That first hit in 12 years hurt.

During a recent practice, Chad Bentz found himself lying on the ground, the victim of a hard hit from the team’s star linebacker. Bentz, a 30-year-old Castleton junior, felt a pain in his upper chest, like the time he broke his collarbone.

‘And I thought, ‘There’s my college football career, and it’s over in 30 seconds,” Bentz said Wednesday.

That afternoon was Bentz’s first collegiate practice in full pads and in full-contract drills. A few minutes after the hit, a trainer looked at him, pressed on his collarbone and gave him the OK to return.

Until this September, the last time Bentz played football was in high school, about 12 years ago. Bentz gave up playing football for the dream of becoming a major league pitcher. He achieved that dream for a while, but not for long enough.

Now the Spartans’ fullback, this is one man’s odd story of making it to a different sort of show.

This fall, Bentz enrolled in Castleton to pursue an education degree and become a physical education teacher. On the first day of class, the sun shone brightly, and Bentz’s attention wandered outside.

During a two-hour break between classes, he walked over to where the football team practiced and went into head coach Rich Alercio’s office. The two men knew each other — Bentz had coached Alercio’s son in baseball.

They chatted, and Bentz asked polite and interested questions about Alercio’s squad. Bentz remembers what came next as a halfhearted statement.

‘I’d really love to play for you, you know,’ Bentz said to Alercio.

‘So why don’t you?’ Alercio said.

Bentz was surprised, and he asked Alercio if he meant it.

Alercio said he was serious. Why not? Alercio told Bentz to just give it a shot.

‘I responded with, ‘Let me go check out over with the missus (sic) and talk it over with my wife,” Bentz said.

Even before this year’s football season, Bentz was a familiar figure at Castleton.

Starting in 2004, Bentz would go to work out with the Castleton baseball team when he came home for professional baseball’s offseason. Bentz played two seasons in the major leagues. In 2004, he played for the Montreal Expos, and the next year, he went to the Florida Marlins. In those two seasons, Bentz pitched 29-and-two-thirds innings and ended up with a 7.58 ERA.

Bentz is a lefty who was born with a right hand that just never grew fully, leaving him without a developed right hand. He enjoyed pitching against live hitters at Castleton. He would work in the bullpen, too, and dispense tips to the Castleton players.

That was the deal. Free use of the gym, if he helped groom Castleton baseball head coach Ted Shipley’s players.

‘He would just be one of the guys. He’d do everything that we’d do,’ Shipley said recently.

Each year, Shipley asked about his plans for the next season. The plans changed some every time, and eventually Bentz stopped playing professional baseball altogether.

‘It’s the nature of the business. You have to produce, or they’ll find someone who will,’ Shipley said.

But as Bentz’s baseball career faded, a new career began.

After his impromptu recruitment visit with Alercio, Bentz failed to even wait until he got home to tell his wife that he wanted to embrace the impulses of his youth and play football again. On the car ride home from Castleton, he asked her permission to play over the phone.

‘What do you think about me playing football?’ he asked his wife.

‘Are you serious?’ she said.

Bentz confessed his early doubts, but his desire as well. And he said she agreed to let him play on the spot. Just as well, Bentz said, in case something went wrong or he decided against playing, he could blame it on his wife wanting him at home.

His wife took just a little cajoling. He found the task more difficult when he talked to a different family member.

‘My mom was the worst. No matter how old you get, moms are the same,’ he said.

Working Bentz into the Spartans’ offense will take time, said Alercio. Bentz knows his job in a few plays now, and Alercio adds a new play per week to Bentz’s knowledge. Bentz needs to know his exact role on the field to play well in a game, Alercio said.

‘You don’t want to have a 6-foot-2-inch, 265-pound former professional athlete with indecision out there,’ Alercio said.

The offensive scheme calls on Bentz to play in short-yardage, goal-line situations for when the Spartans’ need him to pick up a tough yard. So far Bentz focuses on lowering his head down and running through the hole.

And if Bentz wanted to, he could play at Castleton until his eligibility runs out. Somehow he figures he will quit playing prior to that. He plans to graduate before then, anyway.

Said Bentz: ‘I guess I have another three years left. That’s the rumor, anyway.’

No. 11 Wisconsin at No. 24 Michigan State

Prediction: Wisconsin 30, Michigan State 14

Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio will return to the Spartans this week, but it will take a lot more for Michigan State to triumph over Wisconsin. Badgers running back John Clay will run all over the Spartans’ defense.

No. 7 Florida at No. 1 Alabama

Prediction: Alabama 24, Florida 20

In this week’s most intriguing matchup, Alabama will get another serious test from conference foe Florida this week, after just surviving an upset-minded Arkansas team the week before. Florida will take this down to the wire, but the Crimson Tide will prevail.

No. 9 Stanford at No. 4 Oregon

Prediction: Oregon 27, Stanford 17

A battle of early-season West Coast superpowers, Stanford will look to upset the Ducks. But watch for Oregon to eek this one out.

No. 22 Penn State at No. 17 Iowa

Prediction: Penn State 20, Iowa 17

Look for Joe Paterno’s team to come onto Iowa’s home turf and give the Hawkeyes a nasty surprise.

No. 8 Oklahoma at No. 21 Texas

Prediction: Oklahoma 32, Texas 20

For this year’s edition of the Red River Rivalry, Texas takes Oklahoma at home, but victory will prove elusive for the Longhorns.

[email protected]

Published on September 29, 2010 at 12:00 pm