From when he played his first football game at 8 years old to when he played his last as a high school senior, Mike Messina wore the same T-shirt under his jersey.

It features red, yellow and blue dogs around big red text that reads “Who let the dogs out.” Messina refused to wear anything else under his jersey, just a tattered white rag with an opening for his head.

“When you have a good routine in your life you have more structure,” Messina said. “When you have structure in your life, it’s hard to stray away from those things.”

A series of routines has laid the foundation for Messina’s most successful season of college lacrosse. As a wing for No. 2 Syracuse (8-1, 2-1 Atlantic Coast) and its lethal faceoff unit, the senior midfielder has picked up 30 ground balls this season, the most of SU’s non-faceoff specialists and more than double what he’s collected in any other.

The consistency and repetition has minimized the variables in his life, and it helps bring out his intensity. He’s earned the moniker “bulldog” for consistently delivering big hits on opponents, blueprinted from a decade spent as a running back.

“Not that he doesn’t play to have fun,” said Sam Messina, his father, “but Mike always took what he has to do on the field very seriously.

“Very seriously.”

On game days Messina wakes up to a spotless room — already meticulously cleaned from the night before. His Boston terrier puppy named Bruce Wayne then accompanies him to pick up his staple pregame meal of chicken rigatoni from Pastabilites.

He familiarizes himself with the opponent scouting report, then throws on a Pandora rap station as he stretches out his legs with a foam roll. Eventually he’ll arrive at the Carrier Dome where he’ll put all of his gear on from left to right — the way it’s always been done.

After jogging out to the same spot on the S in the middle of the field to continue stretching, he throws a ball around with midfielder Joe Gillis. A pregame prayer in front of his locker concludes his process.

He refuses to call it superstition, but rather a roadmap to follow for him to excel.

“It’s not so much that he thinks it’ll work if he does these things,” said Erica Messina, his sister. “It’s more if he thinks it might cause him not to work or the team not to work, then he doesn’t want to have to think back.”

Being more organized at home and in his pregame work brings a sense of relaxation and comfort he can’t otherwise reach during games. It’s those senses that turn him into the opposite person on the field — a ruthless wing looking to vacuum the ball.

Against Johns Hopkins on March 14, Messina sprinted toward Blue Jays faceoff specialist Drew Kennedy as he tried to scoop up a ground ball. Messina charged in like a running back breaking through a hole in a defensive line and flipped Kennedy to his backside before he got to the ball.

Penalty flags flew and Johns Hopkins players and coaches stood on the sideline, arms up in the air and shouting at Messina. He didn’t think anything special of the hit as he was just locked in as usual trying to get the ball.

“He came off the field and I looked in his eyes and I was like ‘Oh my God,’” midfielder Derek DeJoe said. “Just in his eyes you could see he was in a whole different world, not my roommate eating the chicken riggies before the game.”

There is a side of Messina overshadowed by big hits on the field and an old framed T-shirt. It’s a devout Catholic who draws a cross on his chest in sharpie because he can’t wear his in a game.

Stuck on the wall in Messina’s room is the stick-on eye black from his every football game with the Bible verse Phil 4:13 written on them. He inscribes “R.M.A.,” the initials of his deceased grandmother, on his helmet and shoes.

These parts of “the routine” starkly contrast the persona Messina brings on the field, but just as much compose the player that he is.

“It’s so him to be confident and do the things that he thinks are going to keep him focused,” Erica Messina said. “The things that he’s playing for and the things that inspire him are with him when he plays.”

Sam Messina instilled a mantra in his son from a very early age. He would tell him, “Never look back when you’re running with the ball.” Mike took the words as every reason to do whatever he needs not to be slowed down.

And it’s a diligent routine that keeps him ticking and looking ahead to what’s next — whether it be a ground ball in front of him or remembering his left sock before his right.

“There’s not too many variables in my life right now that will throw me off,” Messina said. “I know what I’m doing each and every day.”

Published on April 6, 2015 at 10:33 pm

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