Chance finally presents itself for Falgout

It didn’t come the way he wanted, but Air Force senior inside linebacker John Falgout finally has his chance.

Falgout will make his first career start Saturday at Falcon Stadium against No. 10 TCU because junior Ken Lamendola, Falgout’s friend, likely is out for the year with a knee injury.

“I’ve worked for four years for an opportunity like this,” said Falgout, who made a team-high 13 tackles in relief of Lamendola at Navy.

Falgout played on the junior varsity as a freshman, then was unable to play in games for part of his sophomore year because of a suspension, which “kind of put me behind the curve a little bit,” he said.

 Then last season, Lamendola earned a starting spot and went on to make a team-leading 118 tackles.

Falgout seemed destined to spend his career on the bench. He admits it was frustrating, but he continued to work hard.

“John Falgout’s a guy that has more than paid his efforts in practice, as a special teams guy,” Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said. “Just a guy that I think you’re around, you just see, he’s got what you want. … Just character-wise, you see it in his eyes, this is a super guy. And a guy that’s a good football player.”

“I went over a ton of different reasons why it might be, and why I wasn’t getting the playing time that I wanted or worked hard for,” Falgout said. “It’s just one of those life lessons. You work for something, press, keep pressing and eventually it’ll pay off.”



Contact the writer at 636-0365