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FAMILY REMINDS PLAYERS IT'S JUST A GAME
September 9, 2004
SOURCE: Louisiana Tech Gameday
By Brett McCormick, Daily Leader Staff Writer
Most Louisiana Tech fans have heard the cliché over the last couple of seasons,
"College football isn't pressure." Head Coach Jack Bicknell has been known to
say, "Pressure is when you have a son, friend, or loved one fighting overseas
and representing our country. There is far more pressure there than trying to be
a coach or player at the college level."
And as much as those fans don't want to admit it sometimes, Bick is right. There
are many more important things to get worked up about than college athletics.
Case in point - the [life] of ... junior linebacker Barry
Robertson. [He has]
far more going on than [his] role on the Bulldogs' 2004 defensive unit. Try
being a husband and father on for size.
Robertson, a 6-3, 240-pound middle linebacker entering his first season in
Ruston is not the only new
Robertson in Lincoln Parish. Nope, he's bringing
along four others with him - wife, Kathleen, daughters, Briyana (4) and T'Aliyah
(1), and son, Tre (2). The
Robertsons moved to Ruston from Poplarville, MS where
Barry helped lead Pearl River Community College to the Mississippi state
championship in 2003. Now the family of [five] is attempting to settle into a
new home with the responsibilities of playing Division 1 football, holding down
a full-time job, going to school, and still maintaining time for family.
"It gets hard at times,"
Robertson said. "There's a lot of scheduling. I come
home and stay up half the night with the kids." However, losing a little sleep
is an easy sacrifice for Barry. After all, he said everything he is doing now -
getting an education and playing football - is in hopes of bettering his
children's futures.
Barry and Kathleen, who is working ... at Ruston Chrysler and is [continuing]
her accounting degree at Tech this month, have been together for the past seven
years and have been married for three. It's been a long road for the two. They
were out on their own when Barry was 17 and Kathleen was 16. The fact that Barry
is even suited up for the Bulldogs is a small miracle in itself. While working
full time in the evenings while Kathleen took care of Briyana,
Robertson also
took classes during the day at North Forrest High School. After dropping out of
high school and getting his GED,
Robertson basically gave up playing football.
However, he was persuaded by William Jones, the defensive coordinator at Pearl
River, into not giving up on his dreams of playing football and returning to the
field.
After playing in just five games as a freshman because of a broken collar bone,
Robertson had a standout sophomore year and earned several scholarship offers
from major schools, including Texas A&M [and Ole Miss]. However, he settled in
Ruston and became a bulldog.
Kathleen describes her husband not as someone who [just] plays football, but as
a football player. "Football is his dream; it's who he is," she said. "He's been
playing since first grade. He's a lot different from a lot of the football
players I have met. [There's not any showboating or glory-seeking.] He just
plays football."
Robertson has big dreams for the next two seasons at Tech and
beyond. He has his sights set on playing in the NFL and taking care of his
family.
As for now,
Robertson will probably see 30-40 percent of the snaps at middle
linebacker (behind seniors TJ Jackson and John Nash) and might very well see his
reps increase and move into a starting role as the season progresses. It won't
change a thing, though.
Robertson will still dream big and think small - about
his three small children at home. After all, ...
Robertson knows it's not just
about him anymore. It's about them. "Everything I do now is for them and for the
future," he said. "I just want to play football and take care of my family."
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