Linfield senior cornerback O.J. Gulley had such a good time playing football last season that he decided, after the Wildcats lost to St. John’s in the regional finals, to postpone his own graduation and give up the sport he was best at so that he could give the gridiron another go. It has been a long and worthwhile road to the semis, both for the Wildcats, and for one of their top defensive players.

Gulley, who was a three-time All-NWC first-team selection as Linfield’s point guard, gave up basketball last winter so that he could play football this fall. NCAA rules state that you have 10 semesters to complete your athletic eligibility, and since Gulley had already used up nine, he took a semester off, delaying graduation as a history major for six months to Dec. 19 (coincidentally, the day after the Stagg Bowl) just so he could play football again.

Gulley wasn’t just an ordinary basketball player — an all-state selection in high school, he went to Oregon State with the intention of giving up sports and focusing on his goal of becoming a history teacher. The basketball coach even offered him a scholarship to coax him, but after deciding the school wasn’t for him, he transferred to Linfield, than decided to give hoops a shot. Last year, he figured, it would be worthwhile to try football too, even though he hadn’t played since freshman year of high school.

“Football had always been my favorite sport,” said Gulley. “I didn’t want to leave school without at least trying it out. The thing I was surprised about was how everyone welcomed me in. I hadn’t played in so long that I didn’t know what to expect. Guys may have been asking ‘Why is he out here?’ but everyone tried to help me get better. I had to learn quickly, but I was eager to learn”

Gulley made the adjustment from covering someone on a 94-foot hardwood floor to blanketing someone on 300-plus feet of turf. There were funny moments along the way, like how he had trouble getting into the right stance prior to snaps. But he was good enough right away to be second-string, survived groin and hamstring injuries, got two starts in the playoffs when an injury sidelined cornerback Eric Hillison and was named the team’s most improved defensive player. Most importantly, he was having so much fun that he wanted to play some more.

In basketball, Gulley averaged 1.4 steals his last two seasons.

In football, Gulley has had eight interceptions the last two seasons.

This season, the 5-10 Gulley has been a starter and leads the team with five interceptions and seven pass breakups, and because of his leaping ability is usually matched up against the opponent’s tallest receiver. He is in the school’s record books in a similar category in both sports — for career steals in basketball and for the longest interception return in football. His 100-yard pick for a touchdown (which actually started 4 yards into the end zone, but NCAA scoring allows for only up to 100 yard returns), was one in which he went into the end zone untouched was the final score in a 52-14 drubbing of UW-La Crosse in the second round of the playoffs.

“He’s like a cat,” said Linfield second-year cornerbacks coach Meadow Lemon. “He pounces on the ball. He has such great speed that even when he gets fooled, he’s able to recover and get back to the ball. We try to put him on the other team’s most dangerous threat. He looks at it as a challenge. He’s focused now. He feels he can make any play at any time.”

The defense doesn’t get many headlines at Linfield, not when the offense racks up seven touchdowns per game. The Wildcats had a tendency to give up a lot of points early in the season, but had a five-game run prior to allowing 27 to Occidental in which they yielded only 13 points per game. Both Gulley and fellow cornerback Chris Boock were All-Northwest Conference selections.

“I’m just one piece of the puzzle,” Gulley said. “We struggled at times this season, but we made the adjustments and got better. We learned to communicate. I think we’re peaking at the right time.”