It’s fourth down with 2 yards to go and the game is on the line. A thousand thoughts race through your mind as you watch the play clock tick, the seconds falling like hammers. You call out a code word to a wide receiver, signaling him to reroute to the corner of the endzone.

You hike the ball, and immediately hear the crack of helmets and pads as offensive and defensive linemen collide. You look to throw left, but your teammate is covered. Your eyes move to the middle of the field where a receiver is open, but if you make that throw he won’t score and time will expire.

Finally, you look right and notice one-on-one coverage near the corner of the endzone. As a monstrous defensive end comes lumbering toward you, you throw a jump ball and the receiver comes down with it for a touchdown to take the lead with only five seconds left—the audible you called before snapping the ball proves to be the turning point in the game.

San Diego State social science senior and starting quarterback Adam Dingwell will likely face many situations such as this throughout this 2013 football season. For Dingwell, playing quarterback is an opportunity he has looked forward to for a long time.

[quote]”I started playing football in fourth grade,” Dingwell said. “And ever since then it was my dream to go to college and play football, and I’m thankful I got into SDSU.”[/quote]

Dingwell said he would watch his older brother and father—both of whom played football in their high school days—throw a football in the backyard. Dingwell attributes this as the main reason he wanted to become involved in football.

“My dad was a great high school player, and my brother was a good player,” Dingwell said. “So just always being around those guys instilled football in me and it became something I looked forward to doing. It was something I wanted to be really good at.”

Dingwell has played the quarterback position since he was a junior in high school. He played safety his freshman year, as well as tight end and wide receiver through his sophomore year. He finally got the opportunity to be a signal-caller after the senior quarterback ahead of him graduated.

Dingwell’s athletic roots didn’t begin with football, however. He played baseball as a young child, hence why he didn’t begin playing football until he was in fourth grade.

“I’m not too sure why,” Dingwell said. “It may have had something to do with my mom not wanting me to get hit that young.”

Dingwell said it isn’t the thrill of throwing touchdowns or leading game-winning drives that he loves most about the game of football, but the bond created with teammates.

“There’s nothing like it,” Dingwell said.

He also added that watching the upperclassmen his freshman year instilled a yearning to be a role model when he became an upperclassman.

[quote] “It’s something I cherish,” Dingwell said. “I think it’s a pretty special thing.”[/quote]

Dingwell’s hometown is Rockwall, Texas, a small suburb near Dallas. Dingwell said he lived in a couple of towns around Dallas growing up and didn’t make his first trip to San Diego until the first time he visited the SDSU football program. His Texas roots showed on the day of this interview, in which he wore a pair of cowboy boots with his SDSU athletic shirt and shorts.

Off the field, Dingwell enjoys being outdoors and with his friends.

“I like playing Frisbee golf and Xbox, shooting horseshoes or going to the beach,” Dingwell said. “Anything as long as I’m with a group of my buddies. Most of the time I like being outside and going fishing, that kind of stuff.”

Going to the beach, Dingwell said, is his favorite activity to do in San Diego.

“The beach is awesome,” Dingwell said. “Being from Texas, the closest beach was Galveston, which was about six hours away, and it wasn’t the nicest beach. So to come out here and have the water 15 minutes away is pretty awesome. I don’t go as much as I should, but when I get the chance I take it.”