Drew Schlegel: Current Cal Fullback, Future Alpaca Farmer
Drew Schlegel already has his retirement plan mapped out: He's going to be an alpaca farmer.
"It's definitely my retirement dream," he said.
Granted, it's not the typical goal of a Cal student, but Schlegel is not a typical Cal student.
Nor is he a typical college football player.
First of all, he desperately wants to be on every Cal special-teams unit. That's not usually the first choice of any college football player, let alone an experienced one like Schlegel, who comes to Cal as a grad transfer after spending four seasons at Kentucky, including a redshirt freshman year.
"I want to play on all four core special teams," said Schlegel, referring to punt return, punt coverage, kickoff return and kickoff coverage. "I love special teams.
"Kickoff [coverage] is probably the greatest thing in football. There's nothing better than that."
A football player saying there is nothing better than the treacherous business of kickoff coverage is sort of like a skindiver saying there is nothing better than swimming through a school of sharks.
Second on the list of Schelegel's unusual attributes is that he plays fullback, a position that has become nearly extinct in college football because of the proliferation of one-back spread offenses. But new Cal offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave has an NFL background and expects to use a traditional fullback in the I formation at times this season.
"Musgrave's offense is a dream spot for me," said Schlegel, who followed the Broncos when Musgrave was their offensive coordinator. "I watched [former Broncos fullback] Andy Janovich for years because I'm from Denver and Musgrave was at Denver . And Janovich made himself a Pro Bowler, a nice contract. I mean the I formation is beautiful for the fullback."
Schlegel and converted linebacker Zach Angelillo are the two players competing for playing time at the fullback spot, and Schlegel has an edge in experience, having played a similar blocking-back position at Kentucky. He was not a starter at Kentucky, but he played quite a bit on offense last season. However, he never carried the ball and had just one reception, for 12 yards.
Although Musgrave said, "With the fullback, you always need to pay his fee by handing it to him or throwing it to him," Schlegel might go through the entire season without a carry.
As you can see in this video clip of Schlegel's game action at Kentucky, he (No. 47) lined up right behind the tackle in a two-point stance. At Cal he will typically line up in a three-point stance directly behind the quarterback and in front of the tailback in the traditional I formation:
A linebacker in high school, Schlegel had never lined up in a three-point stance until Cal began preseason practice a few days ago.
Not a problem.
"I like it better here because I like that old-school fullback role," he said.
That's not the only adjustment required by Schlegel, whose cultural experience at Cal is dramatically different from what he had at Kentucky.
"Kentucky focused on football and that's it," he said. "Here you can tell a lot of these guys are focused on academics."
For Schlegel, academics consists of a postgraduate certificate program in entrepreneurship. It's a brand-new program at Cal--so new, in fact, that Schlegel was the very first one to embark on it and had to develop a lot of the curriculum himself.
"It's the perfect thing to help with my alpaca business," Schlegel said.
Yes, Schlegel seems to have his heart set on alpaca farming.
"I'm definitely going to raise my alpacas in the mountains of Colorado when I get older," he said.
Schlegel went on to explain all the interesting aspects of the animal and the profession.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with alpacas and alpaca farming, here is a photo of an alpaca farmer and his alpacas:
Photo by Shelley Mays The Tennessean via Imagn Content Services, LLC
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