May 23, 2018

Chad Geter won’t give football a rest

SASKATOON — Chad Geter already has shown that he’s adept at taking down ball carriers and quarterbacks.

At some point in the future, he hopes to show that he’s capable of taking down bad guys, too.

The 23-year-old product of Irmo, S.C., wants to become an FBI agent after his football career is over — which he hopes is a few years down the line, of course.

“I just like the idea of helping people out,” Geter said Wednesday at Griffiths Stadium, where the 6-foot-2, 253-pound defensive lineman currently is trying to win a job with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders.

“Crime is getting crazy nowadays and I feel like we need more people to step in and help take out all the craziness going on around the world. I’ve just always felt like I could be a guy who could help.”

Geter’s interest in the FBI started when he was a young boy. There isn’t a history of police work in his family — his mother, Chante Coad, went to school to become a state trooper before choosing instead to become a firefighter — but Geter was influenced by what he saw out of Hollywood.

“Growing up, my favourite movie was SWAT, so I always wanted to be like them,” he said. “My mom said, ‘You can be a SWAT officer. You can be a regular police officer. You can go to the troopers. Or you can be an FBI agent.’ I took the FBI thing (to heart) because I’ve always wanted to be an undercover agent.”

Geter said both his mom and his dad (Cleveland Geter, who formerly was a fire chief in Columbia, S.C.) let their son choose his own path rather than influencing him in any direction. With their blessing, he decided to start the process that would take him toward the FBI.

Geter attended Gardner-Webb University and majored in sociology with a minor in criminal justice, figuring those areas of study would help him if and when he pursues a career in law enforcement. He also did some research on the FBI and its training academy in Quantico, Va.

But Geter decided that he’d wait to take that path. Asked why he didn’t go that route right out of college, he replied: “I love football.”

“I went through a tough time last year,” Geter said. “I had an injury (a torn pectoral muscle) but I stuck with it. I trained for the whole year and ended up having surgery, but I never let go.

“I worked out every day and I’m just happy that Coach (Chris) Jones gave me an opportunity to come to the tryout in Charlotte. I worked my way through tryouts, I worked my way through mini-camp and I’m just trying to work my way through this camp and earn a spot on the roster.”

Geter was a star at Gardner-Webb, recording 203 solo tackles, 142 assists, 35.5 tackles for losses, 10.5 sacks, five forced fumbles, three interceptions and two fumble recoveries in 47 collegiate games with the Runnin’ Bulldogs.

He overcame injuries to his left knee and to his back — doctors told him both times that his football career could be in jeopardy — and finished a decorated college career. He was a Big South Conference all-star three times and was named an FCS All-American after the 2016 season.

He also found time in his final year of university to get a master’s degree in business administration.

Geter received an invitation to the San Francisco 49ers’ rookie mini-camp in 2017, but he tore a pectoral muscle lifting weights a few days prior to the camp. Instead of pursuing his dream of joining the FBI at that time, he waited for another opportunity in football.

That came in April at a Roughriders tryout camp in Charlotte, N.C.

“He’s a tremendous athlete,” said Jones, Saskatchewan’s head coach and GM. “He’s a guy who can win (battles) inside or outside (on the D-line).

“He’s got tremendous speed. He’s got capabilities of being a two, three or maybe even four special-teamer. He can play a lot of positions.”

Geter has been working with the second-team defence in training camp, behind the likes of Willie Jefferson and Charleston Hughes on the Roughriders’ depth chart. The veterans have been helping Geter to the point where he now feels that he’s catching on.

There were some nuances to which he had to adjust, most notably the rule requiring defenders to line up one yard off the line of scrimmage.

“That was different,” Geter admitted with a grin. “But I went to the tryout in Charlotte and I got used to it there. After the tryout, I was told I could go to Bradenton and the rookie mini-camp, so I practised my get-offs and my moves from a yard off. I think I’m starting to get the hang of it.”

Geter said he’ll try to stick to football until his body tells him to pack it in. While he does, his other career will just have to wait.

“I’ll give (football) another shot if this (attempt to make the Roughriders) doesn’t work out,” Geter said. “I could end up having to wait and come back to another tryout and another mini-camp, but I will.”