Waiting around is not something that Jacobs’ Ben Ludlum was going to do.
Instead, he decided to hit the weights.
Ludlum had ample free time when sports were shut down during the pandemic. His sophomore track season was canceled, his junior football season pushed to the fall.
In the meantime, Ludlum put on 25 pounds of muscle. The result has been 11 straight 100-yard rushing games for the senior running back dating back to the spring.
“I was at home and I was so bored,” Ludlum said. “I really had nothing to do. All I could do was lift and work out, go to the park and run ladders. It was good.
“Football has been a part of my life since I was 5 years old, so it’s always on my mind.”
Jacobs coach Brian Zimmerman, who was with the JV2 level under former head coach Bill Mitz when Ludlum reached varsity as a sophomore, has witnessed the transformation.
“We thought he could be good, and you look at how much he’s grown from a physicality standpoint,” Zimmerman said. “When the pandemic hit, he was like a man on fire in the weight room.
“We knew he was fast, but by track season, he was a lot faster than we thought. He just looks the part.”
This season, Ludlum has rushed for 1,306 yards and has 26 total touchdowns for the Golden Eagles (5-3, 5-3), who are headed to the playoffs for the first time since 2017.
“Our goal is to get him to the outside,” Zimmerman said. “He’s really still learning to jump-cut and stuff like that. He can read the field so well to bounce it back to the outside. We’re proud of everything he’s done. He’s a great kid.”
Ludlum said the increase in muscle has helped in that regard. He used to just try to outrun defenders to the edge. Now, he can deliver more hits in the middle to find his way outside.
“I could definitely tell the difference,” Ludlum said. “It was definitely easier once I put on some weight.”
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One thing Ludlum has lacked is attention from college coaches.
After camps were closed down the summer before his junior year with everything in flux, an ankle injury suffered in track this spring forced him to miss camps over the summer.
While he hasn’t has as much exposure as expected, Zimmerman sees a future for Ludlum.
“No one is really reaching out about him,” said Zimmerman, who was a running back at Eastern Illinois. “I can’t believe nobody is looking at him. I have no doubt he can go play somewhere.”
Ludlum had to work to get to this point anyway, so he figures what’s a little more work to find his path to a college program.
“I’d definitely like to play if an opportunity came my way,” Ludlum said. “I’d love to. I’m just trying to do my best. Hopefully, they’ll come around if I keep doing what I’m doing.”
If he keeps this pace deep into the playoffs, that could happen. Jacobs wraps up the regular season Friday with a Fox Valley Conference game at Dundee-Crown (0-8, 0-8).
“I’m pretty confident we can hang with anyone the way we’ve been playing,” Ludlum said. “Our morale is pretty high right now. That’s always good when you’re heading into the playoffs.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.