Pastor, 47, plays first snaps with Bay Area juco football team: Gotta give him props

SAN JOSE — Safe to assume, just about everybody who forked over $10 to sit on metal bleachers under the blazing sun Saturday afternoon shared some personal connection to the players making their season debuts on the turf at San Jose City College.There were only two who called one of them dad.The two dozen or so congregation members from nearby Garden City Church who were also on hand were probably the only ones who called one of them pastor.That’s because Justin Buzzard isn’t like the rest of his teammates dressed in navy blue with gold numbers (who got thumped by the College of the Redwoods, 41-21). He wears No.48 because that’s how old he will be this year.

He might be the only collegiate athlete in the country listed on his roster as a freshman who’s also a father of a college sophomore.He is closer in age to 60-year-old head coach Jim Winkler than anybody in uniform.And yet, there he was, on the sideline of a real college football game, pads on, helmet in hand, a playsheet on his right wrist — just one of the guys. Sure, it came in a 3C2A-level game, and sure, he saw only two snaps in a lopsided loss, but Buzzard can officially say he’s doing something that probably nobody else in the country can.He’s a 47-year-old pastor playing college football.“To me, when he’s on the field, in between the lines, there’s no difference,” Winkler said.

“He’s just one of 105 guys that we have in the program.… Now, outside the lines?“Well, obviously we don’t have to figure out who’s going to say the team prayer.”Here’s a snapshot of Buzzard’s weekend:He watched his youngest two sons begin their own football seasons Friday night at Lincoln High School.

Then suited up himself for SJCC’s season opener bright and early Saturday (the kids were still sleeping when he had to leave his house, about a mile away, for an 8:30 calltime).Come Sunday morning, he’ll deliver a sermon for dozens of parishioners.“It’s surprising that people h...