By Rudy Jones, FurmanPaladins.com

Many a young boy has aspired to be a cowboy, fireman, football player or member of the military when they grow up.

Furman senior offensive guard Ryan Storms has done the first three. He almost had the fourth – he was committed to the U.S. Naval Academy for a while.

When musician/songwriter is added to the mix, it's apparent Storms can't be pigeonholed as a typical jock.

"I don't know what it is," Storms said of his eclectic interests. "Maybe I'm just a little boy at heart."

Storms may appreciate the chance to take the Paladin Stadium turf today for the Wofford game more than some of his classmates. It's his final home game, but for a while he had no guarantees he was going to be a participant.

An injury in preseason camp sidelined Storms for the first nine games this season.  It was quite an adjustment for someone with 21 career starts in his first three seasons.

"It's surreal," the 6-foot-2, 270-pound Storms said. "I've been playing football since the fifth grade, but I'm not going to play at the next level. What makes me feel better is that everyone goes through this. It's time for the next step in my life.

"I know when I go out there I'm going to play with a lot of emotion," Storms said. "I always play with everything I've got. It's going to stink in the end, but I'm going to be able to look back on all the memories I've made and all the life lessons I've learned from football. I'm so grateful for what football's been."

Injuries have been frequent during Storms' career. He's missed at least one game each season. A posterior cruciate ligament injury suffered last season reduced Storms to a spectator/coach role for 2013 spring practice.

He felt some discomfort as he did conditioning during the past spring and summer, but by July his knee was feeling pretty good.

On the third day of preseason work this year "I got rolled up on by one of the players and I felt something wasn't right," Storms said.

The diagnosis was a torn meniscus. He went through the corrective procedure and waited for a chance to play again.

"It was definitely not what I expected going into my fifth year," Storms said earlier this month. "It was very humbling. I was looking to come in … and be a big contributor to the team. But I realized quickly that wasn't going to be the case.

 "You're never prepared for anything like that," Storms said. "It hurt in a lot of ways. Thankfully, I had my faith in Christ. If I didn't have that, I don't know how I would have gotten through this year. My friends and family have given tremendous support, too.

 "It was very humbling, but I think I needed it," Storms said. "It wasn't what I expected, but it's been great kind of being behind the scenes and being able to encourage the guys, to be a better teammate rather than just a player."

Storms said his knee felt good in practices leading up to the Samford game. He was able to play a couple of series against the Bulldogs. "I thought I did pretty well and my knee felt great."

But football is only one of Storms' skills.

His affinity for rodeo comes naturally. He was born in Texas. His mother, Julie, was a professional barrel racer and his father, David, did some team roping. Ryan Storms has been involved in calf roping, steer roping and team roping.

"I was always around horses," Storms said. "I knew a lot about them because of my mom, but I never really wanted to have anything to do with them.

"We moved to Georgia when I was in the fifth or sixth grade," Storms said. "We went back to visit friends in Texas one summer. My best friend was a calf roper. He got out there and was roping a dummy calf. He told me to try it. I tried it, and I liked it. We must have stayed out there four hours.

 "I told my mom about it," Storms said. "Being the old-school cowgirl that she is she told me 'if you want to do this, you've got to show me you're committed before I buy you a $5,000 or $6,000 calf horse.' I had to ride for a year to show her how committed I was. She had to coach me a lot of riding techniques."

Storms eventually got a horse and some additional coaching from cowboys Steven Chapman and Ryan Jarrett.

He competed in the Georgia High School Rodeo Association, making it to the state finals as a junior at East Coweta High School. "It was tough doing it during football, because I'd play football on Friday night and leave that night to haul it to a rodeo that was maybe in Florida, Tennessee or north Georgia.

 "When you're calf roping or team roping, you're backed into the box. You nod your head and the calf comes out and the horse is right there with it," Storms said. "You go from zero to 40 miles an hour like that (snapping his fingers)," Storms said. "It is a rush like you can't imagine. You're swinging your rope at the same time; you rope the calf and the horse stops on a dime.  You step off while he's stopping, so you hit the ground like there's a rocket behind you."

Storms said he hopes to expand his repertoire to include steer wrestling (bulldogging), something he's done rarely. "It's so much fun. Mom never would let me because of football and she was afraid I would get hurt."

Storms said the challenges of taking on a defensive tackle pale when compared to dealing with an uncooperative calf or steer.  "You've got those horns coming up at you. You never know what's going to happen.  A defensive lineman is a close second."

Like many cowboys, Storms also dabbles with the guitar and songwriting.  "I'm not good by any means. I've done a little country song writing with some friends. Eventually, we'd like to record them for fun."

Storms is a communications major, but plans to become a firefighter after he graduates. He's in his fourth year of serving as a volunteer firefighter at Duncan Chapel Fire Department near campus.

"I realized that's my calling in life." Storms said.

He drove to Charleston after last weekend's game at Western Carolina to take a civil service test with the Charleston Fire Department.  He then flew to Fort Worth on Monday to take a civil service test there.

"There's something about it that sounds clichéd, but I really do like helping people," Storms said. "When you get to a scene and it's their worst day and you're there to help them, they're so happy to see you. I love that; I thrive on that.

"My buddy is a firefighter back home and he had so much passion for it," Storms said. "I said 'that's so cool; if I could just get involved in that.'

"I came to Furman expecting to be a doctor or something like that, but something in me was just saying 'go to a local fire department and see what it's all about.' I went to Duncan Chapel one day; I had no idea they had a volunteer program. I asked if I could hang around a little while and learn about fire service. I said I could mop floors. They said they had a volunteer program and I just lit up at that.

 "I trained for about sixth months and got my medical first responder training," Storms said. "Eighty percent of the calls for a firefighter are medical.  They have in-house training at Duncan Chapel so I didn't have to go to the (S.C. Fire) Academy.  There was a computer class you go through, then you have to do the practical side of it. They take you somewhere where you can knock down a door or cut through a roof; then you have to deal with a burning situation. There was an old house near campus. They put a bunch of barrels up, lit them on fire and we got to do a search.

"You never stop training," Storms said. "As soon as I got out of practice I'd go up to the fire department and hang out. If they got a call I'd try to go to as many as I could, even if it was in the middle of the night.  It's been an amazing experience and I've learned so much over there.  I'm looking forward to a career in that field."

Football and firefighting have a common thread – teamwork is essential. Storms said this year's Furman team is very close knit. We've done a lot of team bonding and have really become close. That's one of the most – if not the most -  important thing when you build a team. If you ask any of the guys why they play football, I can guarantee most everyone will say 'I do it for the other guys beside me.'

"Fire service is about teamwork," Storms said. "You go in as a team and come out as a team.  I've never been in the military, but I have friends in it and they say the same thing; you look out for your brother and you expect him to look out for you."