By John Casper Jr.

Winona Daily News

WINONA — Senioritis has set in for Alan May.

But it’s not the same senioritis that gripped you back in the day, when you couldn’t wait to leave wherever it was you were and start anew somewhere else. It’s not the same senioritis that leads to lax focus and skipped classes, failed tests and worn-out snooze buttons.

When senioritis sets in for football players — competitive, driven, hard-nosed football players — it’s something totally different.

May,who had 11 catches for 161 yards in WSU’s season opening 42-17 loss to Moorhead State, has it so bad the affliction took roots last fall at the end of a frustrating season for the Winona State University football team. The wide receiver and his teammates began the year with high hopes for a season that started strong but ended with a thud, as they lost four straight and six of seven to finish with the program’s first losing record since 1996.

A couple months after the last game of the season — a 31-28 loss to Concordia-St. Paul in which May threw a TD pass and caught a TD pass — the 6-foot-2, 200-pound receiver from Adams, Minn., and Southland High School returned to campus with the realization he was running out of time.

“When he came back after Christmas, you saw a different kid,” said WSU coach Tom Sawyer, entering his 20th season. “You just knew that this is so important to him. That is now coming to life.”

May wasn’t officially voted a captain until recently — he’ll share the honors with cornerback Tamrick Atwood, defensive end Jeff Brown and linebacker Jarrett Wood — but he’s unofficially been the heart and soul of the Warriors ever since last season ended.

“I was always a guy that led by example,” said May, who was an impact player starting with the first game of his redshirt freshman season in 2012 against Minnesota-Crookston. “I was always working my tail off. But this summer, I kind of sat down and realized this is my last year. I want to do something special with this group of guys. I want to put 2015 up on that board.”

The board May is referring to is a display in the northeast part of Warrior Stadium that lists the great WSU teams of the past. Mineral Water Bowl teams. Conference championship teams. Playoff teams.

“I want to be able to come back in 25 years and say ‘See that kids. 2015. I was a part of that,’” May said. “I just want to do something special.”

He was part of something special in 2012, although he may have been too young to realize it. After an all-state senior year at Southland — Rebels assistant coach Dennis Hayes, a former WSU player, was the one that told Sawyer to recruit May — he redshirted his first year but saw the field the following season. He caught eight passes for 158 yards, including a 57-yard TD reception against Crookston, his first career catch. He was the team’s primary punt returner and figured into the kicking game, too.

But the way he speaks of that season, it’s like he was a bystander. He was on the team, but it wasn’t his team.

Not like this team is.

“I still talk to a majority of those guys,” he said. “I’m always thinking about how they acted in the huddle. How they carried themselves in practice. That’s what I want to do.”

He has done that for the majority of his career. He led the Warriors in receptions (32) as a sophomore, collecting 541 receiving yards and six TDs. As a junior, he had 38 receptions for 497 yards and four TDs.

He’s been a mainstay on the punt return team and ranks fifth in program history in both returns (50) and yardage (503). He also is the holder for the kicking team, which is how he threw the touchdown pass against Concordia-St. Paul. A snap sailed through his hands, but he had the presence of mind — and athletic ability — to get out of the crouch and quickly grab the loose ball, then calmly threw it to a wide-open Obed Jean-Baptiste — a linebacker — for the first TD pass of his career.

“You count on him,” Sawyer said. “He’s a kid you always count on. He’s been in the starting lineup since he was a redshirt freshman. He’s been in every part of our program. Special teams, holding. He’s a valuable member of our team, and you can see he doesn’t take anything for granted.”

That’s because May has paid attention to those who have gone before him.

He listens when past teammates come back and say how much they miss the game. How boring the real world is compared to the thrill of playing football on Saturday afternoons. How much they wish they could come back.

“Coach Sawyer is always saying how he’d wish he could come back for one more play,” May said. “I’m just trying to take advantage of every day and come out here and get better. Hopefully, we can do something special.”

He’s not stopping with this season, either. He’s looking ahead.

That’s why he’s taking the younger guys — guys who won’t see the field this year — under his wing. Showing them how to run a drill. How to act in a meeting room. How to get better.

“He’s the inspirational leader,” Sawyer said. “He’s a real emotional kid. He wears his emotion on his sleeves. He doesn’t try to be the nice guy. He doesn’t try to be the hard guy. He’s just Alan. He works hard and you should do it just like him. He demonstrates that every day.”

Through teaching the younger players, May said he’s understanding more about the game. He enjoys the different perspective. The movement science major may even pursue a career in coaching.

But before he embarks on a career after football, before he joins the “real world” his former teammates have tried to warn him about, he has 11 games — at least — to leave his mark.

“I don’t want to have any regrets,” May said. “I just want to do something great and have fun. These are memories that I’ll have for the rest of my life.”