No. 88 lined up at his tight end spot for Western Michigan University, anxiously awaiting the first snap of the 2023 football season last Thursday.

The play was almost as expected for the first one, a simple run up the middle by Jalen Buckley for a six-yard gain with No. 88 blocking his man out of the way, helping the running back find a hole.

It might have been just one play for many players, but it was a big one for No. 88. It was the first time in more than 1,400 days that graduate student Austin Hence – No. 88 – had competed on a football field. It was more than a simple play… for Hence it was nothing short of a miracle. He had overcome two major injuries to be on the playing field again.

''On that first play, it felt so great to just be out there,'' he said. ''To finally take the field, these are my brothers, we're going to war and I had a certain sense of pride.''

''I was speechless when he was in the game on the first play,'' his mother, Felcia Hence, said. ''It was a moment we've been waiting for for four years.

''I woke up that morning and cried…it was an emotional time.''

The pride really began in 2016 when he started his collegiate football career at Mercyhurst University, however he was redshirted that season. In 2017, he played in six games with 267 receiving yards. In 2018, he had 25 receptions for 361 yards and two touchdowns, then in 2019, he played in four games with 11 receptions for 190 yards and two touchdowns.

The 6-foot-4, 241-pounder had earned his undergraduate degree in sports management at Mercyhurst, which didn't play football in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He decided to walk-on at WMU where his father, Jamie, had been an All-American in Track and Field as well as record-setting wide receiver on the football team. Jamie Hence is in the WMU Athletic Hall of Fame. And Jamie wore, naturally, No. 88.

Then the tough part came for Austin Hence. Before the 2021 season started, he suffered an injury in fall camp which ended that year before it began. Then the same thing happened in 2022.

WMU petitioned the NCAA for a waiver to allow Hence to play this season. But who actually gets an eighth year to play college football?

''We didn't think he would be able to come back,'' Jamie Hence said. ''Then, in March, WMU said it would petition the NCAA to see if it would give Austin another year.

''Felcia and I were sitting on pins and needles two years in a row. He has been through so much and for him to get to this point is surreal.''

Added WMU first-year head coach Lance Taylor: ''I was optimistic from the first moment (Hence would get the waiver) because I knew how hard he worked to come back from the injury. It had to be quite the compelling story for those decision makers. I felt he had done everything he needed to do and we needed some help along the way and he was able to get the waiver.''

Hence, who's personality and smile are as big as all outdoors, put it best about being able to play in 2023. And he has the sense of humor to go with it.

''At the kickoff luncheon before the game, Austin said he was in his eighth year, which means he's in his second term,'' Hence's dad said with a laugh.

That second term has started with a bang. It was Taylor's plan to use tight ends Hence, redshirt sophomore Blake Bosma and junior Mitch Bartol a lot in the game against St. Francis, and sure enough, Hence was in on 35 of the 90 offensive snaps. He would set up in the traditional tight end spot next to the tackle and either block or go out on pass routes. He was also split wide right or left to possibly catch a pass.

That reception finally came in the third quarter and it turned into a nine-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jack Salopek. It was the only target for Hence in the game and he didn't miss it.

''I didn't know how I was going to feel if I scored a touchdown, but when I got into the end zone, it was like everything had come full circle,'' Austin Hence said. ''I knew Jack was going to throw it to me.

''The best moment of all was the field lights flashing after I scored. It felt like a magical moment.''

When her son got into the end zone, Felicia Hence was one proud mom.

''When he caught the ball, it was one of those moments where time stopped, just like when he came through the tunnel at the start of the game,'' she said, while wearing a No. 88 jersey given to her husband at a celebration for the 1988 WMU MAC Championship team. ''I was just screaming and cheering.''

Added Taylor: ''I was grinning from ear to ear when he scored. It's been a long time coming. We knew he would have a great impact on our team, but you can't script these things. It couldn't have happened at any more of a perfect time, in front of his family and home crowd.''

Last season, it didn't look like that flashing-lights moment would happen. Thinking 2022 would be his final season at Western Michigan, Austin Hence took the field when the seniors were honored with his dad, mom and brother Jamie, who played on Ashland University football teams which won two GLIAC titles. Felcia wore the No. 88 jersey to senior day.

''After the second injury, it crossed my mind that this might be it, so I thought maybe I could get into a couple of games at the end of the season, but that didn't happen,'' Austinn Hence said. ''I didn't know the eighth year was on the table, that it was even possible.

''I went to WMU's Pro Day, which was crazy. That was a hard moment because I thought my college career was over.''

Added Felcia: ''We told him we would support him whether he would continue to play or walk away. Either way, he has a bright future.''

Austin's father knew about the heartbreak of a season-ending injury. In the fifth game of the 1988 championship season, the then-senior suffered a knee injury which ended his season.

''Western petitioned for me to have another season, but it was denied because I had played in a fifth game,'' Jamie Hence said. ''If it had been in the fourth game, I would have gotten another season.''

Now it's on to Syracuse University for a game on Saturday, Sept. 9.

''We'll be there,'' Felicia Hence said.

Wearing the No. 88 jersey, no doubt.