AUSTIN Some nights, Shawn Izadi never made it out of the Moncrief-Neuhaus Athletic Center.

Hed pack sheets and pillows, workout gear for the morning training session, and prepare to sleep on a couch inside the complex attached to Royal-Memorial Stadium.

Study sessions for the walk-on linebacker-slash-Longhorn Band saxophonist-slash-biochemistry major might stretch to 1:30 a.m. Those evenings, hed glance at the clock with weary eyes and calculate how much time remained before the morning alarm blared about three and a half hours.

I would just maximize every minute instead of having to walk back home and walk back to Moncrief, Izadi said. I was like, I could save myself 30, 40 minutes, get some sleep and be ready to go in the morning.

By his own admission, Izadi was truly a crazy person.

The Coppell native and 2014 UT graduate didnt originally plan to play football for Mack Brown. Izadi gave up the game as a high school sophomore. Chosen as the bands drum major going into his junior year, he decided to pour his extracurricular efforts into that and abandon a game he still loved.

By spring of his sophomore year, Izadi got an idea. Even with band duties and one of UTs most demanding majors consuming time, he missed the game.

I thought, you know, if Im going to play for any team, it might as well be the best team in the country, Izadi said. The first time I tried out I didnt take myself seriously. I really wasnt prepared from a conditioning standpoint, weight training standpoint. I was just a band nerd at that time. And so of course that ended exactly the way you think its gonna end.

Izadis first tryout was a disaster. The result remains seared into his memory body depleted, corpse-like, crumpled up in a pile of sweat and vomit. Drained of everything save his will to try again.

He went out again the following fall. Better this time, but not enough.

Izadi still hadnt reached his breaking point by the time spring tryouts commenced in 2012. By then, the strength and conditioning staff recognized the face. They could hardly believe the biochem band nerd was back for more punishment.

They were like, Again? Are we gonna have to kill him for a third time? Izadi quipped. And luckily I was in pretty good shape. I wasnt keeling over. And gladly they saw something to take a chance on me.

Still upright and breathing after the third try, Izadi found his name listed among the new walk-ons on a sign posted outside Moncrief. That day felt like a dream.

He floated through the athletic center, in awe of the memorabilia on display, the legends commemorated on plaques and busts. Izadi was part of it now.

I saw my name, and I almost didnt believe it, Izadi confessed. I was like, Is this correct? Because I wasnt expecting I was just naturally you know, keeping my expectations low. This is gonna sound cheesy, but I actually teared up a little bit.

The team gave Izadi a locker next to Jordan Hicks, a high school All-American who went on to win Super Bowl LII as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles. So the saxophonist and future medical student set up shop next to the 2015 NFL draft pick who now plays for the Arizona Cardinals.

About two hours after he was accepted to the Texas football team, Izadi had to scramble to get over to band practice. Somehow, over the next two years, he managed the juggling act.

Izadi suited up for home games and traveled with the band for road trips. He never missed practice for either.

In fact, Brown and the rest of the staff had no idea one of their players was pulling double duty until they traveled to the Cotton Bowl in October 2013 for the Red River Showdown.

We were marching in and Coach Brown looked at me, Izadi recalled. He was like, Is that Shawn? The entire coaching staff is like, Shawn Azadi, whats he doing with a saxophone and a Stetson cowboy hat on?

They just literally went haywire on the sidelines. I think that was actually probably the greatest part for me.

Izadi never appeared in a game. Didnt matter. The experience, the grind and the battle to earn his helmet, was enough.

After graduating he spent a year working at Irvings Abbott Laboratories then returned to football in 2015 as a graduate assistant and coaching intern at North Texas. Brown helped him secure the gig.

All the while, he was waiting on an acceptance letter from University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) School of Medicine.

Its really interesting because looking back it I dont even know if at that time I really had direction, Izadi said. But I knew that I loved football. I knew that I loved medicine. I knew that I wanted to be in one of those fields.

Good news arrived during the season. Izadi enrolled at UTRGV in July 2016 and graduated this spring.

Next week, hell move out to Portland, Ore., to begin training at Oregon Health and Science University for general surgery. It could last five to seven years, two more if Izadi opts to become either a pediatric surgeon or a trauma critical care surgeon.

To most, that sounds like a nightmare. For Izadi, its simply another challenge.

Once I set my mind toward something, Izadi said, Im not going to quit until I get it.

nmoyle@express-news.net

Twitter: @NRmoyle

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Former UT walk-on linebacker recalls juggling band practice, and biochemistry - San Antonio Express-News