Emporia State offensive line coach Sean Clowers called tight end Dominic Mirocke into his office midway through the season and delivered a sales pitch to Mirocke.
Clowers was short on linemen and wanted Mirocke to move from tight end to offensive tackle, and he was trying to plead his case.
Mirocke didn’t let him finish.
“If you want me to do it,” Mirocke told Clowers, “I’ll do it.”
On Saturday, Mirocke will finish his six-year career with the Hornets at tight end, which he switched back to two weeks ago when he was no longer needed on the offensive line.
The position change is just one example of how Mirocke has spent his sixth year in the program imparting his wisdom and team-first mentality to his younger teammates.
They call him “Old Man,” and for good reason. Mirocke arrived at Emporia State in the fall of 2004, and he’s the only player left from that class.
How does a player become a sixth-year senior? For Mirocke, it was a run of bad luck.
After redshirting his freshman season, he ruptured his spleen during spring practices, an injury that resulted in him getting life-flighted to Kansas City. He had so much bleeding that he bled out the plug doctors had inserted.
Doctors told him he might not be able to return to the game but after several surgeries, the final of which cut out 3/4 of his spleen, Mirocke returned to the field.
In the fall of 2006, Mirocke had some more bad luck when he broke his leg six days into fall practice. He missed the first seven games of the season and once he recovered, 27 games into his career, he finally was ready to play.
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