Norwin grad Jack Salopek in holding pattern at Western Michigan after MAC postpones season

Jack Salopek has been enamored with Division I football for years. It’s driven him to work extra hours, grind in the offseason and always perform at a high level.

He has completed the most challenging part of earning a scholarship at the next level.

But the former Norwin star quarterback and all-time passing leader in Westmoreland County never imagined his first year at the FCS level would involve a world pandemic-turned-sidewinding saga that has stripped the college football season for parts.

A freshman at Western Michigan, Salopek recently learned the Mid-American Conference opted to postpone fall sports and potentially move football to the spring — the first FBS conference to do so.

Suddenly, the strong-armed, pro-style passer who had moved a step forward had to take two steps back.

There was a good chance he would have redshirted, but the news still hit home. Not that he was exactly floored by the call.

“I was pretty disappointed that the MAC canceled our season,” he said. “But it didn’t surprise me. I saw this coming for quite some time. It definitely is hard being a freshmen during this time.”

Salopek said his report date was continually pushed back. He almost did a U-turn back to North Huntingdon.

The football team has been relegated to working out during what could be a months-long holding pattern.

“Originally, we were told we would have to go home, if the season is canceled, until school started,” he said. “But right now, we are going to stay here and lift until school starts.”

The 6-foot-3, 180-pound Salopek finished with 6,150 career passing yards and 40 career touchdowns.

Last year, he set a Norwin single-season mark with 2,231 yards.

He is primed to become the fifth member of his immediate family to play a college sport. His mother, Susan, was a volleyball player at Slippery Rock; father, Tom, played basketball at Pitt-Johnstown; his brothers, T.J. and Mike, played quarterback and wrestled, respectively, at Allegheny and Virginia.

Jack Salopek hopes to use the down time — yes, more down time — to flip the pages of the playbook.

He said the postponement of the fall season is part frustration and part motivation.

“It’s a little bit of both,” he said. “Part of me is frustrated that we aren’t playing football … but it also motivates me because I now know I will have more time to learn the offense.”

Two other Westmoreland County players were set to suit up for Akron, another MAC program: redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Logan Hawkins (Penn-Trafford) and freshman kicker Ethan Slike (Greensburg Central Catholic).

Akron did not permit the pair to be interviewed.