Cleary's journey from Arlington Cowboys to Dallas Cowboys
What goes around comes around for Emmett Cleary.
In 2003, when he was in eighth grade and first put on football pads, it was for the Arlington Cowboys. Today, he also will be wearing a Cowboys football jersey, but this time for Dallas in his first professional playoff game.
Cleary, an offensive tackle, grew up in Arlington Heights, and fondly remembers his prep football experience, even his jersey number, 48.
"It was the wrong number for the position I was playing," he says with a laugh. "Ironically, I started out at the same position I'm playing now, left tackle."
As a six-foot-tall eighth grader, Cleary was dubbed a "striper" and was unable to touch the ball and instead concentrated on line play.
These days, he still doesn't touch the ball, but concentrates on protecting one of the NFL's hottest young quarterbacks, Dak Prescott.
Cleary is the primary backup to Pro-Bowler Tyron Smith, who has been dogged by a nagging knee injury this season and sat out the game on New Year's Day, allowing Cleary to start. Leading up to today's divisional playoff game against the Green Bay Packers, Cleary practiced with the first team offensive line.
"I expect he'll play," Cleary said of Smith, in a phone interview from Dallas last week, "but I've been working a lot with him. He's the best in the NFL at his position, so he sets a high standard of play.
"My goal (when replacing Smith in the game) is to be as seamless as possible," he adds. "I try to use the same techniques, the same calls and work within the system so the other linemen don't even notice the difference."
Cleary is accustomed to making the most of his chances. Although he toiled three years on practice squads for several NFL teams, he was signed by the Cowboys in the third week of this season and since then he has played in every game.
Smith's injury gave Cleary his first professional start, and he felt the intensity was different from his normal role on special teams and as a backup.
It reminded him of when he got his first big break playing football at St. Viator High School, when he was plucked from the sophomore team to start with the varsity -- in a playoff game.
"It was different, just seeing the speed of the varsity -- and the intensity of a playoff game," Cleary says. "It made me work harder and want to take it to the next level."
At St. Viator, Cleary also played basketball -- with his 6-foot-7 frame, competed on the school's Scholastic Bowl team and played trumpet in the band. However, following a breakout football season his junior year, he set his sights on playing the game in college.
He was an all-state selection his senior year at Saint Viator and won a scholarship to play at Boston College. After being red-shirted his freshman year, he replaced an injured player during his sophomore year and played the next four years for the Eagles and was named second team all-ACC.
Now, the stakes are higher, with Cleary and his teammates favored in this first round of the playoffs and within two wins of going to the Super Bowl.
"People are confident around here," Cleary said. "Green Bay is a really good team, but we've done a lot of good things this season -- and beat them in their own building (in the sixth game of the season).
"It's a huge game, but if we win, we have a shot at doing some real damage," he adds. "We're embracing the pressure of the higher stakes of this game. But then again, it's a football game and we're preparing for it as we always do."