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<\/a>This past season, Spencer was a first-team All-American on numerous publications, earned NSIC Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors and captained a 10-2 Winona State team that forced the second most turnovers in all of NCAA football \u2013 D1 included.<\/p>\n
Because of these accomplishments, Spencer\u2019s recreational tourism degree may have to wait because he has signed an agent and is training for the NFL combine at the end of February.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the only occupation I want to do,\u201d Spencer said.<\/p>\n
If all goes well, he may join his cousin, Clay Harbor, who plays for the New Orleans Saints and has enjoyed a 10-year career in the league.<\/p>\n
Spencer said his driving force throughout this journey is to reimburse those who have invested in him; a shortlist that starts with his mother.<\/p>\n
Spencer was born to a single mother with many siblings and not much money to go around.<\/p>\n
His father has been incarcerated his whole life.<\/p>\n
That is not something he gives much energy to \u2013 he said he would rather focus on what his Mom has provided.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe kind of struggled a lot. We had to grind for money,\u201d Spencer said. \u201cI just think this is how life came out for us. We had it harder than other people, but I feel like this is just hard work paying off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spencer described taking care of his mother with his first check not as something he wants to do, but something he is going to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just have to do it,\u201d Spencer said. \u201cMy mom gave me a good life\u2026 she\u2019s just a blue-collar woman who worked hard. She got put in a s*** position, I\u2019m gonna pay her back,\u201d Spencer said laughing.<\/p>\n Loyalty is important to Spencer.<\/p>\n He said it took a community to get him to where he is today and is committed to giving a return on others\u2019 investments in him.<\/p>\n \u201cI got a lot of help and support from my friend\u2019s families so I pay a lot of respect to them for actually getting me to this spot,\u201d Spencer said.<\/p>\n Among those friends is a man who has seen Spencer\u2019s development from the beginning, high school and college teammate, Justin Bergeron.<\/p>\n \u201cHe just always had that mentality whether it was pickup basketball in the driveway, football, golf, video games, it was like he was going to win,\u201d Bergeron said. \u201cThat\u2019s something that\u2019s always been in him and that\u2019s cool to see.\u201d<\/p>\n It’s never been a question for Bergeron that Spencer is made for sports, but what has increased dramatically over the years is the maturation of Andrew Spencer.<\/p>\n \u201cAlong with his maturity changing, the seriousness of his engagement with understanding the purpose of working out and the importance of doing the little things right,\u201d Bergeron said.<\/p>\n Spencer earned second-team All NSIC honors his junior year and Bergeron said this lit a fire under him.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s something that just hit him like, \u2018I\u2019m way better than that, something needs to change\u2019,\u201d Bergeron said.<\/p>\n Winona State head football coach Tom Sawyer said he recalls recruiting an immature high school kid with infinite potential.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s one of the biggest success stories that we\u2019ve had,\u201d Sawyer said. \u201cI don\u2019t think very many people gave him a chance to get a college degree and play at this level because he didn\u2019t understand the importance of a college degree at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n Sawyer said Spencer came to Winona State as a kid with tons of energy, but developing into a man with direction has been a process.<\/p>\n \u201cWe saw the transformation take place. We saw him start to grow as a student and as an athlete,\u201d Sawyer said. \u201cHe all of a sudden realized people were looking at him for answers instead of just playing. That\u2019s when he started to become a complete athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n Sawyer explained once Spencer started to focus on the technique of the game, the whole thing opened up for him.<\/p>\n \u201cOne is the academic piece – he understood that education is important, then he started understanding technique and doing things right is important, now the culmination of that is one of our most decorated student-athletes we\u2019ve ever had here.\u201d<\/p>\n Heading into the combine in the next few weeks, Winona State defensive backs coach Brian Curtin explained the importance of testing well and stressed the importance of Spencer believing in himself.<\/p>\n \u201cHe needs to understand that he can play at that level and have that confidence to go out there and not get caught up in \u2018this guy played here that guy played there.\u2019 Just get out there and play ball,\u201d Curtin said.<\/p>\n Spencer said he is confident in his abilities. He admitted to being concerned about his 40-yard dash.<\/p>\n NFL scouts don\u2019t really give D2 guys the benefit of the doubt, so it’s imperative Spencer uses these upcoming weeks wisely.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were just there to help him with the football part, now he has people to help him with the combine,\u201d Curtin said. \u201cIt\u2019s like in school when they teach for the test, that\u2019s what he\u2019ll be doing for the next couple months is preparing for that test.\u201d<\/p>\n Getting to the National Football League from a division two program is not impossible. It’s improbable. Out of 1696 players in the league, 120 come from D2 schools, according to Hero Sports. Some make a big impact, many don\u2019t, but to even be on a practice squad will make the athlete a league minimum $7,200 … Continue reading WSU All-American Has a Shot at the NFL<\/span> <\/a><\/a>