Jake Olson is a lifelong USC Trojans fan who was born with retinoblastoma, a cancer of the eye that caused him to lose his left eye at ten months old and his right eye at the age of 12. He will be attending USC for the next four years and he plans on being a longsnapper for the team.
To say that being a part of the USC football team would be a dream of Olson’s is a massive understatement. Before he completely lost his sight, Olson got to meet Pete Carroll, then the head coach of USC and he got to interact with the team and attend Trojan activites. Incredibly, Olson wanted one of his last memories with sight to be a Trojans practice.
Olson attended strategy meetings and enthusiastically encouraged players in the locker room and on the sideline at games. He chose to spend his last day with sight at a USC practice.
Olson first broached the idea of becoming a longsnapper after his sophomore year of high school. He eventually became his school’s starting longsnapper.
His story would become an awesome ESPN College GameDay special.
While he was not admitted to USC under a football scholarship, Olson did receive the Swim With Mike scholarship which provides funds to physically challenged athletes. He will tryout for the Trojans as a walk on.
USC’s current coach Steve Sarkisian likes Jake’s odds of seeing the field of play.
“Someday, he’s going to snap in a game for us,” Sarkisian said. “When? I don’t know. But it will happen.
“When that day comes, it will be awesome.”
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