Quincy Blocker made a decision to change his body and his mind before returning to football with Hudson’s Bay
Quincy Blocker used the Q word.
So did his coach.
After all, he did quit football his sophomore year.
Sometimes, though, society puts too much of a stigma on that word.
Sure, he quit, but Quincy Blocker had a pretty good reason, and he always knew he would return.
“I had to become a better person so I could become a better person for the team,” Blocker said. “I had to quit, take a year off. I just had to do me. It made me a better person. I wanted to come back better than ever and make my teammates better.”
Now a senior, his teammates at Hudson’s Bay look up to Quincy Blocker. He is 6-foot-4, 205 pounds of muscle and speed as an outside linebacker and wide receiver.
Oh, and before he took that year off from football? He was closer to 260 pounds.
“Freshman year, he came out and had some success but some frustrations. He ended up quitting sophomore year,” Hudson’s Bay coach Ray Lions said. “He was overweight and out of shape. He changed his body physically, changed his mind mentally. He came out his junior year and started becoming an impact player for us. He put in a ton of work and now is a guy we are calling on as a leader.”
Blocker did not play for the Eagles in the fall of 2019 and by spring of that school year, COVID hit.
“Everyone was sitting in their house eating,” Blocker said.
Well, not everyone.
“People my age weren’t going to take that initiative to go lose 50 pounds,” Blocker said.
Well, he did.
“I’m going to go to my room and do push-ups, every day. I’m going to do a diet, Keto, high protein, low carbs,” Blocker said. “I did that for six, seven months and lost 50 pounds.”
The fall 2020 football season was scratched and replaced with the abbreviated spring of 2021 football season. By then, Blocker was ready.
“Freshman year, we had very little faith that this guy would be a leader, to make that change,” Lions said. “He said, ‘I’m tired of living this life.’ Then he made that change. That’s exactly what I’m preaching to this team.”
For Lions, it is all about wanting this, whatever ‘this’ is to a person. For a team, it might be to have a winning season, to make the playoffs, or win a league title. For a person, though, it is about setting a goal and then working to accomplish it. That’s what Hudson’s Bay football is about, the coach said.
“It makes me feel appreciated. Coach Lions is a great coach. I love everything about him,” Blocker said. “You come to Bay, you feel like a family member over here. He really cares about his football players.”
Blocker became an impact player on defense in the spring and look for him to shine on both sides of the ball this season. After all, he’s in great shape now. His body, his mind, can handle the task of playing most of the game.
“Look yourself in the mirror and tell yourself you can do it,” Blocker said. “You’ve got a mission if you want it. You can do it. Anything is possible.”
The football team is on a mission, as well.
“We want to win. That’s the No. 1 thing, make the playoffs,” Blocker said. “We want to be that squad. We want to be that team.”
Blocker called it Eagle swag.
“We want to fly. We want to fly high,” he said.
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