By: Sydney Brammer
Safety for the Redwood Varsity Football team, Dominick McCormack, ’21 officially signed with Division 1, Cal Poly located in San Luis Obispo December 16, 2020 to further continue his football career. Not only did he commit, but he also accepted a full-ride scholarship.
When McCormack was younger, he dreamed of playing for the University of Oregon, but his ultimate goal was to get a full-ride scholarship to play football at a Division 1 school, which he can now say he has accomplished.
Photo Courtesy of Dominick McCormack
According to McCormack, he posted his Junior year season highlights on Hudl and Twitter hoping to get noticed by some coaches. Fortunately, his hopes became reality. Safety coach for the Cal Poly Football team, Coach VonAppen came across McCormack’s highlights and was impressed enough to reach out to him. According to McCormack, in the Summer, he had talked with Coach VonAppen over the phone a couple weeks before he got an offer to play for Cal Poly. He was later informed in September exactly how much the coaches were going to offer McCormack.
When McCormack realized how much he was being offered, he knew that was going to be his best option due to the Covid outbreak and him not being able to have a Senior season to get noticed by other colleges.
McCormack says, “The environment at Cal Poly is awesome on and off the field. On the field, the athletes and coaches are locked in and dedicated to getting better each and every day. Off the field, we are always in meetings, lifts, conditioning, or yoga when we aren’t in class.”
McCormack will be continuing his position as Safety at Cal Poly. According to McCormack, him along with the other Safeties, have been meeting 5-6 times a week over Zoom to learn defense, watch film, and build stronger connections with each other. These meetings have been occurring for about 2-3 months. McCormack is one of the two Freshmen in the Safety group.
McCormack states, “I already feel like a part of the team even though I’ve never been with the guys in person and I’m still in high school.”
Being one of the younger players in the squad, McCormack explains, “It is pretty nerve wracking. The coach asks us questions about the defense and quizzes us on our jobs and it’s scary sometimes. I get nervous to mess up and say the wrong thing in front of everyone.”
McCormack is most excited to just be going out to play for a new team, play with new athletes, learn from new coaches, and attend a new school. He’s also amped to be able to compete for a starting position.
McCormack has always wanted to major in Nursing, however unfortunately, Cal Poly doesn’t offer that. Due to this, he plans on taking some classes over the Summer at Cuesta Community College where they do offer a Nursing program so he can get a step closer to becoming an RN. As of now, McCormack has decided to major in Kinesiology at Cal Poly because it’s the next closest thing to what he actually wants to pursue.
Due to his high aspirations to become an RN, McCormack is most nervous about balancing school and football at the same time. He figures that he’ll be spending about 80% of his time doing schoolwork or football. He states,
“I won’t have a lot of time for other things until I understand the defense 100% and have a routine figured out for my classes.”
In the 12 seasons that McCormack has played football, he’s had multiple coaches who have pushed him to be a better player, but without McCormack’s work ethic and mindset, he feels he never would’ve made it to where he is now.
“I believe the things I’ve been through and came out of are the reasons why I am the way that I am. I have had a lot of advice and people pushing me through my journey. I’ve taken a lot of things I’ve learned and heard from people/coaches and made sure I executed them as best as I could on and off the field.”
Dominick McCormack, ’21 Future Cal Poly Football Player
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