AMHERST — With his signature wide grin, Victor Santiago proclaimed last week the greatest of his life.
The sophomore running back officially had two carries for zero yards in UMass’ 63-15 win over Duquesne, but that doesn’t include an 11-yard run on his first collegiate touch that was called back by a holding penalty. The game action capped off a whirlwind 48 hours for the Bethelem, Pennsylvania, native after receiving a surprise scholarship on Thursday.
Coach Mark Whipple didn’t need to put in an Oscar-worthy performance for the surprise, opting to tell Santiago at the end of a team meeting. He called those moments some of the best perks of his job, and said he was happy to be able to help a student-athlete like Santiago.
“He kept doing things you expect all guys to do: be on time, work hard and he always has a smile on his face,” Whipple said. “He’s one who certainly doesn’t take it for granted. His was an easy decision. I’m happy for him and his family, they deserve it.”
What Whipple and the coaching staff understood was that Santiago was literally on his last chance at UMass. After starring as a scout team player last fall, Santiago was not enrolled at UMass for the spring semester, partially due to financial reasons. He worked a day job in a warehouse and continued to train when he wasn’t at work during the spring and then took summer classes at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem to regain his eligibility.
Once he arrived back in Amherst last month, he said he had a new sense of urgency to his game.
“Coming here this summer, I knew that if I didn’t get a scholarship here that it was going to be no chance that I was going to be able to still remain at UMass,” Santiago said. “Last year, I was going hard, so I knew I had to go harder than that. It was just a lot of pressure on me to keep going.”
Santiago admitted that his time away from the Minutemen had an effect on him mentally. Everything about the program attracted him to UMass after graduating from Milford Academy in New York, and he wasn’t sure what he would do with himself if he couldn’t be a Minuteman.
“I was a little down on myself, I didn’t know if maybe the hard work isn’t paying off,” Santiago said. “I just didn’t know what to think. I knew UMass was where I wanted to be right after prep school, so I was upset like ‘Dang, I didn’t do enough.’ I just felt like I wasn’t doing enough. It was a little bit depressing.”
The pressure affected his play in the first few weeks of training camp, too, UMass running backs coach Darrius G. Smith said. The fourth-year coach said Santiago made a lot of mental and technical errors especially during the first week back in camp.
Smith compared Santiago’s return to senior running back Marquis Young’s freshman year when the now-starter had a bad week with a lot of mental errors from trying to be too perfect.
“(Santiago’s) first week was I don’t even remember how many (mental errors) he had,” Smith said. “It was just because he was trying so hard and trying to be so correct. I don’t necessarily know if it was a pressure, but he just wanted to succeed. I don’t even know if the scholarship aspect was in his thoughts, he just wanted to succeed and he wanted to prove he belonged and he wanted to prove he could do it.”
Santiago has proven to himself he belongs now, Smith said, but there was never any doubt among his teammates. When Whipple announced Santiago was on scholarship, Young was the first teammate to hug Santiago and proceeded to lift him in the air. When Santiago broke the run outside that was eventually called back by the penalty, the UMass sideline erupted in joy.
Smith said everyone on the team has an admiration and appreciation for Santiago’s hard work, which is why the team responded to the news of Santiago’s scholarship and his long run that won’t count the same way. That love and support
“It meant everything to me because I know they know how hard I work,” Santiago said. “They see me going hard every day at practice, they see every time I’m going full speed, I’m always going full speed. I know (the announcement) made them happy and they felt something in their heart when they found out that I got that scholarship and I know they were proud of me. That was the best feeling, everyone surrounding me and hyping me up.”
The only moment that felt better for Santiago was sharing the news of his scholarship with his mother. Santiago said his mother would ask him almost every day during preseason camp if he had been awarded a scholarship yet, and he had to explain the process to her.
He said making that phone call was emotional for him because how much his mother had invested in his future.
“All the sacrifices she made for me, everything she does for me to bring me to this school so I’m able to go here, I knew telling her was going to lift a lot off her shoulders,” Santiago said. “It felt like I bought her a house or bought her a new car or something like that. I know she felt like she got a brand new house or a brand new car. It was an amazing feeling.”
Josh Walfish can be reached at jwalfish@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshWalfishDHG. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.