bulldog family. Keep it going and keep painting the nation red.
All in all, it has been a great time here at the New Mexico Bowl. Let's end this year as the New Mexico Bowl champions. Beat the Cowboys!!
#48 Reynard Camp
We are Your Team! See the Bulldogs take on Wyoming in the 2009 New Mexico Bowl Saturday at 1:30 p.m. PST on ESPN!
