Josh Goldin’s moment of truth came on a sunny September afternoon in Lincoln, Nebraska. Memorial Stadium was, as always, filled to capacity — 85,000-plus fans cheering on their beloved Cornhuskers, millions more watching on national television.
Goldin, clad in the black and gold of the Colorado Buffaloes, knew full well that the fans weren’t cheering for his side. As he walked onto the gridiron — his first time in an actual game — he says he was fully prepared to do his job: Receive the snap from the center and hold the ball just right so that CU’s kicker could put it through the goalposts for a field goal.
“It wasn’t a friendly environment,” Goldin says with an easy laugh. “They were really hoping we were going to miss it. The first time I went out there for a field goal, it definitely got loud, so loud I could hardly hear myself think. It was a surreal experience to be out there doing such a small job.”
A small job, perhaps, but an important one.
“It has to be done perfectly for it to go right,” he says, “but I wasn’t nervous that first time.”
Another easy laugh.
“I was too shell-shocked just to be in a college football game to be worried about nerves.”
As it turned out, he did hold the ball perfectly, and the kicker kicked it perfectly. The Buffs earned three points — an important part of their 33-25 victory over the Huskers, itself an unusual happening, as CU fans know only too well.
“It worked out nicely,” Goldin understates.
When the game started, he admits, he didn’t expect to get onto the field at all. Well down the Buffs’ quarterback roster — and the team’s backup holder — he knew his chances were minimal at best. But in the second quarter, CU’s starting holder, who also serves as its punter, broke his collarbone when he tried to tackle a Nebraska punt returner.
“So I was kind of thrown into the fire,” Goldin says. “I had to hold three or four times during that game, which we ended up winning. That’s how I started playing this year. I was very lucky to have the opportunity.”
A nice Jewish kid of 20 who lives in Boulder, Goldin had plentiful opportunities this season. Although the Buffs weren’t able to sustain the victorious pattern they demonstrated early on, he played as their holder for field goals and points after touchdowns in all of their games after Nebraska, and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.
In a Friday afternoon interview with the Intermountain Jewish News, between morning and evening practice sessions before the Buffs’ game against Washington State, Goldin provided a thumbnail autobiography.
He grew up in Highlands Ranch, the descendant of several generations of Denverites. He played both football (as quarterback) and lacrosse (as midfielder) for the Jaguars of Rock Canyon High School, from which he graduated in 2016.
Goldin first tried out in for Buffs football in the fall of 2016 as a “walk-on.”
“Walking on is when you’re not offered a scholarship coming out of high school,” the CU junior explains. “I didn’t have any big offers coming out of high school, except for a few small Christian schools, and I wasn’t terribly interested in those.”
His first walk-on didn’t work out, Goldin says, so — determined to find a way to stay close to the team — he volunteered to help out, “like a ball boy on the sidelines,” he says, preparing footballs for practice and performing basic support tasks.
Far from a quitter, he gave it another try in the spring of 2017, again as a walk-on.
“Basically you have to do a tryout in front of your respective position coach, in my case, the quarterback coach,” he says.
“They kind of throw you in the ring and watch you throw. The hardest thing is that it’s kind of short. For something like three months all you think about is how you want to go out there and do the best you can, but it’s only a few minutes with the coaches watching you. They want to see if you can be proficient in passing the ball. It’s a high pressure situation.”
This time, he made the team, coming on as a third-string quarterback.
“But at the end of spring football, I ended up getting cut,” Goldin says good-naturedly.
Again, he volunteered to help out as a non-player, signing up for the team’s equipment staff, taking care of uniforms and equipment, cleaning up the locker room, whatever was needed.
“Even though I wouldn’t be playing,” he says, “I thought I could at least contribute to the team. I was disappointed when I was told that I wasn’t going to be playing so I thought I might as well try to help out in any way that I could. It was just a lot of dirty work but it was well worth it just to be around the coaches.”
Goldin is a persistent young man.
“In the spring of 2018 I gave it another shot and walked on,” he says, “and they decided to keep me on. I made it through spring ball and participated in fall camp and actually started playing at the start of the season.”
Goldin feels he was better prepared for his third walk-on. “I really kept working on my stuff. I tried to get a little bigger and worked hard on throwing the ball, but in all honesty I think it was just a better situation. A couple of quarterbacks left and I was fortunate enough to get a spot.”
Officially the Buff’s fourth-string quarterback for the 2018 season, Goldin also became the team’s backup holder. “It was another way for me to help the team out, giving myself another role,” he says
He has yet to play during a live game from the quarterback position.
“I think the only chance I’ll get to do that is if we’re winning really big,” he says, adding that he has played behind center during several scrimmages, “which is absolutely a dream come true for me.”
He doesn’t seem upset that he might never be able to take a snap during a game that counts.
“I love the game of football,” he says simply. “It’s a ton of fun.”
By now, Goldin has had enough time in the sport to have a good feel for the advanced level of competition at which a big school like Colorado plays.
“The game is really so much faster than high school,” he says. “Every single player on the field is the best player from their high school.”
The players are not only much faster and talented than high-schoolers, he says, but a lot bigger, too.
“I think my center at high school — who was actually another Jewish kid, Jake Weintraub — was, I think, 5’, 9”, 220 pounds. I think our center now is 6’, 6” and 300 pounds or something like that. It’s just exponentially bigger at the next level.”
The technical aspects of football, and attention to detail, are also considerably more intense at the NCAA level, Goldin says.
That’s even true for the position of holder, a job that some might see as relatively simple and straightforward.
It isn’t, he says. A lot can go wrong if a holder messes up and games can be won if he does his job right.
“A lot of it is getting to know the kickers and seeing what they like,” he says. “The thing that astonished me when I got into it was the operation time, from snap to kick. It has to be under 1.3 seconds. That’s the target. It’s amazing how quickly things need to happen, from snap to getting the ball on the ground to spinning the ball.”
The last thing a holder — or a coach — wants is for the holder to fumble the ball at a crucial moment, or to put the ball in the wrong position so the kicker misses, or to take so long setting up the ball that the other team is able to block the kick.
Getting the ball positioned just right for the kicker is crucial.
“A lot of it is about the way the ball is tilting,” Goldin says. “Ideally, the goal is to get the ball straight up and down but some kickers like it leaned inwards a little bit. It helps them make better contact. And obviously, laces out, away from the kicker, every time, which is important. If they kick the laces it messes with their contact.”
No less important a skill is receiving the ball from the long snapper, the center whose specialty is hiking the ball long distances, as is done in points after touchdowns and field goal attempts.
“One of the most impressive things about it is how quickly and precisely everything needs to happen,” Goldin says.
“You have to find the right distance you need to be away from the center. A long snap is actually pretty crafty and precise. If you’re seven-and-a-half yards from the long snapper he can put it right in your hand. You try to work on the precise location of the ball so you don’t have to spin it. You’ll catch it, the laces will be out and it will just be perfect. It’s one less thing to worry about if you can work well with your long snapper.”
Barring “something crazy,” Goldin says, he hopes to repeat his role as team holder on the 2019 Buffaloes and further hopes he can move up a slot or two on the quarterback chart.
“Our quarterback right now, Steve Montez, is a really gifted athlete. Once he leaves for the NFL there will be more competition and that will open up my opportunity to move up the depth chart.”
Goldin has nothing but praise for the first string quarterback, describing his “arm strength” and “arm talent” as sufficiently impressive for Montez to seriously consider a career in professional football.
“He can make 50-70 yard throws,” he says. “It’s amazing to see.”
In the passing department, Goldin is no slouch himself. When pressed, he acknowledges that he can toss the pigskin a good 60 yards on a good day.
“It’s a lot of repetition,” he says, “and a lot of work.”
But Goldin entertains few notions of ever going pro himself. A business major, he’s studying for a career in finance and accounting with a focus on investment and portfolio management and banking.
“I often think how awesome it would be to play at the next level,” he says about football. “It has obviously crossed my mind, but I’m more concerned about getting my degree, which I know is going to pay off in the long term. Football goes only so far; earning that degree is more important.”
Spoken like a good Jewish kid, which Goldin definitely is, even though he’s playing in a sport in which very few Jews participate.
He describes his Jewishness in very familial terms.
“Both my mom and my dad [Nancy Perlmutter Goldin and Kevin Goldin] are Jewish,” he says. “When I grew up I went to Temple Emanuel. I was Bar Mitzvah there by Rabbi Black and got confirmed there as well.
“We’re a Jewish family, although we don’t necessarily celebrate Shabbat every Friday. We get together for the High Holidays and have meals. We always celebrate Chanukah and Yom Kippur together.”
In Boulder, Goldin says his football commitments make it difficult for him to engage in any campus Jewish activities.
“I don’t have time to get to temple on Fridays or Saturdays because of our schedule. When I do come down to Denver, I go back to Emanuel for the holidays.”
And yes, he replies, there is only one Jewish name on the current Colorado football roster.
“I am the only Jewish kid on the Buffaloes,” Goldin acknowledges.
His teammates don’t make a big deal of that fact, he says, “but our coach, Mike MacIntyre, is a Christian and he sometimes likes to pray after practice.”
Goldin’s response is to remain quiet and unobtrusive during these prayer sessions, “and the guys sometimes give me a little flack for that,” he says with yet another easy laugh that shows that the ribbing is not meant or taken personally.
“Being Jewish sets me apart on the team,” he says, “and I’m definitely proud of it.”
Chris Leppek may be reached at IJNEWS@aol.com.
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