When Jeff Griffin first took the field for Wake Forest as a redshirt freshman in 2006, he came to play.
And play.
And play.
Griffin, a senior offensive lineman from Jacksonville, will play his 51st college game in Saturday's pivotal showdown with Florida State on Seniors' Day at BB&T Field. He'll share the distinction of veterans' veteran with defensive tackle Boo Robinson and linebacker Dominique Midgett, both of whom will also be playing in their 51st game.
Nobody in the 107 seasons football has been played at Wake Forest has played in more. The record of 51 is currently held by four seniors from last season -- Aaron Curry, Alphonso Smith, Stanley Arnoux and Chip Vaughn -- all of whom were drafted in the first four rounds of last June's NFL Draft.
So Griffin, Robinson and Midgett are on the verge of establishing the new standard.
"Kind of crazy huh?" Griffin said. "Who would ever think this guy Jeff Griffin would do that?"
Griffin obviously had the twin advantages of beginning his career five seasons after the schedule was expanded to 12 games and playing on a team that appeared in three bowl games and one ACC championship. So the accomplishment should perhaps be seen in the light of not what he did, but what he has never done.
He may be missing an intact posterior-cruciate ligament that frayed beyond repair after his freshman season, and he may be missing some range of movement in his shoulders, hips, knees and ankles. But he has never missed a game.
"There's been some dings and nicks and bruises, but offensive linemen should play through those," Griffin said. "We're supposed to be tougher guys. I had one back in the summer of '07 when I tore my PCL. And that's the major injury I've played through.
"Other than that it's just been little things here and there. It's football. You're going to get hurt. It's a contact sport. I've been fortunate I've been able to play this many games without getting hurt, or without getting benched."
More than once, Coach Jim Grobe has seen Griffin limp out to practice on Monday evenings and wondered if he could get him back by Saturday's game. Being physically able to play, Grobe has often said, is not enough. A player has to be healthy enough to help his team win a game.
Griffin has started 39 games, 10 as a freshman, six as a sophomore, 13 as a junior and all 10 this season.
"It tells you how tough the guy is," Grobe said. "He's tough as a pine knot. He's played through a lot of injuries. His knee has really been bothering him for a couple of years now. And he just plays through it.
"When he was younger I think he used to worry about it. As he's gotten older he doesn't even think about it. He knows after every game he's going to be beat up pretty good and he just accepts it. He keeps coming back every Monday with his lunch pall ready to go to work.
"He's been special. We're going to really miss that guy."
Griffin will graduate next month with a degree in business, and will tackle the job market after that. But he has gotten so used to buckling his chin strap and lacing his cleats on game day that he would like to extend his career for at least a few seasons in the NFL.
If he had forgotten how hard that would be, he was reminded last Saturday while trying to block defensive end Derrick Morgan of Georgia Tech.
"I want to give it a shot, but I had a little eye-opener last week against Morgan," Griffin said. "Those (NFL) guys, it's him plus 500 others like him. So I'm not going to put all my eggs in one basket.
"But I'm definitely going to give it a shot because I don't want to be my dad's age and say ‘I played all these game and never gave it a shot.' I definitely want to find a way."
Don't bet against the guy whose specialty was finding a way to play.
dcollins@wsjournal.com.
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