AFA linebacker Falgout alters his legacy

In late September, senior inside linebacker John Falgout figured his Air Force football legacy would be little more than a stat line in a borderline meaningless blowout.

He was backing up standout junior Ken Lamendola, and playing time had been scarce in the first four games — save for in the opener, a 72-0 victory over hapless Nicholls State, when he made a team-high seven tackles.

“I was the leading tackler because nobody played a whole lot,” Falgout said. “And I’m thinking, all right, well, one day I’ll be able to tell my little boy or girl, ‘Hey, you know, I wasn’t too bad in my day. I led in tackles one game.’”

He’ll have a much richer story to tell now.

Early in Air Force’s fifth game, at Navy, Lamendola suffered a season-ending knee injury. Falgout replaced him, made a team-high 13 tackles, and in four starts since has made 39 more. Heading into Saturday’s game against Army, he leads the Falcons and ranks sixth in the Mountain West Conference with 66 stops.

“I’m thrilled that he’s had the chance to step in,” said senior safety Luke Hyder, Falgout’s good friend. “We’ve been together since freshman year, going through injuries, thinking, ‘Are we ever going to get on the field?’”

It didn’t look like it. Falgout played on the  junior varsity as a freshman, played sparingly as a sophomore and then backed up Lamendola last season and watched the sophomore lead the Falcons in tackles and earn honorable mention all-MWC honors.

“There were probably times, even as a junior, where he might have looked at that depth chart and thought, ‘Will I really ever play?’” coach Troy Calhoun said. “And yet he made darn sure that he was ready. And an opportunity did come, and he made the most of it.”

Indeed, Falgout’s made so much of his chance that the question of what could have been if he had gotten an opportunity sooner must be raised. But Falgout concerns himself not with that but with what he has done. And the precious few games he has left to add to his already altered legacy.

“It’s just one of those things that, I guess on the inside, it makes me feel real good about myself because it makes me feel like what I’ve done and everything I’ve been working for hasn’t gone without a purpose,” he said. “And it makes me feel like I have made some sort of an impact on the big picture instead of just one game, a 72-0 win.”