Samuel Womack’s Impact Has Been Hard to Overlook

By Paul Helgren, UToledo associate athletic director for communications

TOLEDO, Ohio – When the All-MAC football team was announced in 2019, there was one omission that stood out. Despite ranking second in the nation in passes broken up, Toledo cornerback Samuel Womack's name was nowhere to be found. Not on the first team, not on the second team, not on the third team.

A year later, in the COVID-shortened season of 2020, Womack again led the Mid-American Conference with eight breakups. But once again, his efforts went unnoticed by the league's coaches.

Womack just shrugged it off and went back to work.

"I just use the All-MAC (snub) as motivation," said Womack. "I know the type of player I am, my teammates know who I am, and the coaches in the MAC know who I am. I know I'm a good player and I feel I've got a chance to make it to the NFL."

Now in his final season as a Rocket, Womack is finally starting to earn the recognition he deserves. He was named to numerous preseason All-MAC teams, and he was named to the watch list for the Jim Thorpe Award, given annually to the nation's top defensive back. He was also named to the watch list for the 2022 Reese's Senior Bowl, a showcase for seniors with aspirations to play in the NFL.

Womack is also a candidate for the Burlsworth Trophy, which honors the best player in the nation who began his career as a walk-on. Womack's journey to Toledo as a non-scholarship player is a big part of his persona as a player with "something to prove."

Womack was under-recruited out of high school, perhaps partly because his focus on AAU basketball kept him away from summer football camps. He had some Division II offers but he always felt like he belonged at the highest level of college football. Luckily for Womack, the Rockets were recruiting defensive lineman Desjuan Johnson, one of his teammates at East English Village Prep in Detroit.

"Coach Candle and Coach Po (former assistant Hank Poteat) came to my school when they were recruiting Desjuan," said Womack. "My coach (Rod Oden) told them they had a dawg on the team that he feels is a D-I player. Coach Candle then looked at some tape and offered me a preferred walk-on. The (academic) scholarship money was enough to where my family and I didn't have to pay too much so that's why I came to Toledo."

It didn't take long for the Rocket coaching staff to realize that Womack was the real deal. He played in six games in his first season in 2017, and even grabbed an interception against Bowling Green. Candle offered him a scholarship the following summer during training camp.

"I came here and did what I was supposed to do," said Womack. "I listened, studied the game, tried to get better. Because of the program I came from and the coaching I had there, I took the same mentality here, and after a year of being a walk-on, Coach Candle gave me a scholarship. I really just took advantage of my opportunities and stayed the course and went beyond of what I was asked to do."

"I appreciate Sam's work ethic and what he has been able to do here," said Candle. "It's not an easy road coming in as a walk-on. You have to have great determination and resolve. You also have to be talented and gutty. He's all those things. He's earned everything he's received and continues to do great things, and not only on the football field. He's a great young man who is continuing to find ways to contribute to our program. I'm glad he chose to be a part of this program."

Not satisfied with simply earning a scholarship, Womack worked his way into the starting lineup in 2019, and despite his lack of recognition, has established himself as one of the best cornerbacks in the MAC. Womack has also thrived in the classroom, earning his bachelor's degree in business management last spring, which is a source of tremendous pride for him. Womack has had a football career full of highlights -- and is likely to have many more -- but for this former walk-on, the walk across the graduation stage last spring will be hard to beat.

"I'm a college graduate. Not a lot of people can say that," said Womack, who is currently working on a second bachelor's degree in Communication. "Winning a MAC championship (in 2017) was crazy, but walking across that stage was just as crazy for me."

Samuel Womack’s Impact Has Been Hard to Overlook

Players Mentioned

Desjuan Johnson

Samuel Womack

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