Jake Olson snaps in a game despite blindness

Some of you may recall Pete mentioning Jake over the years. He befriended the young man in 2009 when Jake watched USC practice the day before surgery to remove his remaining eye (he was born with a form of eye cancer and lost the first eye as a baby).

Jake later played long snapper on the Orange Lutheran HS football team and ended up being invited to join the Trojans football team after being accepted into USC.

Today he actually got into a game for the first time.

http://www.espn.com/college-football/st ... n-michigan

http://pac-12.com/videos/uscs-blind-lon ... -they-want

Kudos to both USC and Western Michigan for this making this moment happen. It was really special.

I was watching the game on mute while on the phone. I noticed everybody making a big deal of him on the sidelines but wasnt sure what it was about. Thanks for sharing.

Huh?

"I tried to suppress my emotions as much as I could because I have a job to do, and I wanted to make sure I got that done," Olson said. "Then tonight I can look at videos and get all emotional over it. It was very special, hearing my name being called over the P.A. system."

You know what he means.

[youtube]IhY4RnQLaOc[/youtube]

Nice story. When I saw the mention on Twitter I figured it was the same Jake Olson that Pete Carroll mentioned all the time. 8 yrs later, time sure does fly by. Thumbs up all around.

There are several stories surrounding Pete's time at USC that involved him "adopting" folks like Jake. Ryan Davidson was one. Unfortunately, Ryan lost his cancer battle on his 16th birthday. It makes seeing Jake accomplish his dreams all that much sweeter in some ways. Both such great kids.

Getting dusty in here again...