Daniels Wagner savors a day to remember

May 12—ST. JOSEPH — Walking out of the St. Joseph-Ogden High School auditorium shortly after 1 p.m. on Monday, Cameron Wagner had one item on his mind.

Hacky sack.

"This game has infested our school," Wagner said with a laugh, about the small bean-bag like items participants kick in the air that were popular in the 1990s and are apparently making a comeback these days.

Before he made his way down a small set of stairs and into the main office at SJ-O, the man of the hour graciously took another photo with a fellow SJ-O student. Like he did for almost an hour prior to leaving the auditorium.

He then walked into the SJ-O board room for one more interview on the day. A day Wagner, his family, his coaches, his teammates and everyone else in attendance at the SJ-O auditorium will remember for some time.

Count Brian Brooks, the SJ-O superintendent who has worked at the school since 2003, among them.

"This doesn't happen every day in St. Joe," Brooks said standing at the back of the auditorium 20 minutes after Wagner committed to play football at Oregon, making his announcement live on 'The Pat McAfee Show,' on ESPN. "Someone asked me if I've ever been involved in something like this, and I said, 'Absolutely not.' It's just incredible for a kid to go play football at a power program like Oregon to begin with. Then you think he's coming from a school of 460 kids at St. Joe-Ogden, and it's awesome."

Smiles were in abundance from Wagner in the minutes after he made his national television debut, with the 6-foot-7, 300-pound Wagner flanked by family members in chairs sitting next to him on stage in the SJ-O auditorium. With a laptop in front of him so he could make his decision on the 'Pat McAfee Show' and a packed auditorium waiting to hear his announcement, the 17-year-old junior kept his cool in making the life-altering decision to pick Oregon ahead of a final four that also included Illinois, Notre Dame and Wisconsin.

Leading up to the moment, though, provided a different set of emotions for the four-star offensive lineman recruit.

"Honestly, I was sweating bullets," Wagner said. "I probably went to the bathroom 15 times in the three hours before to just wipe the sweat off my face with paper towels. But I'm just grateful that the whole school was there, and I'm grateful to Pat McAfee for letting me on his show. It's been a dream of mine."

Wagner had four hats of his four finalists laid out in front of him before he announced his decision. Once he reached for a black Oregon hat and put it on, he, and the rest of his family members on stage, unzipped their respective pullovers to unveil a variety of Oregon T-shirts before they all threw up the 'O' symbol with their hands that is synonymous with Oregon.

A decision and moment like this doesn't just happen in the spur of the moment. Wagner has gone through the recruiting process for more than two years, and even in the minutes before he announced, classmates in the auditorium were guessing about what school he would end up at.

Wagner kept it tight-lipped, though, about picking Oregon until he announced his choice. Even if it was something his teammates and classmates kept asking him in the days leading up to Monday. But getting a chance to watch the process play out up close ever since Wagner stepped foot inside SJ-O in August 2023, SJ-O football coach Shawn Skinner felt his star left tackle handled the situation about as well as could be expected.

"You never saw him take anything for granted," Skinner said. "He has a good head on his shoulders, and this spring, we've seen, if it's possible, a whole other level of commitment from him to our program. That comes with maturity and age, but it's nice to see that."

Case in point: Wagner was soaking in the moment on Monday after announcing his commitment — as he should — and had some out-of-state family and friends to visit with. But he also knew what was coming up later in the day and what he had already done earlier on Monday. And that's preparing for the upcoming SJ-O football season that kicks off Aug. 21 with a home game against Prairie Central at Dick Duval Field.

"I set my alarm for 5:43 every morning because I work out before school every day," Wagner said. "I woke up (Monday) morning and actually snoozed it until 5:46. Got up, put my stuff on and a few of my fellow offensive linemen met up to go work out from about 6:15-7. Then, after school, I have a lift at 3:10, where it's a five-rep max press bench where it's the end of our block and getting ready for the summer workouts."

Now with his college choice out of the way, Wagner is able to put his full focus on the Spartans, a tradition-rich program that went 8-5 last season and reached the Class 3A state semifinals. After he announced Oregon as his college home, Wagner wanted all the SJ-O football players in attendance on stage for a few photos.

"Those are my guys," Wagner said. "That's who I hang out with at school and outside of school. Sharing it with the whole team was awesome."

Much like the perspective he shared with readers of The News-Gazette the last nine months, writing a monthly diary in these pages detailing his recruiting process every step of the way.

"I'm super thankful I did because by doing so, it has made me way more media-trained than I would have been," Wagner said. "At the beginning of this, I wasn't a real outgoing person, but this whole process has really helped that. It's awesome to share this experience with everyone, but now I'm ready to roll for football season. I'm fired up."

And not just for Hacky sack.