With Scheumann Stadium's lights brightly shining on the field during a warm Sunday night, Michael Ayers walked to the west sidelines and removed his helmet and shoulder pads.
By that point, practice had just ended. Most of the other Ball State football players had begun to file into the locker room to shower.
Not Ayers.
With a black muscle shirt pulled halfway up his chest, the redshirt freshman defensive end began jogging several laps, west-to-east, across the field. He was one of the last players to enter the locker room by the time he was done.
Ayers knows he needs all the time that he can get on the field. It might not last long.
Three days prior to that practice, Ayers was a backup with no collegiate experience. Once junior defensive end transfer Jonathan Newsome was suspended for two games last week after being charged with drug possession, Ayers' fortunes changed.
He's now a starter. He has only had a week to prepare. And today, in Ball State's season opener against Eastern Michigan, his first collegiate snap will come with that title.
His actions after practice speak loudly about his preparation following his promotion. His words do just as well.
"[Newsome] played a really big role in our team, and it's a loss, but with him being gone, if I can come through - which I will, I know I will - I can just prove that I'm the guy," Ayers said.
SWITCHING POSITIONS
In forming his inaugural recruiting class in 2011, coach Pete Lembo initially brought Ayers onto the team as an outside linebacker.
It wasn't a typical recruitment. Lembo received word of Ayers through a source on the San Jose State coaching staff. At the time, Ayers was playing for Laguna Creek High School, near Sacramento, Calif.
The distance made no difference.
"Mike was available and really wanted to play at this level, so he was willing to come halfway across the country to do it," Lembo said.
The addition of Ayers made sense at the time. He had appropriate size for a collegiate outside linebacker at 6-foot-1-inch and 218 pounds, which hovers around the height and weight range for each Ball State linebacker. His rare athleticism could be a useful asset in Ball State's defensive scheme.
But after he redshirted in 2011, Ayers and the coaching staff decided he had a better chance to get on the field if he moved to defensive end. Once he began building up his strength and size under strength and conditioning coach David Feeley, the switch began to look successful.
"I've loved it ever since," Ayers said. "[Defensive] end is a lot simpler. It makes things a lot easier out there when I can just focus on one or two or three things."
A 218-pound defensive end sounds like disaster on paper for a typical college football team, but defensive coordinator Jay Bateman's scheme could allow Ayers to thrive.
"In our defense, the rush end doesn't have to be the old school, 260-pound defensive end," Ayers said. "It's more of a hybrid, athletic type guy. Outside tackles usually can't handle me because of my speed off the edge. "
Ayers wasn't named a starter by default once Newsome was suspended. It took weeks of impressing the coaching staff throughout the offseason in order to earn the job.
"Mike's a guy who's got a lot of twitch to him, he's still learning the position, but he's doing some really good things," Lembo said.
VETERAN GUIDANCE
Since three of the four starters on the 2011 defensive line graduated this spring, the current collection of ends and tackles is young and inexperienced. Eleven out of the team's 17 defensive linemen have never played a down of collegiate football.
Ayers is one of the 11. So when he ever needs advice or encouragement - which he needs now more than ever - his options from veteran leadership are limited.
Luckily, junior defensive tackle Nathan Ollie and Newsome - the player Ayers is replacing - have been the mentors Ayers has needed.
"Nathan Ollie has been with me every step of the way," Ayers said. "Jonathan Newsome, I've been watching him day-in and day-out. He's been out at practices, helping me with my techniques."
Ayers also mentioned senior nose tackle Donovan Jarrett as player who's helped guide him, saying, "he coaches me up all the time."
Fear doesn't seem to be a problem for Ayers right now, not when he has teammates and friends behind him, as well as Lembo, who called him a "pleasant surprise" this offseason.
"I'm young, so I make mistakes," he said. "[But] the guys back me up 100 percent."
'A BIG STEP'
Once Ayers was done running laps after Sunday's practice, he walked up the stairs in the south end zone before stopping by the stands for an interview.
When asked what starting in the Eastern Michigan game would mean to him, he slowly answered.
"This will be my first college football game ever, so I'm pretty excited."
Ayers paused and looked at the ground.
His eyes focused sharply.
True, this will be his first collegiate game. But he could easily play for two games and move into a backup role once Newsome comes back from suspension. Then it would be back to standing on the sidelines, watching and waiting for his chance.
This is the opportunity he's been waiting for. He's a man who plans on taking advantage of it.
Ayers lifted his head.
"Yeah," he said. "It's a big step in my life, but I'm ready. I'm as ready as ever."
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