“GET GOING BIG BOY!” 

Natick High School’s sophomore nose tackle Josh Atwood heard the yell.

Josh just read Walpole High School’s play like a book, snatching a screen pass out of the sky. This is uncharted territory for the “big boy,” scanning the field quickly before taking off toward the end zone. 

Crossing over the 30-yard line, Josh gets a block from his teammate on the opposing quarterback. There’s nothing but green grass ahead of him.

“I just, I got in [the end zone], I threw that ball down. I think the whole team had caught up to me by that point,” Josh said. “It’s just a cool feeling to like, know that, you know, my hard work was paying off. Like, that’s something you talk about in practice all the time, but you never think it’s actually [going to] happen, and then it happened.”

Since he was a child, Josh has always been a “big boy.” This proved to be beneficial to his career on the football field, at least after he was allowed to play. In first grade, one of Josh’s friends bragged to him about playing organized football, something Josh immediately became interested in.

When Josh brought this new interest up to his mother, she looked into how to get him involved. Unfortunately for her young aspiring athlete, he was over the weight limit for his grade, preventing him from joining the team.

The Natick, MA native towered over most kids his age, weighing roughly 100 pounds more than his average peer. His size was put on full display in his freshman year of high school, with his lacrosse teammates challenging him to eat 100 McDonald’s McNuggets in one sitting. In about an hour, Josh cleared all 100 with no problem. 

“I felt bad for some of the kids on the opposite [teams] of him because he was bigger,” Josh’s mother Jennifer Atwood said. “I didn’t want him hurting anybody.”

Josh used his size to his advantage when he did get on the field, leading his fifth- and eighth-grade teams to the state championship. Josh made his presence known heading into high school, playing both sides of the line and even a little at running back.

As a kid, Josh played baseball, basketball, lacrosse and wrestled outside of football. Lacrosse was his second favorite sport behind football, becoming a Bay State All-Star and playing all four years of high school. Before lacrosse, Josh played baseball, eventually breaking the Natick Little League home run record with 12 home runs in 14 games as a 12-year-old.

Lacrosse has always been a passion of Josh’s ever since he first started playing. To this day, he still has a ball and a stick in his car, ready to go at any time that he may want it. Lacrosse taught him how to be a versatile athlete, helping him in the future more than he could’ve expected.

“Josh is a very big kid, and for him to play lacrosse the way he did was just like, not normal,” Jennifer said. “He would’ve loved to be able to play lacrosse and football in college. That would’ve made his life. Trust me, he’s tried.”

On the football field, he primarily played on the defensive line during his first two years of high school, before rotating in on the offensive side for his junior and senior seasons. The state of Massachusetts liked what it saw of Josh more so on offense, making him one of five offensive linemen named to the all-state team as a senior.

This senior campaign also earned Josh Bay State Conference MVP honors, along with making the All-Star team. He caught the attention of scouts around the college football world, becoming a three-star recruit according to 247Sports and ESPN. 

Division II and FCS programs flocked to Natick to see Josh’s dominance in the trenches, with both mentioning they were hesitant to offer him due to the chance an FBS program came calling.

 Soon enough, Boston College and UMass made both of its interests known. Jim Jackson, a UMass offensive line coach in 2019, liked what he saw in Josh enough to invite him to a camp in Amherst.

Josh played both sides of the ball there, trying to show the coaches anything from his repertoire that may impress them.

 “I would get a D-line rep, I’d beat the center or the guard, whoever I was going against, then I’d go around and I’d stone somebody on the O-line,” Josh said. “I just kept going back and forth.”

His performance at the camp impressed defensive tackles coach at the time Cedric Douglas enough to let him know UMass would be in touch.

Happy with how things went, Josh hopped in the car and headed back to Natick. 10 minutes into his drive, the phone rang. A random number was calling him.

“Where are you?” Douglas said when Josh answered the call.

“I just got on the road,” Josh responded.

“Can you come back? I want to talk to you.”

Josh agreed to return to campus, quickly turning his car around. He was with one of his high school football coaches, who made the trip due to Josh’s parents attending a funeral on the same day.

Upon his return, Josh sat down with the Minutemen’s head coach at the time, Walt Bell. Bell cut to the chase, offering Josh a scholarship to play football at the University of Massachusetts on the defensive line.  He wanted the young man to decide on the spot. 

Caught off guard by what was happening, Josh looked to his high school coach for guidance.

“I think you just need to do it,” his coach said. “It’s a really good opportunity, you’re close to home and it’s kind of got all the things you need, so I think I’d take it.”

That was all Josh needed. His dream of playing Division I FBS football was unfolding in front of his eyes.

He lived and played football in the state his whole life, even getting a chance to represent Massachusetts when he played in the FBU National Championship in seventh and eighth grade. That was the first time he ever donned “Massachusetts” across his chest.

Now at UMass, this would be a regular occurrence every Saturday, something that wasn’t overlooked by the new recruit.

“It means so much to me, honestly, to be able to play for my state, the state that I love,” Josh said. “I think it’s pretty special. There’s a lot of pride involved with that. I respect that name on my jersey every time I put it on.”

The first year for Josh at college played out very differently than most other college students, coming in the thick of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. The football team was split in half, as the offense stayed in the home locker room and the defense went to the visitors.

Josh never experienced anything to the magnitude of the COVID shutdown, being away from home and isolated all by himself. Jennifer made sure to make the transition as easy as possible; with the dorms being closed off to visitors, she drove 90 minutes each way to bring a home-cooked meal and have dinner with her son in the car.

It was a tough time for the freshman, debating if it was worth continuing on multiple occasions. Powering through the unusual circumstances strengthened his bond with both the school and the few people he became close with, while forcing him to mature into an adult.

“I think he’s grown a lot,” Jennifer said. “I don’t see my baby anymore, I see a young man.”

The campus was empty for the most part, with Josh not meeting many people outside of the Minutemen defense until practices started. As practices got underway, there were some interesting rules and regulations put in place. Massachusetts was in a full lockdown, enforcing that players wear visors and shields over their mouths to prevent the virus from spreading. 

Meetings were conducted in “the bubble” at UMass, an outdoor practice field with a giant roof blown up to protect the team from various weather conditions.

The Minutemen played just four games in the 2020 season, traveling to Georgia, Virginia and Florida. States like Georgia had much fewer restrictions, allowing tailgates at the games and large crowds in the stands.

“It was pretty cool to go and get a break from lockdown and experience college football,” Josh said.

When returning back home after these games, Josh’s life went back to the lonely, restricted reality of the year 2020 in Massachusetts. Being alone so much forced him to be with his thoughts, truly getting a chance to reflect on why he was at UMass and what he wanted to get out of the experience.

Unlike a large portion of college students, Josh didn’t party at all during his freshman year. This allowed him to focus more on football, becoming the best player he could. Even after the restrictions were lifted, Josh still has the same values, with football always his number one priority.

The 2021 season went back to normal for all teams across college football. Atwood was still not in the starting lineup but was getting valuable playing time, especially when injuries occurred.

In Week 1, Josh was thrust into a larger role against Pitt due to an injury, and before he knew it, he was starting the following game against Boston College. Josh tallied two tackles in the first quarter before suffering an injury of his own, to his ankle. This forced him out of the rest of the game, but he was determined to get back out on the field as soon as possible.

Despite being in a boot until Thursday of the next week, Josh knew with one of his fellow nose tackles still sidelined, he had to get back on the field and help his team. He suited up just seven days later and played the rest of the season. 

This was just the beginning of Josh’s team-first mentality.

“It left that taste in my mouth of like, wanting to be on the field 24/7,” Josh said. “It furthered my desire to play and get better and improve on the field.”

Things changed drastically after his sophomore campaign, with nearly the entire UMass staff getting changed out. Head coach Don Brown was hired to take over the team, bringing in new coaches across the board. Only one member remained: offensive line coach Alex Miller.

Miller had his eyes on Josh ever since the COVID year and especially over the course of the 2021 season. He knew of the success the young man had on the offensive line in high school, and thought Josh could be an asset to that side of the ball for UMass.

It started with some jokes here and there, but just a week into the spring, the coaches sat Josh down for a meeting. He had been starting at nose tackle to begin the spring, exactly what he’d been working toward.

“I think we really need you on offense,” the coaches said.

This caught Josh off guard. He had been with the team for over two years now, working to improve on the defensive side of the ball exclusively. He earned the starting job in his preferred position. But the team wanted him to make the change.

“We’d rather have you in the game 60, 70, 80, 90 plays [on offense] than 30 on defense,” Miller said.

“If the team really needs me to do that, I’ll do that,” Josh said.

Since he began playing football, Josh has always put team success above anything else. This was taking that to another level. His whole life for the last two years was focused on how to become a better nose tackle. Now, he’d have to change everything around and learn how to play center.

It took Josh a few weeks to fully accept the decision. Leaving all of his best friends on the defensive line was something that worried him. He’d now be battling against them in practice and working alongside less-known faces on the offensive side of the ball in meetings and practices. 

Not wanting to do wrong by his teammates, Josh sat down to have a conversation with fellow defensive lineman Billy Wooden. Wooden was a year older than Josh, and the two had grown a strong bond with each other over the course of their first few years at UMass.

The duo was together on a regular basis, going to get food, playing video games, hitting the golf course and even taking a spring break trip to Puerto Rico with each other. They became close enough to the point where Josh moved in with Wooden and a few others. Josh learned a lot from the older guys, who took him under their wing to make him feel comfortable at the school.

“[Josh] is kind of like my little brother in a sense,” Wooden said. “… [He’s] my go-to.”

Wooden was happy to help Josh figure out what the best decision was for him at the time. The pair had a conversation about what Josh cared about most: playing time and helping the team win. Both of these factors leaned more toward making the switch. 

“My initial thought was, ‘No,’ it didn’t make sense,” Wooden said. “But then I started to see the vision … It would hurt him to just stay there and be stagnant when we could use his athleticism and his natural ability to get on the field and be effective for us right away.”

Josh looked up to Wooden, making note of how he handled himself as a student-athlete. He noticed how football was a way of life for his older teammate, wanting to get to that point as well.

“[Wooden] understood how to go about college football on the field, off the field, in the meeting room, it was a complete lifestyle,” Josh said. “For the really good ones, it consumes you. He did a really good job of conveying that message.”

All of this came while also forcing his body to get back in the mode of playing offense. Josh hadn’t done this in nearly three years, and re-learning how to come off the ball, where his feet should be and how to diagnose a college defense all took some time to get down.

Josh’s weight then came into question. He came to UMass at around 380 pounds, and Miller wanted him to cut weight to adequately play the center position. It took a little bit to get in a groove, but once he found a routine, Josh dropped to 330 pounds fairly quickly.

That spring before the 2022 season, Josh worked as hard as he ever had to prepare for the upcoming fall. The physical side came back to him fairly easily, but the mental side took a little bit longer.

Josh relied on the help from Miller, who has experience playing center at UMass, to get him mentally where he needed to be to succeed. He knew he now needed to earn the trust of the offensive coaches.

“Through that whole entire offseason, I don’t know if there was 10 days that I missed in [Miller’s] room, getting extra meeting time with him,” Josh said. “I was in there every day in between classes.” 

As the team’s center, Josh had to learn what each position on the offensive line’s responsibility was on every play. He was in charge of keeping everyone on the same page.

Miller knew exactly what Josh needed to master before hitting the field in a game situation. The pair worked relentlessly to reach the new goal of being fully prepared for Week 1. Josh earned the starting center job, but his confidence in the position change was still shaky.

“Leading up to that first game was probably the most nervous I’d been,” Josh said. “You don’t understand the speed of the game, you don’t understand how fast it’s [going to] be or how hard it is.” 

After one play, Josh didn’t have any more time to think about nerves. At that point, his mind was just remembering everything he’d been coached to do. The experience taught him lessons he could eventually share with players younger than him in the future. 

He quickly noticed how much of a difference it was to play every snap compared to being in a rotation on the defensive line. Despite enjoying his time on defense more than offense, the ability to help his team mattered more to Josh than anything else.

Team success has always been Josh’s main priority. Over his five years spent at UMass, he’s developed into a team leader, showing what it takes to be a Minuteman and succeed as one. He earned the captain title in 2023, and carried it on to 2024.

“[Josh] was the biggest guy in the room, but he didn’t need to assert his dominance,” Wooden said. “He just was himself … He treated us like family.”

This was another thing that Miller helped with as a former captain himself at UMass. He taught Josh how to have hard conversations with teammates when necessary and how to lead by example.

Switching positions showed teammates on both sides of the ball how hard Josh worked, earning the respect of his peers. His work ethic is something he uses to inspire his teammates, understanding that it’s easier to want to work hard when there are others doing it alongside you.

“To me, if you’re doing something, you have to do it with everything you have,” Josh said. “There’s one speed, and it’s full go at all times.” 

The work he put in for the first two years of his collegiate career, dedicating himself to the defensive side of the ball, helped Josh understand what was happening in the minds of his opponents after making the switch.

He understood that defenders are all responsible for a gap, and found it easier to pick up on blitzes and stunts as a result. In the film room, he shared that knowledge with his fellow offensive linemen. 

The lessons he learned transferred over to playing other positions on the offensive line as well, slotting in at right guard in a game at the end of the 2024 season due to injuries to other players on the line. Josh helped that unit to a sackless game, playing out of position again. 

Josh’s loyalty to the Minutemen also made him a prime candidate for captaincy. In today’s era of college football, so many players hop in the transfer portal, hoping to find better opportunities for themselves at other schools. Josh, though, remained with UMass all five years.

“His loyalty, him being a Massachusetts guy, him wanting to see the program turn around, I just feel like it’s a testimony to his character,” Wooden said. “It’s been some tough times through the years. [Josh] trying to make something happen, do his best: my hat’s off to him.”

Josh saw portal turbulence firsthand, living in a house with three roommates who transferred out. A group of some of his closest friends also left after the 2022 season, leaving him to question if he was making the right decision. 

One of the biggest factors as to why Josh never jumped in the portal himself was having his biggest fan by his side. Jennifer has made it to each and every game that her son has played in besides one game during the COVID year, always there to give him a postgame hug.

Going through two head coaches, multiple coordinator changes and position changes could deter some players from staying loyal, but for Josh, he appreciates all of the opportunities he’s been given over the years. No matter what happened, Josh relied on his internal motivation to continue improving and be the best version of himself.

“There’s nothing that could happen that wouldn’t make me, as an individual, go as hard as I can on a Saturday,” Josh said. “I know you only get so many of those opportunities. At the end of the day, I know it’s a hard job, and there’s wins and losses, and there’s a business factor side of it, but at the end of the day, it’s fun. I get to go to college on a scholarship and play football all around the country.” 

Across all of the wins and losses, Josh has grown and matured as a player and as a person. He’s made connections with people that he’ll carry long after his playing days are over. 

The NFL could be the next step for Josh, hoping to continue his playing career. No matter what happens, he’ll take what he’s learned from his experiences and give it all to whatever comes next.

“The kid’s got a big heart,” Jennifer said. “He cares about people. I just think that he’s [going to] do great things.”

As a two-year captain who changed positions for the betterment of the team, it’s hard to not see Josh leaving a lasting impact on the UMass football program.

“He’s a UMass guy,” Wooden said. “Through and through.”

Mike Maynard can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter/X @mikecmaynard.