What a difference a year makes

Last year Rowan University's Matt Hoffman gave up the end of football season to be a bone marrow donor. This year he's his conference's defensive player of the year.

It's been quite a year for Matt Hoffman.

Last Thanksgiving, the Burlington Township resident, a defensive lineman for the Rowan University football team, missed the final game of his junior season to recover from a bone marrow transplant he voluntarily participated in to help a then-52-year-old man with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

This Thanksgiving, Hoffman is looking back on his finest football season while knowing he helped save a complete stranger's life.

"It was tough last year, not being able to play in my last game," he said. "There were some seniors on that team that I really admired and wanted to finish the season with. But it was definitely worth it to donate to a patient that really needed it."

In spring 2009, Rowan's football team signed up for the "Get in the Game, Save a Life" bone marrow drive and all the players were entered into the National Marrow Donor Program's registry.

Hoffman was selected as a donor after he was determined to be a perfect match for a transplant for a patient.

He underwent a procedure to donate bone marrow blood stem cells to the anonymous recipient and the procedure was deemed a success.

The donor and recipient are still in the process of signing consent forms to contact each other, which eventually will be set up through the national program if both sides agree to meet. All Hoffman knows is that the recipient of his bone marrow cells is on the path to recovery.

"I've been speaking with a representative of the program and we are trying to set something up," he said. "I heard he's doing fine and he's getting better. I hope I get to speak to him someday."

After the procedure, it was back to the gridiron for Hoffman. And on the football field, he quickly made up for lost time.

Just a few days after the donation procedure, Hoffman began working out in preparation for the 2010 season. Before the start, he was named one of his team's four captains.

"That was a big honor for me," he said. "It feels good to know your teammates respect you, and to be voted in by these guys was really special."

Hoffman didn't disappoint them.

Starting all 10 games for the Profs, the senior defensive lineman registered 65 tackles (30 solo, 35 assisted), 21.5 tackles for a loss (minus 106 yards), and 8.5 sacks (minus 75 yards). He also forced three fumbles, broke up two passes, and recovered one fumble.

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Last week Hoffman, 21, was named the New Jersey Athletic Conference's Defensive Player of the Year.

"It's an incredible honor," he said last Friday. "My phone has been ringing all morning. We had a great season and finished 9-1. I wish we could have made the playoffs, but we lost on some crazy tiebreaker."

On a bright side, good news on individual honors kept rolling in. This week, Hoffman was selected as one of the 10 finalists for the Gagliardi Trophy, given to the Division III Player of the Year.

The Gagliardi Trophy is presented annually to a student-athlete that excels in three areas: football, academics and campus community service. Fans can vote on the 10 finalists at D3football.com (http://www.d3football.com/notables/2010/11/gagliardi-trophy-finalists). Four finalists will be chosen on Tuesday and they will be flown to Salem, Va. for the Gagliardi Trophy presentation on Dec. 16.

Despite its nearly flawless 9-1 record and NJAC co-championship, Rowan missed out on a bid to participate in the NCAA Division III playoffs. Division rival SUNY Cortland grabbed the automatic bid as the tiebreaker winner and Montclair State received an at-large bid based on its strength of schedule. All three teams finished with one loss in the conference.

Hoffman will have one more game to throw on the shoulder pads and attempt to attract the eye of professional scouts at the All-American Bowl in Minneapolis on Dec. 18. He and defensive end Kyle Kane, a Toms River resident, will be the only Rowan representatives in the senior all-star game.

"That will be my last game," Hoffman said. "I'm looking forward to it and it should be fun. Hopefully someone notices me."

Even if football falls through, Hoffman will do more than pick up a degree in health and exercise science next spring. He will have left a mark.

"As they say, he has done everything for us except drive the bus," Rowan coach Jay Accorsi said. "Matt Hoffman is not only a great football player and determined leader, but more importantly a tremendous human being."