The Amazing Story of Jake Olson, The Blind Long Snapper Who Walked On At USC

Stories like this one are a constant reminder of why we love college football so much. You may remember hearing about Jake Olson’s story that aired on ESPN’s College Gameday — Olson lost his left eye to cancer when he was just ten months old. He battled throughout his childhod to keep sight in his right, but in 2009, doctors told a then 12-year-old Olson that he would have to lose his right eyesight as well. Having grown up a huge USC Trojan football fan, Olson wanted one of the last things he saw to be a USC football game.

Pete Carroll, who was USC’s head coach at the time, heard about Olson’s fight to keep his eyesight and decided to bring Olson to more than just a game — he included Olson in practices, pregame bus rides, and let him celebrate in the locker room after victories. He was even at USC practice the night before the surgery that would cause him to lose his sight completely.

Fast forward to Olson being in high school, and he astonishingly made his high school football team as a long snapper, and played during his junior and senior seasons. But what’s better is that as of this Tuesday, he officially walked onto the USC football team, and was added to the official roster. Earlier this week he saw his first reps as a member of the USC Trojan team.

“It was a surreal feeling being out there at practice,” said Olson via USC Trojans.com. “I can’t thank enough everyone who helped make this possible, all the coaches, staff and players at USC, the compliance and medical staffs here, the Swim With Mike program and the NCAA. I’m excited to help this team in any way I can and be a great teammate. I love this team and I always have, and now it feels great to be a part of it.”

Olson, who now attends school at USC, accepted a Swim With Mike scholarship, which is given to athletes with physical challenges — this means that for him to be on the team he would count as one of the available 85 scholarship spots on the roster. The Trojans, having already filled the 25 scholarship-limit, USC had to apply for a waiver from the NCAA that would essentially allow Jake to be on the team as long as he wasn’t counted as one of the 85 scholarships on the roster. The NCAA approved the request.

“It’s really cool to have him here now,” Trojan quarterback Cody Kessler said. “This team is so welcoming to him. It’s great having him in the locker room and have guys around him. It gives us a different perspective on things, how much we really appreciate the game. I respect so much what he’s doing. He never makes excuses, never complains about anything, and he’s out here working his butt off.”

Hopefully, Olson will have a chance to see the field during a real game sometime during the season. He wears a non-contact jersey during practice, but still works on snapping with the special teams unit. Regardless of if he actually sees game action or not, this is an incredibly awesome and inspiring story.

[Via: USC Trojans/ESPN]