Sept. 15, 2016 By Jeff Shearer
AuburnTigers.com
PRATTVILLE, Ala. - Jay Jacobs says when he walked on to the Auburn football team as a 205-pound offensive lineman in February of 1981, Coach Pat Dye told the players, 'We're developing you physically, mentally and spiritually.'"
This was back in the day before the 20-hour rule, which limits student-athletes' practice time.
"We had four-a-days," Jacobs said Thursday morning at the Prattville YMCA. "We were killing so much grass we had to go the baseball field at night and practice on the outfield."
The physical development Jacobs understood. "We were getting a pretty good dose of that," he said.
"The mental part was just being able to get through it," Jacobs said, adding that Saturday was the easiest day of the week, compared to those grueling practices.
The spiritual aspect? That came one Saturday at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1983.
Lionel "Little Train" James returned to the huddle expressing his desire not to run to the right side any more.
"If they call 56 or 58 toss, I'm not catching the ball," Jacobs remembers James saying, drawing laughs from the audience.
During a timeout, Jacobs, Auburn's left tackle, looked at his counterpart on the right side, Pat Arrington, who was having trouble that afternoon with his blocking assignment.
Across the line of scrimmage stood Reggie White, one of the greatest defensive linemen the game has ever known. An ordained Baptist minister, White was nicknamed the "Minister of Defense."
Arrington said in the huddle, "I don't mind him whipping me every play. I just wish he'd quit helping me up and telling me Jesus loves me."
Jacobs responded, "Tell him you love Jesus, too, or Lionel's fixing to see Jesus."
Jacobs left his home before 5:30 a.m. to be in Prattville by 6:30 to speak to the men's group that meets there each month.
After the Reggie White story, Jacobs shared his own faith journey.
How he grew up attending church every week but never really grew in his faith until he married his wife, Angie, and attended an event called "Walk to Emmaus" at Camp Chandler in Wetumpka, about a half-hour away from where he was now speaking.
Describing an Old Testament account about a warrior named Benaiah who single-handedly killed a lion, Jacobs encouraged his audience to attack things that threaten their spiritual well-being in the same manner.
Quoting a passage in Proverbs about how "iron sharpens iron," Jacobs encouraged his listeners to hold each other accountable and share their struggles.
"Whatever it may be, you're not the only one struggling with it," he said. "We all have lions in our life. The key to it is, you have to be vulnerable to get better."
Jacobs concluded his message by returning to memories of his time as an Auburn football player.
"We prepared so hard during the week, that Saturday was like a day off," he said. "What are you going to do to prepare to kill the lion in your life?"
Referencing the cross, Jacobs said, "That's how tough of a friend we have. He'll go in any lion pit with you, and you'll come out victorious."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @jeff_shearer