There was some doubt inside him if he’d want to return. There wasn’t a definite scholarship, not absolute chance he’ll play and for four years, Jason Olesnavage hadn’t seen the field anyway.

Such is life as a kicker, where only one guy plays, a rotation is unheard of and as a walk-on, you’re paying your own way anyway. The only All-Big Ten team he’d been on was the academic one, a guy along for the ride.

Michigan kicker Jason Olesnavage

Courtesy of UM athletics

Olesnavage could have moved on with his life. His senior year had been an on-field disappointment with a 3-9 record and he could have easily finished as another player who did nothing more than suit up in practice, never saw the Michigan Stadium field or played on the road or heard his name called over the loudspeakers. The Ferndale native could have taken his economics degree, found a job in the real world and started to make an attempt to move up the sports corporate ladder that way.

Or, he could stay. Enroll in Michigan’s sport management graduate program. And, as he progressed through the season, play.

“Obviously, I’m happy now,” Olesnavage said. “It couldn’t have worked out better for me.”

Olesnavage, after waiting and waiting and waiting, has become Michigan’s reliable option at kicker. He’s 5 of 6, missing only a chip shot against Notre Dame. And, there’s more good news for him, too.

When he made his first college field goal, a 44-yarder against Western Michigan, his student loans were active. He may have been a starter, but he was still paying his own way.

The Tuesday after the game - Labor Day gave everyone Monday off - he filled out a different kind of paperwork. This kind was to remove all of his student loans, perhaps the fastest payment of grad school loans in history.

See, Olesnavage, after the first game, was put on scholarship.

“I called my mom afterwards,” Olesnavage said. “Was pretty happy to not have to do deal with that.”

A pretty heady kid, Olesnavage now had one less thing to worry about. He could focus on football - and finding his first job.

Seeing his future, he set up a meeting in April with Michigan’s director of football operations Brad Labadie. Olesnavage, with his economics degree sewn up, wanted to figure out what was next since he’d made the decision to return for his fifth year.

Should he drop some classes to prolong his undergraduate degree? Should he enroll in a two year MBA program, something he’d be paying off for a while? Or could he take the one-year sport management program?

He sought the advice of Labadie, himself a graduate of the program. Labadie recommended the program and Olesnavage immediately began peppering him about what happens next. He asked for class advice.

He also tried to find other people to speak with to set up his eventual career - player personnel with the dream of one day becoming an NFL general manager. Playing is nice and always helps, but he needed more.

“His playing experience will be something to put on the resume, but not going to be something to get him his first job,” Labadie said. “He has to understand that he has to have a well-developed skill set through his coursework at Michigan and the internships that he has done.

“He is trying to get a job in that area and be able to talk about it from the standpoint that he is the best person available, not that he’s an athlete they can settle for, that he is the best at his skill set and the best for his organization.”

It was what happened on the field - or, rather, off of it - that sold Labadie on
Olesnavage’s potential success in sports management and front office work. He saw Olesnavage show up for three years and work, without having the chance to play.
He saw him return for a fifth year without a guarantee because he wanted to give it one final shot. And he saw a guy persevere to eventually win the job.

In an industry where upward movement can range from meteoric to molasses and everywhere in between, that characteristic was critical. In sports - much like every other career field - moving from the entry level up is often the hardest move someone can make.

“He’s not going to be put off when he doesn’t have big gains early on in his career,” Labadie said. “He’ll work hard and make it to the next level. That’s one thing in sport, if you get in as an intern or entry level, you have to realize you’re not going to be president three years later.

“…You can’t walk away from something just because you’ve worked hard at it for two years and nothing’s happened for you yet. You have to be patient with it.”

Olesnavage recognizes this. He knows he has to.

It is why he’s starting now, talking to whomever he can. Why he’s already networking. And why when NFL scouts and personnel men come around for Pro Days after the season, he’ll likely talk to them more about any future on the field.

He’s looking for one off of it as well.

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.