By River Mitchell
@rivermitchell27
Last season, David Wells lined up under center for the Springfield College football team and led the Pride to a 8-2 regular season record and a NEWMAC title. However, with Wells’ eligibility expiring, the Pride were in need of a quarterback.
Well, they found their guy – and Pride head coach Mike Cerasuolo couldn’t be happier.
“We’re very fortunate,” Cerasuolo said. “He’s a great kid.”
Meet Jacob Silvester – a 5-foot-10-inch, 195-pound junior from Lancaster, Mass., and the new starting QB for the Springfield College Pride. For Silvester, this moment is a culmination of his hard work, overcoming adversity and switching positions multiple times before landing the quarterback job for the Pride.
Growing up, Silvester’s first sport was soccer, but his father – a former football player – introduced him to the gridiron at a young age.
“He always wanted me to play football,” Silvester said. “[We were] always in the front yard, learning how to catch [and] throw the ball.”
Silvester played running back in middle school but when he got to high school, he made the switch to wide receiver due to the team’s talent at running back. During his high school career, Silvester was dealt some unfavorable cards, suffering concussions in both his freshman and junior years that sidelined him for multiple games each season.
“It was [two] very similar plays,” Silvester said. “I was tracking a ball from behind, and a player on the other team came from probably a good 20 yards away and just kind of lined me up.”
Silvester was forced to work through four-to-five week recovery processes for each concussion, and that proved to be a challenge for him.
“First thing that would go with me is the sensitivity to light,” Silvester said. “Concussions are tough. You kind of just [have to] feel your way through it.”
Even though Silvester did not play his senior season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Springfield showed a lot of interest during the recruitment process. Cerasuolo saw multiple reasons why he wanted Silvester to be a member of the Pride.
“[The] character piece of things is always a critical part in the recruiting process [and] he had that,” Cerasuolo said. “As far as the athletic sides of things, [he’s] extremely athletic. He could play a number of different positions on our team.”
Silvester wasn’t even aware of Springfield College as an institution until he received a text from one of the graduate assistants. After talking with him on the phone, he soon realized that Springfield was definitely an option. Not only that, but Silvester was interested in Athletic Training because of the athletic trainer in high school who helped him with his concussions.
“He ended up telling me how sports medicine here is a big deal,” Silvester said. “I started to look into it a little bit more.”
Cerasuolo recognized that Silvester was a guy he could use as a swiss army knife, so he put Silvester at quarterback his freshman year, then moved him to running back in his sophomore season.
It was only fitting that Silvester would move back to quarterback for his junior year – Patrick Rindfuss, who was going to compete for the starting spot, left the program.
“I’m driving home from work over the summer, and I get a phone call from Coach [Cerasuolo],” Silvester said. As soon as he heard Wells – who is now Springfield’s quarterbacks coach – chime in, Silvester knew exactly what the call was about.
“He was like, ‘We want you to train this summer to play quarterback in the fall,’” Silvester said. “‘This isn’t us giving you the starting spot, but you’re going to have to come into camp and be ready to go.’”
Silvester worked his butt off during camp in August to win the starting spot, and did a lot to prove to Cerasuolo that he was deserving of being the main guy under center.
“He has the work ethic to want to learn and develop as a player,” Cerasuolo said. “Being able to switch positions and really only having the pre-season to learn it is really hard.”
Over the course of the season, Cerasuolo has seen Silvester develop as a player in multiple facets of the game, notably Silvester’s ability to read and manipulate defenses.
“He’s done an excellent job building that up,” Cerasuolo said. “He’s improved as far as just his reading ability with the triple option [as well].”
Silvester’s work ethic has also rubbed off on the team in a positive way. Each player on the team recognizes that he has a role to play, and that they need to work hard in order to achieve success against their opponents.
On top of this, the whole team is also very close, as the brotherhood that they have created is very evident.
“We use the term ‘Brotherhood’ for a reason,” Silvester said. “Everyone is pushing each other [and] holding each other accountable.”
He has also developed a very close rapport with the guy he replaced – David Wells.
“He’s always there for me,” Silvester said. “He’s been so awesome, helping me out.”
While Silvester does recognize that he has helped himself get to this point, he still has tremendous gratitude to his parents. These are the people who helped Silvester, and provided for him in any way they could.
“I’ll never say enough about my family,” Silvester said. “Any time I needed to go to them and talk to them [they’re there for me].”
Photo courtesy of Springfield College Athletics