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Weber State QB Jake Constantine powers through pain of fear and of loss as a special season moves closer to the playoffs

Sophomore QB who has led the Wildcats to an 8-2 season has more to play for this week than just a Big Sky conference title after losing friend in mass shooting and having his hometown threatened by wildfires

Ogden • Jake Constantine grabbed his phone when his alarm went off at 6 a.m. He went to sleep last Wednesday night thinking about coverages, about how to beat them, about his classes that next day, about the upcoming in-state rivalry game now two days away. Constantine had a team meeting to be at in an hour.

As soon as he woke, that’s when it all stopped. He saw text after text from his mom, Micki, who’d been filling Jake in through the wee hours of the night as he slept.

“It was just …” Constantine’s voice tails off.

There’s still no real words. There may not ever be. Back home in Camarillo, Calif., as historically-destructive wildfires began ravaging the rolling hills around Ventura County, Constantine suddenly had to try to digest a mass shooting where he had several friends inside the Borderline Bar and Grill in nearby Thousand Oaks. Later Thursday morning, the Weber State sophomore quarterback was nearly 800 miles away, still glued to his phone, stomach in knots, waiting for updates on the shooting.

“You never want to wake up and see that happen anywhere across the country,” Constantine said.

News reports spread that several people inside the bar had to bust through windows to get out and avoid the gunfire. A few of them were his friends. When it was announced that Sgt. Ron Helus was killed trying to stop the shooter, Jake’s father said that was his workout buddy at the local gym. Jake’s older brother, Justin, was actually planning to go to the Borderline that evening, but the Constantine family was setting out early to drive to Cedar City to watch Weber State’s road game at Southern Utah. And still, the Camarillo community waited to hear about Cody Coffman.

Jake and Cody manned the same infield together since they were 7. They were travel baseball buddies, who transitioned from little kids swinging aluminum bats to teammates on the high school football field in Camarillo. Jake was the quarterback. Cody was mainly a defensive lineman, but Jake smiles when he recalls the games Cody pinch-hit on the offensive line up front.

Photo courtesy Micki Constantine: Jake Constantine and Cody Coffman (first two on bottom row) shown here during their youth baseball days together in Camarillo, Calif.

“The type of kid to smile,” Jake said, “to bring good energy wherever he was and he was just fun to be around.”

Cody Coffman was one of the 12 people killed inside the Borderline. He was set to join the military soon, to fulfill what was his dream. Instead, Cody shielded a woman inside the bar from the barrage of bullets. When Cody’s dad, Jason, went on live TV to announce his son’s death, Jake was watching back in Ogden. The shock of it all remains. That day, Constantine approached Weber State coach Jay Hill to let him know that practice that evening would be challenging.

“He told me, ‘Coach, I just lost someone super special to me and super close to me,’ and that particular day he told me he went out and practiced pretty good,” Hill said. “Sometimes football is the best thing that can happen to somebody going through something hard. They get out on the football field and it’s two hours they can actually forget about it.”

Last Thursday, as the Constantine family packed up the car and drove toward Utah, the fires that eventually spread from Ventura to Los Angeles County were encroaching on Camarillo. Jake’s siblings showed his parents updates from friends and neighbors as they kept driving. For a second, they entertained the idea of going back. Micki told her family she needed to get to Cedar City. She needed to hug Jake after his game.

The annual Santa Ana winds shifted, leaving the Constantine household out of harms way. But several of Jake’s friends have had to evacuated around Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley. The winds have since shifted again, Micki said, but they remain safe. Throughout the last week, Jake has periodically checked in with them, asking how they’re holding up. Social media helps keep him informed so far away from home, which is an epicenter of pain for now.

Jake is trying to simultaneously honor Cody, keep his friends who survived the shooting in his mind as well as those who had to leave their homes as the blaze powers on. All while leading as the starting quarterback of a team inching closer to a conference title.

Weber State’s regular-season finale is Saturday at Idaho State. The No. 3-ranked Wildcats — the highest ranking in school history — are 8-2 overall and 6-1 in Big Sky play and can position themselves well for the postseason with a win. The FCS playoff bracket is announced Sunday, where Weber will, yet again, be among the favorites to make a run at the national championship.

From the outside, it might seem impossible to balance it all.

“Don’t try and be selfish in the situation,” Jake said. “Just think of everyone.”

He is. As much as possible. None more so than Cody and the Coffman family. Micki’s voice cracks when asked if she can draw on any favorite memories of the two boys during their youth. “Oh gosh,” she said. “Only a million.” Those travel ball teams bouncing around Southern California, winning games, earning pizza parties, night swims in the hotel pools, for years that was life.

With a special season still riding on his right arm, Jake will find his own way to remember Cody each time he steps onto the field. He wrote Cody’s name on his quarterback towel before the win at SUU, but NCAA rules don’t always allow messages written on game-day attachments. He’ll have to audible.

“I’ll just have to write his name on my cleats next time,” he said.

Photo courtesy Micki Constantine: Cody Coffman (left) and Jake Constantine (third from left) shown here during their youth baseball days together in Camarillo, Calif.