Oct. 28, 2003

By Todd Wallace – Host Communications

Adversity comes in many different shapes and sizes. Often the worst adversity is losing a loved one or falling victim to a disease.

While Chris Bernard does not pretend to have faced these types of life-changing events, he has faced his share of adversity on the football field over the past few years.

A junior college transfer from Mission Viejo, Calif., Bernard was recruited to UK by former head coach Guy Morriss. Because of his standout sophomore season, when he was named second-team junior college All-America, Bernard had a nice choice of where he wanted to spend his two seasons of Division I football.

Bernard chose Kentucky because of the promised opportunity to play immediately and its high-octane offense, which was sure to put the ball up in the air.

“Basically, Coach Morriss told me I was going to be an integral part of this offense,” Bernard said. “Plus I wanted to get away from California. It’s a nice place to live, but I had lived there my whole life and I really wanted to experience something different, especially on the east coast.”

During his first few days of practice, all was going well for Bernard, until adversity found him.

It wasn’t anything major or life-threatening, but it was an ankle injury that forced Bernard to sit out almost all of spring practice.

For a junior college transfer who only has two years to make his mark on the Divi-sion I scene, a missed spring can seem like an eternity.

“I had a pretty good first couple days, then I had an ankle injury that set me back and knocked me out of the spring,” Bernard said. “And I think that really hurt because I didn’t get a chance to show the coaches what I really could do.

“So basically, I had to go into fall camp on a fresh slate and that was tough because there was only three weeks to the season so I didn’t really have the season I wanted to.”

Coming into school as a junior college transfer is much different then coming in as a freshman. Most junior college players play two seasons in JC before being recruited to play D-I football. With only two seasons available to make an impact, their time is limited.

With the limited time comes an added pressure to perform.

“You only have two years and I didn’t redshirt, so I had two years of college eligibility left,” Bernard said. “And my aspirations are of course to go to the NFL, and it’s real hard to do in two years, so that adds a lot of pressure in that sense.”

Playing catchup all season, Bernard saw the field in all 12 games. He caught 14 balls for 197 yards and a touchdown – not the impact player he had envisioned.

However, with senior big-play receiver Aaron Boone leaving because of graduation, Bernard was a logical choice to step in this season and fill that void, when adversity struck again.

This adversity not only struck Bernard, but the entire team, as Morriss decided to pack his bags and head to Baylor.

So in came new head coach Rich Brooks and his staff, and it was up to Bernard and the rest of the team to prove themselves again.

“Morriss and his coaches recruited me, so I felt that I was wanted and they wanted me here,” Bernard said. “But of course with the new coaching staff, nothing against them, you are just there and that kind of takes a toll on you.

“At the beginning of the year I went through some adversity because I wasn’t getting a lot of reps and I was like, ‘man,’ you know this is tough because I didn’t come here for this. I only have two years left and I have to go through this coaching change again so it’s tough mentally just to go through that kind of stuff.”

Aside from being confused on where he stood with the team, Bernard, along with everyone else, had to learn the new system installed by offensive coordinator Ron Hudson.

It is an offense that takes time and hard work to learn. But, for Bernard, it was the offense’s complexities that have given him a chance to shine.

“The good part is, they told me, ‘Chris, we want you to learn all the positions’ so I went out there and learned all the positions and I picked up the offense a lot faster than the other receivers. And that is what enabled me to move up the depth charts, learning and knowing those positions.”

Now, as he is one of the features in the receiver rotation, Bernard says all the adversity and hard work has paid off.

The game where the senior felt like it all really came together was against Indiana earlier this season.

In that contest Bernard caught three passes and reached 100 yards for the first time in his career. Among the three catches was a spectacular over the shoulder hail mary he pulled in from the arm of Jared Lorenzen.

The play started out with the Hoosiers jumping off sides, so Lorenzen knew he had a free play. He dropped back and launched a ball that seemed like it stayed in the air for an eternity, toward the corner, where Bernard made the touchdown reception.

“I think it was the game I was most proud just because I had three catches for 100 yards,” Bernard said. “That’s not a lot of catches, but it is a lot of yards … and that is the thing I want to do for this team, make the big plays.”

According to Bernard, making big plays is a lot easier with the hard-throwing lefty under center. He was very complimentary of his senior quarterback – especially his arm strength.

“When I first got here they (teammates) warned me, but I didn’t listen (about how strong his arm was),” Bernard said. “I was like, ‘Oh, he can’t throw it that hard.’

“And then the first day of camp he almost broke my finger and right then and there, I respected his arm. But I got used to it and now I am catching his balls and my fingers aren’t as bad anymore. But the good thing is if I do get to that next level there are very few people who can throw as hard as Jared or Shane. If I do get a chance to catch for another quarterback, his balls will be a lot softer.”

But as long as the balls are coming Bernard’s way, he doesn’t care how hard or soft they are going, just as long they are helping the team reach its ultimate goal – a bowl game.

“Team goals are to make it to a bowl game,” he said. “With this senior class, I am kind of like them, even though I am a junior college transfer. I went through three coaches in three years, so I know what it is like to go through adversity. So just a bowl appearance and a bowl win – I think that would really make the year worth while, even though we’re not doing as well as we’d like.

“Secondly, we just need to have fun. We kind of split our season into two sections. Second season, six games, we started off on the right foot. If we can just get one win at a time, pull off a few upsets and get that sixth or seventh win, that would make our football experiences that much more enjoyable.”

It would also make Bernard and the rest of his teammates’ wild ride through college football worth every second.