CHENEY, Wash. — It has been an up and down season for the Eastern Washington football team, but senior Michael Wortham has helped the team catch fire down the stretch.
Wortham has scored a touchdown in each of his last four games and is now up to nine trips to the end zone this season, all while being the Eagles' third string quarterback.
His love for the game has led to quite the football journey.
"I fell in love with scoring. The thrill, the crowd and how excited my family was. I give all the credit to my dad for making me work out when I was little. I started tackle football when I was five years old," Wortham said.
The California born Wortham starred at Center High School and was a three year starter at quarterback, despite only playing the position for two years prior.
"I was a running back all the way up until my eighth grade year and that was the first time I played quarterback. It didn't go so well, but ever since then and heading into my freshman year of high school I just played quarterback," Wortham said.
In his sophomore season, Wortham tried out for the varsity team alongside eight other quarterbacks. He won the job and led Center to the championship game.
"That was my first moment of knowing like okay, this is where I can thrive in and turn this program around," Wortham said.
The 5 foot 9 inch Wortham did not receive many college offers, so he decided to go the junior college route and attend Sierra College.
"I am blessed to have Coach (Ben) Noonan from Sierra College. He came and saw something in me. That was my best decision because it helped me develop and grow not just as a football player, but as a man," Wortham said.
After two stellar seasons at Sierra, Wortham transferred to Eastern Washington, where he would compete for the starting quarterback job with Kekoa Visperas and Jared Taylor.
"Just the atmosphere felt like this is where I needed to be, this is where I could learn and grow and they were honest with me," Wortham said.
Coach Best and Coach Chapin decided to roll with Visperas as the starting quarterback, but Wortham was determined to play regardless.
"At the end of the day, they could have just told me they were going to redshirt me or something like take a season and work on some things, but instead they said they could put me in this position and I could excel in this position. They saw it in me before I saw myself in this position," Wortham said.
The decision to utilize Wortham in a Taysom Hill-esque, do it all role paid off handsomely as Wortham accounted for six touchdowns last season and was a spark plug for the Eagle offense.
"Being a quarterback really helps. Knowing the whole playbook and knowing what other people are doing, all that stuff kind of ties in to knowing if I am at wide receiver, I know what he has and the same thing if I am at running back," Wortham said.
This season, Wortham was named a preseason All-American and has turned in an impressive statline accounting for nine touchdowns and almost 1,500 all purpose yards, including his first kick return touchdown of his career against Idaho.
"When you first get here and all of a sudden you see a quarterback catching punts and kick returns it's like... what are we doing? But then all of a sudden you see him move and we see why he is doing that. He is explosive, he can do anything. He can play receiver, running back, kick return, quarterback; having him out there as a Swiss Army Knife, he can really do it all and I love that guy," EWU senior wide receiver Efton Chism III said.
For Wortham, it was a team centric mentality that has led him to be a leader and role model for younger players on the team who are not locked into starting jobs yet.
"Even if you don't start, there is always somewhere you can be, somewhere you can help the team," Wortham said.
Despite the preseason awards and the late season success, Wortham knows if he is going to get an opportunity to play at the next level, he has to continue to keep his head down and work.
"There's still so much work to be done at the end of the day, so we just have to keep striving and thriving, man," Wortham said.
Wortham will finish up his college career Saturday on the road at Northern Arizona, where he hopes to increase his season touchdown total to double digits.
