GRIDIRON GIANT DRAWS
ON HIS TALENTS

BY ALEXANDER WOOLEY

Emerging from Zavitz Hall on a sunny afternoon, fifth-year BA student Jeremy Oxley attracts attention. It could be his easy manner that has friends and acquaintances arresting his progress across Branion Plaza to chat. It could be his size, which at 6'4" and 385 pounds means the All-Canadian defensive lineman for the football Gryphons towers over most people. "I'm hard to miss," he chuckles. "Jeremy's one of the few students I've ever had on whose chest I can comfortably rest my head," says one of Oxley's professors, Chandler Kirwin, himself 6'4".

Or it could be because Oxley - not surprisingly, "Ox" to friends and teammates - is coming out of Zavitz Hall, home of the School of Fine Art and Music.

The artist and the nose tackle?

Someone who doesn't think it "ox-ymoronic," that one person could make a career of stopping the draw play while at the same time love to draw, is U of G head football coach Dan McNally. "Why would it be?" he says. "We've had several fine art majors on the team over the years. Artistic ability and sensibility are very common among athletes. Jeremy is just a very talented individual."

Oxley specializes in studio art, specifically drawing. Along the way to earning the degree he'll be awarded this spring, he's also taken sculpture, silkscreen making, lithography and printmaking courses.

"But I'm fascinated by the hand, the human figure," he says. "It's why I love the realistic drawings of da Vinci and Michelangelo. For example, it's just amazing to me how da Vinci can bring out exactly how the human cheekbone protrudes from the face."

Kirwin, a dedicated sports fan himself, says Oxley is and should be a role model precisely because of his diverse interests. "Jeremy is an excellent example of someone who has handled well the delicate balancing act between academics and athletics, akin to the Ivy League tradition where the student-athlete is seen as an ideal model. I think this is a model that should be emulated, where possible."

One is tempted to theorize that Oxley's size was an intentional piece of creation, his statistical vitals plain necessity to accommodate apparently disparate passions - the pursuit of truth through art and the pursuit of fleeing quarterbacks - in a personality that takes each with a balanced, laid-back sense of fun.

"Jeremy is simply a very strong presence, a very self-assured, charismatic leader, always upbeat, energetic and positive," says McNally.

The word "presence" comes up frequently in descriptions of Oxley. "He definitely has been a big presence in our program," agrees Kirwin. "Jeremy has performed admirably in both art history and in studio. One of the things that impresses me is that he truly is committed to the arts, that he has a passion for it, and in addition to that, he is very much aware of his love of learning."

When drawing, Oxley emulates two of his heroes, da Vinci and Michelangelo, ina style rooted in realism. His chief tools are graphite and charcoal - the reason he chose to work in this medium is itself based on something quite real: Oxley is partly colour-blind. As a result, he's had to steer clear of painting. "If I try to paint a human figure, I just end up with a pink person," he says, referring to the problems he has distinguishing browns and greens and their offshoots.

To overcome this challenge, Oxley labels his green and brown pencils, so he knows what he's mixing. "It doesn't affect my silkscreen work because it uses true colours instead of mixed ones."

True colours - if Oxley had to choose two favourites, they would likely be Gryphon red and gold. He considers it a blessing that his five years of playing at Guelph means that he's ineligible to play football for another university, according to OUAA rules. Not that he's tempted to don the jersey of a Guelph rival.

"I couldn't do it, even if I was eligible," he says. "Say I went to Western for teachers' college, for example. It would be impossible for me to put on that uniform" - he holds up his hands in mock horror. "I couldn't, not after I've played here for Guelph with this team. Heck, after I'd been here three days, I couldn't have played for another school."

Oxley grew up in Brownsville, just outside Tillsonburg. Mention Tillsonburg and people respond "tobacco country." "That it is," says Oxley. "It rules the life of towns in that area. They actually delay the school term for two weeks in September to get the tobacco harvest in."

He spent seven summers on the harvest, which he says helped build not only his strength but also his bank account to attend university.

In high school, Oxley excelled at art. "But I also loved football." Choosing university over community college or art school meant he didn't have to choose between his two favourite pursuits, that he could both punt and paint, if he chose. "I got the best of both worlds."

Oxley says U of G's fine art program has allowed him to build an impressive portfolio that he could use to get a job in commercial drawing or animation. It was also at Guelph that he developed a love of art history, particularly the Renaissance and the baroque (his campus e-mail account carries the nickname "Verrochio," a Renaissance landscape artist he favours at the moment).

Putting down the pastels and putting on the pads, Oxley is something of a legend in Gryphon football. The formal recognition alone makes for an impressive list. Named All-Canadian the last two years, he is the first Gryphon football player to win first-team national honours in two consecutive years. Four-time OUAA All-Star. Two-time Lineman of the Year. Team MVP and team captain this past season. Wildman Trophy winner this year (awarded since 1932 to the senior football player who demonstrates to the highest degree the traits of sportsmanship, leadership and scholarship). W.F. Mitchell Sportsman Award winner last year (the winner must possess exceptional citizenship qualities in addition to being an outstanding athlete). Team Rookie of the Year in his first year.
Oxley also started every game over his five-year career. In fact, McNally reckons Oxley has missed less than 15 minutes of playing time over his entire career as a Gryphon - an accomplishment the coach calls "extraordinary."

For the Gryphons, however, Oxley has been much more than a fixture on defence for half a decade. "Jeremy has been a wonderful ambassador for Gryphon football and for Gryphon athletics," says McNally. "He is probably the most well-known, most recognized University athlete in Guelph. He carries himself with a lot of pride in being a Gryphon. He is a classy individual and he projects the kind of image that we would like all our athletes to project."

Ex-NFL coaching great and football commentator John Madden once theorized that offensive linemen are the gentle giants who've always been big, even as children, and who as a result tend to be more aware of their size and gentler, whereas defensive players grow up smaller, develop later and tend to be more aggressive - read "mean" - by nature.

Oxley, super-sized from youth, agrees with this and says it was one reason he expected to be put on the offensive line when he came to Guelph. At the time, however, the team's biggest need was on the defensive side of the ball, says McNally, who believes the decision to put Oxley on defence turned out to be a good one because he's made a bigger impact there than he would have playing offence.

Oxley says he carried his good manners with him to defence. "I'm a gentleman on the field. If I hit the quarterback, I'll usually pick him up afterwards. Over the course of five years, I've gotten to know a lot of my opponents across the line, and we greet each other by first name." He pauses to consider. "No, I will only 'get evil' (here he invokes air quotes) if someone does something to me first."

Oxley says the Gryphon defensive linemen are a close group who carry the reputation of being a lighthearted band of brothers. "We're loud, I suppose, happy. Our motors are usually running a little faster than other people's. We kill ourselves in practice, but we're still joking around in the locker room afterwards while some of the others have collapsed from exhaustion."

What's in the future? While he considers attending teachers' college, Oxley still flirts with the idea of playing professional football, possibly with the NFL Europe, and has an agent looking at his playing options. Oxley says CFL scouts have bypassed him because, at his size, he's considered too big to be playing on the defensive line in Canada.

"It's disappointing that because of budget reasons or whatever, the scouts won't even look at a lot of players in the CIAU," he says. "When they hear my measurements, they think I won't be able to move well, that I don't fit the mould. Whereas the truth is, I move well for my size."

His coach agrees. "The most remarkable thing about Jeremy is his athleticism," says McNally. "Most truly big men do not have the co-ordination or quickness that Jeremy possesses. He is also physically very strong. His best chance will be as an offensive lineman in the CFL, though he has an outside chance at playing as a defensive lineman in the NFL."