BANGOR, Maine — When Mark Hackett and his coaching staff decided to move Ellis Throckmorton from the line of scrimmage to linebacker for his senior year with the Bangor High School football team, they weren’t sure what to expect.
Throckmorton had spent his first three seasons searching for the spot in the lineup that would fit him best, playing everything from tackle to tight end.
Only briefly as a junior, during the 2010 Eastern Maine Class A final against Lewiston, had Throckmorton gotten to play into the position he coveted most.
“We were desperate for a linebacker, and I remember him saying his dream was to play linebacker,” said Hackett. “He was a senior and a captain, so we put it on him. He ended up being as good as anyone playing the position that I’ve seen.
“He was a better player than we were coaches, we just didn’t know it at the time,” he said.
Five years later, Throckmorton continues to prove the wisdom of Hackett’s somewhat reluctant move as one of the top small-college linebackers in the Northeast — if not the nation — at Husson University. The Eagles lead all NCAA Division III programs in total defense (145.5 yards per game) this fall.
“There’s a lot more complexity to the defense in college than there is in high school,” Throckmorton said.
“The thing about linebacking is you really have to know everybody’s assignments, or at least that’s the way I like to do it. I like to know what everybody’s doing so I know where I can be and so I can trust my teammates to be where they need to be because it takes everybody to do the job,” he added.
The 6-foot-3, 235-pound senior is coming off a 10-tackle performance, including three sacks, in last Saturday’s 42-0 victory over Anna Maria that earned him Eastern Collegiate Football Conference defensive player of the week recognition and a berth on the D3football.com national team of the week.
“Ellis studies the game, he has good size, and he can cover a lot of ground, and that combination really helps him,” said Husson coach Gabby Price. “And he’s certainly tough enough at this level, he’s a very tough kid.
“Above all, he’s just a high-character guy with tremendous leadership. I’m sorry for all the superlatives, but with Ellis, you can just go on and on,” he said.
Throckmorton and the Eagles take a 6-1 record (4-0 in the ECFC) to Leicester, Massachusetts, on Saturday to face Becker College (2-5, 1-3 ECFC) in hopes of taking another step toward a conference title and a trip to the NCAAs.
Throckmorton is moving up the school career lists in several defensive categories, but his focus isn’t on the playoffs or the pending end of a significant college football career.
“We say every week’s a one-week championship,” Throckmorton said. “That’s how we treat every game.”
Finding the college fit
After graduating from Bangor High School in 2012, Throckmorton enrolled at the University of Maine with the intent of playing football for the Black Bears.
The Orono campus already had been a place of great achievement within his family. His father, longtime WABI-TV sports director Tim Throckmorton, played football and tennis at UMaine. His mother, Emily Ellis, was one of the top women’s basketball players in school history before playing professionally in Finland and Austria.
But Ellis Throckmorton, who was being considered as a tight end at UMaine, soon determined he wasn’t ready to live a Division I football existence.
“Originally yes, I wanted to play there,” he said. “I got a preseason roster spot from coach [Jack] Cosgrove and went to a few summer workouts with the team, but I just I didn’t think I was ready for that level. I didn’t have the motivation or interest to play a position like tight end at that time.
“It turned out to be a great thing that I didn’t play that year because it really reminded me of how much I still wanted to play,” he added.
By winter break, Throckmorton had decided to transfer to Husson University where Price, the former Bangor High coach, was guiding the Eagles and Nat Clark, Throckmorton’s high school defensive coordinator, was Price’s top assistant.
Throckmorton completed his freshman year of studies at UMaine but also began preparing himself physically to join the Husson football program through a combination of strength training and pickup basketball.
When he finally did arrive at Husson for his first formal football workouts with the Eagles in August 2013, he was taken by surprise.
“I expected I’d have to work my way up like I did in high school,” he recalled, “but when I went to Husson for preseason, I looked at the depth chart the first day, and I was in the first spot.
“I crossed my name out and put it at the bottom. I wanted to earn it,” he said.
Throckmorton’s initial placement on the chart reflected the level of respect Price and Clark had for Throckmorton.
“His senior year of high school we just thought he was outstanding,” said Price. “And coach Clark had nothing but great things to say about him.”
It wasn’t long before the late bloomer could envision the potential for a fast start with Husson.
“We got to the first day of practice, and I started decking people because I hadn’t hit anyone in a year. I felt good once I got out there, I felt like I could compete,” he said.
Throckmorton made an immediate impact, earning second-team All-ECFC honors as a freshman and first-team accolades with a berth on the ECAC North all-star team as a sophomore in 2014 when he helped the Eagles secure their first NCAA playoff berth.
He earned All-ECFC second-team honors again last fall, and for the last two years, the business management major also has been named to the ECFC All-Academic team.
Throckmorton’s success is fueled in part by a willingness to work toward self-improvement whether it’s on the gridiron or in the weight room.
“I was taking a coaching course as an elective, and there were mostly athletes in the class,” he recalled. “The teacher asked how many people in the class liked practicing, and me and my friend Thomas Black — also a linebacker — were the only two guys who raised our hands.
“Everybody else was all surprised, but we just realize that this is the greatest time of our lives, so you’ve got to take it all in and love it all,” he said.
Throckmorton’s enjoyment of the less glamorous work off the field, which has helped him play four years of college football virtually injury-free, is motivated by the enjoyment he derives from each football experience.
“I realize that there are so many people who played in high school who now are older and wish that they could have just one more game. It’s incredible how much that one thought can drive you because nothing is promised,” Throckmorton said.
“Any single day could be the last day you step on that field, so every time I come off the field I shake coach’s hand and say, ‘That was a blast, I had a lot of fun,’ because I really do have fun out there.”
A grand finale?
Throckmorton’s play this fall has helped Husson maintain first place in the ECFC standings, rise to fifth in the latest New England Division III poll and also receive votes in the national NCAA Division III rankings.
“I think I’m a lot better student of the game than I was a year ago,” he said. “Every year everything slows down a little bit more.”
But it’s the daily interactions with his defensive mates that make games such as his statistic-laden effort against Anna Maria possible.
“As a linebacker I feel like I’ve got to give all the credit to my defensive line because they’re the ones who move in ways that create openings for me to shoot through the gaps,” he said. “Without them, I don’t have as many opportunities.
“But it did feel good sacking the quarterback a few times. It always feels good to sack the quarterback,” he said.
