By KURT VOIGT
Sebastian Tretola slowly stands at the mere mention of his possible obsessive compulsive disorder, and for a moment you aren’t sure if this dreadlocked, 325-pound behemoth means you harm.
Right away, his gleaming ear-to-ear smile and bellowing laugh — as he looks up while opening his locker’s bottom drawer and displaying the perfectly organized shoes, gloves and clothes — lets you know everything is not as its seems when it comes to the most unique personality on the Arkansas football team.
Don’t be fooled by the Razorbacks in-house comedian.
While his laughter has always been there, it’s been elevated to an entirely new level of sincerity with the No. 18 Razorbacks.
And that’s with good reason for the 6-foot-5 Tretola, who has nearly completed his surprising transformation from a lackadaisical afterthought to one of the most determined — and talented — offensive linemen in the Southeastern Conference.
“I really believe when I look back at my career here, whenever that’s said and done, he might be a guy I point to and say, ‘He changed the culture of our program,'” Arkansas coach Bret Bielema told The Associated Press.
Tretola is mostly known across the country for his 6-yard touchdown pass last season against UAB. That a then-350-pound offensive lineman was throwing touchdown passes wasn’t the most enjoyable part of the play, however. It was Tretola’s brief Heisman pose that followed, as well as his chest bump with Bielema on the way to the sideline.
And that was before the postgame fun, during which the California jokester talked about being tired from standing on one leg during his Heisman moment.
All in all, it was just another day for a player who has done more to endear himself to teammates and fans in one year on Arkansas’ campus than some players or coaches do in a career.
“I’m home,” Tretola said. “It took a while to figure it out, but I’m home.”
To say it took a while for Tretola to find his place in the world of college football is a bit of an understatement.
He began his career by spending two seasons at Nevada, where Bielema affectionately said Tretola “flunked out.” Then, there was a season at Iowa Western Community College in 2013 — where despite being what Bielema called an occasional “knucklehead” off the field, Tretola’s play on the field was enough to earn him scholarship offers from schools such as Oklahoma, Florida, Texas Tech and TCU.
It was hardly a resume worthy of an NFL hopeful, and even Bielema had his doubts about his new signing when Tretola showed up in Fayetteville weighing 376 pounds.
That is, until a preseason meeting between the two after Bielema had seen a glimpse of his outgoing and confident nature during an early get-to-know-your team meeting.
“I said, ‘Listen, brother, whoever the Sebastian Tretola was that flunked out of Nevada, who consistently procrastinates in the classroom …'” Bielema said. “‘Let’s leave him where he is. The Sebastian Tretola I know I really like, and if you give me him for another year and half, we’ll take you to places you can’t even think about.'”
The results were startling, and immediate. Tretola quickly dropped 25 pounds through simple exercise, moving into Arkansas’ starting lineup at left guard, and enters this season having lost another 25 pounds because of an improved diet.
Meanwhile, while many junior-college transfers struggle to assimilate in their first seasons at a major program, Tretola’s undeniable sense of humor quickly earned him a place with the Razorbacks.
“It’s been almost unbelievable,” offensive line coach Sam Pittman said.
So, too, did his ability to take a joke about his neatness — a trait his teammates learned about when someone disturbed his locker early last season.
The result was a legendary meltdown, with right tackle Dan Skipper saying Tretola “tried to fight everyone that even got named.”
“Since that day, they’ve never touched my locker again,” Tretola said, smiling. “It’s like that in my room where I live, too. If it’s not like this, I think about it all day. It will just be sitting in my head all day, irritating me like, ‘I didn’t fold those pair of shorts.'”
Tretola’s obsession with organization has also finally carried over to the classroom, where Bielema said he’s three hours away from graduating and has raised his grade-point average to 2.7.
Don’t worry, though. All of that homework hasn’t affected his free-spirited and likable ways.
“We let him become who he wanted to be, and that’s a leader,” Bielema said. “He’s contagious, he’s infectious.”