The hospitable southerner
10/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
“Being from the south, I just wanted to get away from home for college. The south is much different from the north and I wanted to experience something new,” explains the soft spoken Boozer-Gallman. “My town is real urban, it’s a small town, but close to the capital, so it is not much different in terms of the towns up here.”
Boozer-Gallman continues, “The people down south are much more laid back however; up here everyone is straight forward with you, but uptight. That was certainly a change from what I was used to.”
One thing that Boozer-Gallman was used to was the strict academics of Lehigh. His high school, Dutch Fork, pushed its students hard to do well in school, and so Boozer-Gallman knew it would be more of the same at Lehigh. “The academics at Lehigh are obviously tough. I did have to get adjusted to the larger workloads and tougher class assignments, but in high school it was like that too. I just needed to time to adjust, but now I know what I have to do.”
Head coach Pete Lembo was in his first season when Boozer-Gallman came to Lehigh and he was impressed with what he saw. “Due to some injuries in the secondary, Neal had a chance to play in our win over Fordham in the
Boozer-Gallman says that he was impressed with the family-like atmosphere on the football team, as well as within the university. “Everyone is there for one another; there is a tremendous sense of unity at Lehigh. I really liked that aspect when I visited here. We’re all like brothers on the football team, we always have one another’s backs.”
When Boozer-Gallman arrived at Lehigh, he and some of his senior classmates such as fellow defensive backs Duane Smith (
Boozer-Gallman remembers those first few months at Lehigh and discusses what his thought process was at the time. “When I came to college, I had a lot of growing up to do, as most college students do. There were some tough times there in the beginning, I wanted to transfer, I questioned whether I could make it at Lehigh, but being around the coaches and my teammates helped me realize that this was the place for me.”
“I also had the support of my family and friends back home. I kept in touch with them constantly and they just told me to do what I felt was best for me. They were behind me 100 percent.”
Lembo likes to have players on the team from all different areas of the country, as well as different walks of life. “We believe in the ‘critical mass theory’ when it comes to a comfort level for players on the Lehigh campus. If you can build a strong number of squad members from a particular background – whether it’s geographical or cultural – and they have success, it facilitates the recruitment of others from similar backgrounds in future classes.”
Boozer-Gallman adds, “I think that those tough times have made me a stronger person in the long run. That along with the support of so many people has allowed me to get where I’m at today.”
Where he’s at is the starting cornerback on a Lehigh defense that is ranked in the top-20 in
Boozer-Gallman, Ford and the rest of the defensive backfield have a mantra this season that they have more than lived up to thus far. “’All flights cancelled,’ that’s what we have been preaching to one another all season,” explains Ford. We want to go out there and shut down the other team’s passing attack.”
“We have high goals for the season, like we always do,” explains Boozer-Gallman, a marketing major. “We’re just going to keep working hard and push towards the top.”
