Oct. 23, 2008

LOGAN, Utah -

By Dave Archer, USU Athletic Media Relations

For one brief moment after practice, standing in the north end zone at E.L. Romney Stadium takes Utah State senior defensive end Ben Calderwood back in time.

Gazing across the green grass and up into the empty bleachers, he stops on a corner of the northeast section of the stands. It's a place that is familiar to the Smithfield native, a place where he spent many fall afternoons as a kid.

"All my buddies were big Utah State fans, and so was I," he said. "We always came to the games and sat over there. They used to have a wood platform, and we'd go over there and watch the games all the time."

Since that time, however, Calderwood's life has been a whirlwind of changes. First and foremost was his discovery of his passion to play football, something he hadn't done until he entered the ninth grade.

"All growing up, I worked with my dad doing construction and doing ceramic tile, and I just never really thought about it," he said. "But I came to Aggie football games and stuff, and in ninth grade I kind of grew, so my buddies said, `Hey, you need to come play football.' I went out, played, and got scouted to come here."

Yet just using the word "played" to describe Calderwood's career at Sky View High School is somewhat of an understatement. He learned his way quickly, and found himself a dominant force on the Bobcat defensive line. Tackles and sacks began piling up for Calderwood, and he wound up being named second-team all-state his senior year. But the changes in his life were just beginning.

Although a number of different schools were scouting him, Calderwood said the decision to come to Utah State "just made sense." It was close to home, and would give him a chance to play at the stadium that had provided so many childhood memories.

Calderwood would redshirt his first year at USU, and underwent even more changes during that time. He quickly realized that his 200-pound body wasn't nearly big enough to play Division I college football, and had to bulk up quickly.

"The first thing I had to do was gain weight to play my position," he said. "I came in at 200 pounds, and worked up to 260, 270."

He put his football career on a two-year hold while serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brazil. After returning to the team in 2005, Calderwood saw action as a reserve defensive end during his freshman year. Heading into the 2006 season, however, the biggest change Calderwood would experience took place. He married his wife, Kelly, days before fall camp began.

Being married and trying to balance football, school and family life has proven to be a challenge for Calderwood. But he is quick to credit his wife for keeping everything together for the couple.

"It's way tough, but the thing that helps most is my wife," he said. "She's a staff assistant here at the university, so she works the 40 hours a week to pay the bills. If it wasn't for that, it'd be tough to still be here if we didn't have enough money. She's the one that makes it all possible so we don't have to worry about money and this and that, she takes care of it. Basically, all the balancing is done by her, I just have to focus on school and football."

On the field, Calderwood continued to change as well. He grew in stature as well as demeanor, and quickly became a leader on the Aggie defensive line. The 2006 and 2007 seasons were breakout years for Calderwood, as he was among the leaders on the defensive line in tackles, tackles for loss and sacks. It wasn't just his game that was changing, however. He was also growing more mature and setting the example for his teammates, something that defensive line coach Danilo Robinson has taken notice of.

"Ben's a solid, hard-worker for us, and he's been a great leader for us on and off the field," Robinson said. "He's real mature, he's been a player we can count on for a lot of different things every day."

One of those things is the way he prepares not only to play in games, but also in the way he approaches practice every day. Robinson said he's been impressed with Calderwood's work ethic and his desire to get better, and has seen it rub off on some of his younger teammates.

"A lot of the young guys take his lead because he knows how to prepare for practice and prepare for a game," he said. "It's difficult to be a Division I college student-athlete. There's a lot of people tugging on you every day, a lot of constraints, and just being able to manage that is a feat in itself, and he does that very well."

This season, Calderwood, like the rest of his teammates, has experienced a number of ups and downs. His 18 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks through the San Jose State game have been good enough to see him named to Phil Steele's Mid-Season all-Western Athletic Conference second-team. He also fulfilled a dream by scoring a touchdown after recovering a fumble in the end zone against Idaho, something he's been hoping to do his entire career at Utah State.

"That was pretty cool," he said. "It didn't happen exactly like I thought it would, but I've been dreaming about that for a while."

But as nice as individual stats can seem, Calderwood said he doesn't worry about those. Taking one last glance at those northeast corner seats he once knew so well, he knows how much his life has changed. It's now his job to help the Aggies continue through the good and the bad, make progress and end the season on a high note, making memories for the kids sitting in the section he once occupied himself.

"My main goal is to just help the team win," he said. "All you can do is keep putting one foot in front of the other and try and get better. You've got to keep doing your best day in and day out, and that's the only way you can get better."