Liam Callahan doesn’t sit with his teammates before a game. He collects his thoughts outside Syracuse’s locker room, bumping alternative rock or hip-hop into his ears.

He envisions how the game will unfold. He sees himself charging up the sideline and assisting on a goal. If he’s feeling good, he might score instead. He remains solitary until the team encircles him on the field before the game.

He channels his anger and shatters his meditation. The self-proclaimed movie buff doesn’t draw upon anything off the silver screen, instead leaning back on the same “magic words” to fire up the huddle.

“Just ‘F this, F that, F them, F this,’” forward Ben Polk recalled.

Head coach Ian McIntyre likens Callahan to a grumpy uncle, while Polk assesses his teammate as a “bipolar time bomb.”

“I’m a little bit more of not the happiest guy on the team,” Callahan said. “I’m here to do a job.”

His teammates appreciate his radiating intensity, acknowledging that Callahan sets the right standard and tone before each game. He doesn’t lead No. 15 Syracuse (10-4-2, 3-3-1 Atlantic Coast) in any categories on the score sheet, but his outward demands for success led the redshirt junior to be tabbed a captain in his second season with SU.

Callahan has a critical eye for the morale of the team, and he surveys his peers in the pregame huddle like a doctor mulling over a patient’s prescription. Sensing the Orange was worn down before a midweek game against Bowling Green on Oct. 13, Callahan got a little more demonstrative during his ritual.

“There’s time where I think it’s important he channels that aggression,” McIntyre said. “Controlled aggression is very productive; uncontrolled aggression isn’t.

“I like players with fire in his belly, and he’s got that.”

A crafty, yet deliberate soccer player at his core, Callahan’s fiery personality began to complement his skillset at 4 years old. He wore a jersey that drooped to his ankles and sat on the bench with his 12-year-old brother’s team.

He wasn’t handed the ball or babied when competing with the older kids, his mother, Ginny Callahan, said. He’s always been pushed, and reveled in that atmosphere.

As an attendee of a University at Buffalo soccer camp, then-head coach John Astudillo told Ginny that the 7-year-old Callahan had better vision on the field than some of his collegiate players. But when coaches told him to start having more fun, he fired back saying he wants to play the game and beat everyone.

“He’s been competitive since he could walk,” Ginny Callahan said. “He doesn’t tolerate a lot of mistakes by other people.”

Referees are often the biggest culprits in Callahan’s eyes. He received a red card — only his second ever — during SU’s first game after voicing his disapproval of a foul called on defender Kamal Miller.

His forceful reactions during games are usually reserved for referees, though, as he remains mostly reactionless to the play of his teammates.

McIntyre has since pulled Callahan aside to reshape the focus of his aggression, reminding him SU lost the game Callahan was carded in and barely escaped with a 1-0 overtime win in the next game he was forced to sit out.

“Sometimes he’s good, sometimes he’s not good. Its just one of them,” Polk said. “If he’s going to get a Chipotle, it’s a good day. Other times you should probably let him deal with himself.”

While trying mostly to police himself during games, Callahan embodies more of a “team dad” persona on the practice field. He doesn’t like to openly acknowledge it, but paternal instincts kick in when he feels joking around has diminished a teammate’s effort.

He might snap at an individual or group, understanding he often reaches the line between constructive criticism and coming off as a jerk. Despite a harsh tune to his words, he shares the end goal of winning with his teammates.

It’s one of the few things he does talk about on the soccer field with a smile.

“There are days where people need a little bit of a jerk to get them going,” Callahan said. “After you shake hands, you’re brothers. It’s your family, it’s your team.

“But they know, this is just how I am.”

Published on October 26, 2015 at 9:41 pm

Contact Connor: cgrossma@syr.edu | @connorgrossman